Turok

"So far, the biggest letdown of 2008."

Ugh...another First-Person Shooter for the Xbox 360. Usually, I do not get excited if a new FPS comes out, unless if it's a sequel/remake of game in a series that I already like. Turok in this case was that FPS. Man, I was ecstatic when I heard a new Turok game was coming out. On various messageboards, I would say that Turok was my most anticipated game in 2008 at the time. So I rented it and was filled with joy, popped it in, played it, and returned it the next day. One of the biggest disappointment's in gaming-ever.

Originally, the Turok series was on the N64, and they were some of the best FPS games that I've ever played. Seeds of Evil was my personal favorite in the series. There were a couple new Turok's, namely Turok: Evolution for the GCN, PS2, and Xbox, but I didn't play them. Now in 2007, a new Turok was announced for the next-gen consoles. So after a long wait, it finally came. What a mistake that was.

Turok...Joseph Turok You are Joseph Turok, as the James Bond heading explains. You are recruited to a stereotypical Special Forces team, or whatever, to stop a "madman" from taking control of a planet that's inhabited by dinosaurs. Now if you ask me, that's the last place I'd want to take over. Well this "madman" is an experienced commando who was Turok's former mentor, by the name of Kane. Well your transportation is shot down...what a surprise. So you have to use your brilliant military tactics to survive. Also, you are that well-liked by your fellow comrades because of your history, but who really cares? It's a pretty bland and boring story.
Story: 4/10

OMG! Is that real!!! By first glance, you may think this game as the best graphics ever on a console game, as it uses the Unreal engine. The only things that are actually worth noting in this section are the outdoor environments and the dinosaur animations. The environments are excellent, lighting is good, detail is good, and it has an incredibly realistic feel. This is really the reason why it has a good first-look presentation. The animations with the dinosaurs are probably the best part in this game, sadly. It actually seems like the team that did the animations knew how dinosaurs moved. So it realistically reenacts the animation. And if dinosaurs moved nothing like that, it's still pretty damn good. Character models look decent (as in the guys on your side) in the cut-scenes, nothing we shouldn't expect.

On the other hand, the indoor environments are bland and generic-looking, making them repetitive and boring. The bad guys practically look the same in a lot of cases. Again it's repetitive, like the indoor environments. I mentioned that the animations are good with the dinosaurs, but the actual detail on them could have been improved. But overall, the graphics are good.
Graphics: 7/10

I'm not going to go too much into sound, considering it's been awhile since I last played, or heard this game so I hardly remember. However, I do remember the voice-acting. One word comes to mind; stereotypical. It's your typical tough-guy-esque voice acting that you can except by just looking at their characters. Ron Perlman, who is an exceptionally good actor, plays a half-assed role. At first, I didn't even know it was him. The sound effects are also what you can expect. So at this point, I am pretty biased with sound, so I'm not going to rate it.

A horrible version of Rambo with dinosaurs It plays like your typical First-Person Shooter, but it goes down hill from there. You have your generic list of weapons, in which you can hold up to four. Two of them are your knife and bow, which are permanent once you obtain them. With your knife, at certain points you can do special kills. It's just gratuitous violence in close-up form, which looks pretty impressive. I love when a game emphasizes some of the good, violent moments, but unfortunately this is the best part of the game and it gets old fast. Considering this is probably the main way you will kill dinosaurs. Another "cool" feature is what the bow can do and you shoot an enemy hard enough. What I'm talking about is sticking an enemy to a wall with an arrow. It's cool at first, but like the special kills, the novelty factor runs out fast.

Your primary enemies are soldiers, with brain-dead A.I. and a small list of dinosaurs, who's A.I. is pretty remarkable. So you just kill soldiers, kill dinosaurs, let dinosaurs kill soldiers, let soldiers kill dinosaurs, etc. Now my main problem with this is the encounters with dinosaurs, I think with the velocoraptors. Well when they ram into, you get knocked back and blood covers the screen (it uses the Call of Duty and Halo recovery system), making it pretty hard to see. When you get back up, most of the time, you'll just get knocked back again, making it annoying and frustrating. Also since it's still hard to see with the blood covering the screen, it's hard to get out of the way or see what's going on. The first battle with the T-Rex is also a pain in the ass. When you shoot, it doesn't seem like you do any damage to him...just a little nit-pick.

There is nothing remarkable about this game. Even if you are a fan of First-Person Shooters, like myself, I'd still pass this one off. It's entertaining for about 10 minutes, then you will want to play a different shooter, or game, all together. If it weren't for that annoying dinosaur "flaw," I'd probably rate it at least a 6. That quality alone makes it almost unplayable. And since there is hardly ANY variety, it is annoyingly repetitive, even for a FPS.
Gameplay:2/10

Final Rating

This is not just another First-Person Shooter. No, it's below that. It wasted a lot of good potential and turned out to be my biggest disappointment of 2008. It is almost virtually unplayable because a "flaw" happens constantly. If you feel the need to play every FPS there is, don't play this with high expectations or you'll be just as disappointed, if not more, as me. I don't know about the multiplayer aspect at all, but if you are a fiend for that, it MIGHT be worth checking out for some quick, but cheap entertainment.

If you want a real Turok experience, or just a good FPS experience in general, play the originals for the N64 if available. If it's practically impossible for that, like if you don't own one, want one, or lack the common sense of being able to download an emulator and ROM, just look for other shooters on the 360 (or whichever other console you own that has shooters). I mean a system that virtually relies on First-Person Shooters for it's success, there is sure to be a many better than this. I personally could name probably over 50 shooters off the top of my head that are worth playing, but I'm not going to take the time to do that, considering it's incredibly easy to find one.

Skip this one.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/08

Game Release: Turok (US, 02/05/08)