Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

"Turok: Dinosaur Hunter = Great game. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil = just flew across my lawn."

Not seriously, but still, it was pretty bad. Why? I'll tell you.

Graphics: Every game has its saving grace, eh? That graphics are excellent, and I can't stoop so low as to lie about them. The creatures are all just peachy, and look as sinister and evil as you'd picture genetically engineered dinosaurs with the agenda of killing you, destroying the entire human race, and destroying the world then eating you. Or something like that. =P
Blood is...unique, and seems to awkwardly match the amount that might normally be spilled...of course, the odd constantly flowing motion and thickness isn't a real quality of blood, but hey, you gotta try, right?
Levels are amazing in detail. From the brick walls and wooden planks Port of Adia, to the high-tech structures of the final level, which I won't reveal the name of.
Weapons and effects are just fantabulous (shut up), and that watching beasts explode into a million pieces is also a lot of fun (more on this in the gameplay section).

Sound: A bland mix of music can get boring after a while, but the voice acting it pretty good. The sound effects are also well done. Other than that, there's nothing more to say here...

Story: You warp onto a little platform thingie where you meet this lady (I can't remember her name), that plays as your guide through the entire game. As it turns out, you, Joshua Fireseed, alias: Turok, have been summoned back to the Lost Land to fight for freedom, and to save it from the clutches of the Primagen. The Elders of the Lost Lands, also known as the Lazarus Concordance, have commanded the woman (there goes that name again) to guide Turok through his quest to save the Lost Land.
The Primagen, an evil demon entity that was imprisoned long ago in the wreckage of his Light Ship, has awoken once again and is summoning his minions from all around the Lost Land to destroy the Energy Totems which bind his Light Ship, making it impossible for him to escape. Should his cronies succeed in destroyed the Energy Totems, the Primagen would be able to abandon his Light Ship and take over the Lost Land, imprisoning and killing anything that stands in his way.

Gameplay: Despite the aforementioned awesome sounding pros of this game, the cons are too great to keep the game holding my interest. Why, you ask?

In Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, you, as Turok, must go through the levels, finding several powerful weapons, blasting enemies to pieces, and collecting artifacts to advance. Not bad, you say? In the first Turok, all you need do was collect keys to keep on running through the levels. Not so in Turok 2. In this game, you start a level a cut scene, which is actually rather interesting to watch and hear on the N64, as not many games on the system have true voice-acting. In the cut scene, however, you're given several mission objectives that you must complete, which are, put simply, a pain in the hind quarters.
And the levels are too complex.
On the first level, you are given the objectives of rescuing 4 children, all hidden away in little cages through the level, activating the Warp Portals, which, thank goodness, are shoved right-up in your face, activating 3 Distress Beacons, which are just too hard to find, in my not-so-very-humble opinion, and not only that, but you need energy packs to activate every one, meaning if you find a Distress Beacon Activator, and you're energy pack-less, then you must go back and search the entire level for it, and if you can't find it, tough. It's probably in that wall that you have to blow up. You know, the one with no difference from the other walls other then that barrel in front of it? And the last mission objective, which is always, ''Locate the Energy Totem, and defend it at all costs.''
Plus, the levels can get pretty annoying.
Not only that, but all of the levels' designs are twisted, which, instead of making you think, This is amazing... What a beautiful city..., you're thinking, Good god, HOW did people survive in this place? It all looks that same! I can't find my children! Not only that, but when you've got incredibly difficult mission objectives to complete all the way through, it really deteriorates the experience.
''Where am I going now?''
''What?''
''I don't understand.''
''What does that mean?''
''I've searched the entire level! Where is it?!''

These are all things you'll be saying to yourself after a while. You'll end up going around and around before finding out how to complete the objective itself. Another bad point? Save points. Sure, they're your saving grace (no pun intended), because once per level you're allowed to refill ammo and regenerate all health at any given point, and of course save (which you can do indefinitely). The BAD thing is, they are so widely spaced and spread, that should you die, you'll start at the last one you went to, meaning you have to venture ALL OF THE WAY BACK to where you were. Luckily, all of the enemies are gone, but then again, this can also provide boredom for nothing to shoot at during the way back. Scenery gets boring too fast, as well, as you won't be going, ''Aww, what a pretty tree'' after you die and you're making your way back to the previous spot, where God only knows you'll die again.
And, might I add, the levels get REALLY tedious, REALLY fast.
But then, you have weapons, which, I must say so myself, are some of the most impressive seen in the FPS genre. They range from a standard 9MM pistol to the Cerebral Bore, a nasty piece of alien weaponry which locks onto brain signals of targets, then homes-in with a spiral-like pattern; it then drills into the targets head, draining the brain fluid. What happens when it's done? BOOM! Off goes the head, and your monster falls limply to the floor, where a puddle of blood will fluently run off. Then again, if the intended enemy is as dumb as a stick, it won't put off many brain-waves, therefore making it impossible for the Bore to track its target.
Enemies in this game (like the last Turok), will soon melt into nothingness. Anything to save the frame rate, which is also pretty damn bad.

Explosions? Too many enemies? Big bosses? Then you're just gonna be chug-chug-chuggin' along at a REALLY low frame rate that's enough to drive you insane.
''I don't remember turning this way... And how'd he get behind me?!!'' Yeah, it's all fun and games until you die.
Of course, an expansion pack helps sort some of this out, and boosts graphical power, but from personal experience, it doesn't help enough to actually notice unless you look very closely.
And plus, the levels are WAY too complex.

Bosses are rather interesting, though, because differently than the previous Turok, they have specific points which must be shot at before the next point can be targeted. While not very realistic, it does add a bit of difficulty to the cause, which can be either good or bad, should you take it that way.
Did I mention how tedious the levels are?
Another of the few fun aspects of Turok two are weapon effects. Take an explosive weapon, aim it at a specific part of a monster, shoot, boom, bam, NASTY. It's great fun.
Example: Take a simple Dinosoid (the main bad-guy creature in this game), and take your shotgun with explosive shells. Aim it at his arm, fire, and watch blood fly all over the walls, the ground, everywhere, as he falls to the ground without an arm, and the puddle of blood fills a considerable area. On one creature, you can actually blow its entire face and collar-bone area off, leaving nothing but a skull on a suspended vertabrae staring at you wildly, then falling to the floor. It's jolly-good fun.
Then, there are the cutscenes. If you want the start the game over, then you have to bear through the same INSANELY long starting cutscene every time you start, which easily surpasses 5 minutes in length, which, unlike the first Turok, makes playing with a save-pak completely unwanted. Well, unless of course you go take a nap during the time it plays, then it's probably, eh, do-able.

Now let's review a simple mission: At LEAST two different objectives, which are ridiculously hard to find, a VERY complex level, and at the end of the level defending an Energy Totem against the MASSIVE hordes of creatures firing at it, which can prove to be virtually impossible at times, especially when you're running around trying to sustain ammo AND keep the Totem's energy from falling into critical status. Plus, you need to find a part of the Nuke Weapon in each level, which is the same as the ChronoSeptor in the first Turok, only COMPLETELY useless against the final boss. What a rip.

Rent or Buy?: Eh... I'd say rent, because I'm not sure if you'd want to stay with this game for long. Of course, I'm one of the few (or not) who didn't like this game too much. There just aren't enough things going for it to keep my interest. Rent, definitely...

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/02, Updated 04/04/02