Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

"Little known fact: Over 99% of all species in the universe is EVIL!"

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, made in 1998 by Acclaim and Iguana Entertainment, is a second installment of the Turok series that started on the Nintendo 64 (works best with an expansion pack). Well... this game... certainly is interesting on the portrayal of all the enemies in the game...

What really kills me about this game is that all of the enemies you encounter is EVIL! I knew we weren't the greatest, but it seems the rest of the universe is worse. The Lost Land is in great danger because all the races against humans.

Armed with a ludicrous size of armaments, you can practically take on anything. With the War Blade (an upgrade of the Talon), you are ready to rip their heads off with a good swipe. With the Tek Bow (a pity you left your old one behind somewhere), you can shoot explosive arrows that may remove their heads or hands. With the Mag 60 (an upgrade of the pistol), you can remove their heads with a well-placed shot. With the Shredder (an upgrade of the Shotgun), you can remove the top part of the enemy off. The Tranquilizer Gun can put an enemy to sleep... until he wakes up again. The Charged Dart Rifle really does not kill - instead it paralyzes the enemy... so we can blow their heads off with something else! The Plasma Rifle was pretty disappointing, with the lack of power... give me the DOOM Plasma Rifle over this one, though it did have a nice snipe feature... which was disappointing as well. With the Firestorm Cannon, you can remove their heads with a few, concentrated rounds. The Cerebral Bore is certainly one of the oddest of the bunch. After targeting the enemy, the bore drills the fluid out of their brain, and then *gasps* blows their head off! The Personal Fragmentation Mine Layer lays a mine that can dice the legs off an enemy, but Turok don't need to worry 'bout that! The Grenade Launcher is the good old ''remove a good portion of their body'' sort of weapon. The Scorpion Launcher is a homing missile launcher... which is good because we couldn't hit the enemies with the multitude of weapons we didn't already have. Funny to think of this, but I don't think those explosions from the weapons hurt Turok... odd. The Flamethrower is good for burning the enemies... but no exploding death?! Unheard of! And that Razor Wind? It only kills them naturally. What the heck?! And that Harpoon Gun... man, what a pathetic weapon... it couldn't even remove that one enemy's head! (In case you couldn't figure it out, I was being sarcastic... except for that one enemy part for the underwater weapon part... you'd be surprised how few enemies engage you underwater... and they could be taken care of easily with the War Blade). The Torpedo Launcher doubles as a speed sled for underwater. The Nuke... well... think about it... a beam that makes a big boom... got it yet?

You noticed a constant theme in this game? It seems the designers thought it would be cooler to design a game based around how many ways you can dash off that enemies' head rather than fixing some control issues and making some odd concept lost in most newer games... uniqueness.

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Category Summary

The Scoring categories are...

Story - The mission or reason the game exists. Does the story give me the feel for the game? Or does it just seem to be ''there'' for no reason? If there is no story, the review will ignore this category.

Graphics - The presentation of the game. Does it work for the style of the game? Or does it seem ''out of place''?

Music - The songs of the game. Does it warrant a listen to? Or would I rather listen to something else?

Sounds - The sounds of the game. Does it bring out the game? Or does it just annoy me?

Gameplay - The handle of the game. Does it feel that you are in control? Or does it feel that ''leaps of faith'' would define the controls?

Fun Factor - The game's enjoyment. Would you enjoy the game? Or would it just bore you quickly?

Replayability - The possibility of bringing you back to the game. Are you going to play a game a month later to remember how good it was? Or just to see why you hated it so much?

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Story

''You are Joshua Fireseed, a Turok. You have won against the Campaigner (first game) and have rid of the Chronoscepter (into a volcano, I believe). Adon of the Lazarus Concordance brings you to her because the Primagen is trying to free himself. If he succeeds in freeing himself, the temporal energy will destroy your world.''

And thus, your rampage across the land begins. The story stems from the Port of Adea to the hive of the Mantids, to the Dark Marshlands.

It's a sequel, so the story works out okay.

Score: 7/10

Graphics

The environments are varied and very well made. The character models don't look bad, either. And, keeping trend of the first game, there is plenty of violence to go around. But this game is much harsher on death. You can kill them normally, they can self-destruct, you can splatter their heads off, or remove their brain first. Yes... plenty of ways to remove someone's head...

Score 9/10

Music

The music fits the mood of the place you are in, but it is not too interruptive in your campaign of splattering someone's brains out of their head.

Score - 7/10

Sounds

Pretty much everything fits in, including the splattering, the pain, the explosions, the cries of writhing enemies... oh, and I think a few animal sounds are in there as well.

Score - 7/10

Gameplay

''Ack! This game is so hard to control! Why did they do that?''

You want me to say that. I do have some issues with it, though. For one, there was the ''quick'' weapon switch that slowed me down more than speed me up. Secondly, the level design demands you to make more predictions on jumping than I am comfortable with. The fact that you have to find every talisman before you can actually travel through the whole level can be annoying at times, but nothing to really fret about. Their control scheme is awkward, and you may need to practice a little bit before you can get used to it. It can be stiff at times and it can be hard to play.

Score - 5/10

Fun Factor

Okay, this is a lesson for anyone who is planning to design a 3D shooter:

''There are plenty of more ways to have fun in a 3D shooter than the way of decapitation.''

I think that the game relied on the player to be always thirsty for blood. While this is good for those really bad days (that co-worker that always bug you or that kid in class that kept shooting spit-balls at you or that one game with the level that got you frustrated), it can get pretty boring real quick when you removed the enemey's head for the 125th time in a row. The controls can also interfere with aim. One time, I had a perfectly good shot. I relaxed my thumb for a second before firing, and the shot was off by a mile. The snipe feature is nice, but it works best on the Tek Bow (where they placed that thing, I have no idea...). It is nice that Adon gives you more ammunition and health... for more head-exploding action!

Wow, that charade got short in this game.

Score - 7/10

Replayability

When I try to go back to this game, it is really hard for me to try to remember why I liked it. That's bad. All I remember is the frustration of it. It also takes a big portion of the memory card (which is now broken), and it is unconventional. There are a few Dinosaur Hunters out there who are willing to continue over and over... but after going through this frustrating game, I am not playing it again. Besides, the cheat codes provide all the fun I need... for a few minutes, then it's back to another game.

Score - 5/10

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Score Summary

Story - 7
Graphics – 9
Music - 7
Sounds - 7
Gameplay - 5
Fun Factor - 7
Replayability - 5

Total - 47/70

Overall Score - 6/10 (I would have given it a 7, but the constant splattering of someone's head brought it down a notch)

Recommendation - This game is fun if you enjoy splattering your opponent hundreds of times... if not, I suggest you pass on it.

* Remember this review is my opinion only. You should make the final call on the game. *

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/21/03, Updated 05/21/03