Its been in development for years.......of course the critics would tear it apart. If the game were perfect, it would probably only score a 7.5 or 8 on most review systems.
GameInformer said (and its been confirmed by a friend of mine who has played through most of it already) that the game picks up about halfway through, which could be where Gearbox takes over development. Why wouldn't they just scrub the game and start from scratch if thats the case? Shoot, don't even call it Duke Nukem Forever, start something else.