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Turok Single-Player Impressions

The dinosaur hunter is back, but this time, he's in space. We took another look at this sci-fi reimagining of the franchise.

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It's been a long time since the original Turok hit the Nintendo 64, but Canadian developer Propaganda Games is aiming to revive the series with a new take on the character. There have been some bad games that have tarnished the dinosaur hunter's name, so this effort hits the reset button, turning the character into a hardened space marine who tackles both human and dinosaur enemies on alien planets. The game is due for release in the first quarter of 2008, and the Montréal-based developer travelled to London to give us an in-depth look at the game.

The dinosaur hunter is back, and so are the dinosaurs.
The dinosaur hunter is back, and so are the dinosaurs.

Running on the Xbox 360, the first level that we saw took place about 25 percent into the game. The level saw the main character of Turok forming part of the Whiskey Company. Turok is joined by non-playable characters Slade and Reese, who are making their way to a crash site to find their allies. The game will mix up both solo and squad-based missions, so you'll frequently have support from artificial intelligence characters while you're fighting through the jungles.

The jungle itself is almost like another character because the environment is alive with creatures of various different species. One of the cooler aspects of this setting is the way that the grass and other foliage react dynamically to what's moving through it. For example, you can see the path of the dinosaurs as they run through the thicker growth. If you throw a grenade, the surrounding grass will shake back and forth from the force of the blast. It's not totally realistic because in the real world, the grass would singe and burn, but it makes for a fairly impressive tech demo nonetheless.

On the weapons side, Turok has an arsenal of futuristic mechanical weapons to complement his trusty bow and arrow. The modern weaponry includes shotguns and semiautomatics, but we also saw some more bombastic side arms in the form of a rocket launcher, as well as the aforementioned grenades. Each weapon has a primary and secondary fire--the shotgun has a regular single shot, but it can also shoot off flares. This can obviously be used to light darkened areas, but experimental players will also find that the flares can be used to attract dinosaurs. If you fire one into a remote area, it can distract the dinosaurs while you sneak past. Or if you fire one close to an enemy, the dinosaurs will come over and maul the victim. Then there's the flame thrower--if you torch one of the dinosaurs with this bad boy, it will roll around on the ground in an effort to put out its flaming flesh. If you're in a pickle or you want to take a stealthier approach, you can use a knife to attack, which results in a third-person view as Turok slits throats or stabs dinosaurs to death.

The bow and arrow is intended to be a major part of Turok's arsenal. It looks easy to use, with the power of each shot determined by how long you down hold the trigger. If you perform a weak shot, you may only stun or distract an enemy--we saw one instance where the enemy took an arrow to the leg only to casually pull it out and investigate. As you progress through the game, you'll have a variety of tipped arrows to use, with the ultimate being the very powerful tech arrows. Used in multiplayer, the tech arrows will take out pretty much anyone that you hit, thanks to their explosive tips, and they're useful in single-player as well.

While the Turok sequels saw the cast of dinosaurs becoming increasingly (and sometimes ridiculously) enhanced, this new game takes them back to basics. While none of the dinosaurs will have tech upgrades, many will be enhanced from the dinosaur breeds that we know existed on Earth. For example, the "lurkers" can run up trees. They're also incredibly fast and agile--almost what dinosaurs would be like if they were crossbred with cats. Or a squirrel. There are raptors that spit resin, as well as impossibly large species that will act as minibosses throughout the game. The general aim has been to make the combat as frantic as possible, and if you let dinosaurs attack from close range, you'll enter a quick-time event where you need to press buttons to shake them off.

Turok's knife can be used to perform stealthy kills on both humans and dinos.
Turok's knife can be used to perform stealthy kills on both humans and dinos.

Turok's been built using Unreal Engine 3, and Epic's engine looks to be providing a decent backbone to a visually engaging game. There was some slowdown, but the game has some excellent animation and detailed environments. There are some nice effects, such as the battle-torn dinosaurs that feature scars all over their bodies, as well as the aforementioned dynamic grass. All characters, from the dinosaurs to the humans, are well animated, and you can have a lot of fun playing around with the dynamics between the two warring species. We saw the developers elaborately set up mines in close proximity to flares between a section of dinos and humans. The flares attracted the dinosaurs toward the humans, with a number of mines between them; thus, some of the dinos walked into the trap while the rest pounced on the human enemy and mauled them. Afterward, the humans snuck up on the dinosaurs with a knife and jumped on their backs to stab them to death.

There's more to Turok than just the single-player game, and our recent look at the multiplayer element has a detailed account of that game mode too. At this stage, Turok looks like an exciting proposition, with plenty of neat features to set it apart from the pack. We'd have definitely liked hands-on time with the game, especially given the close proximity of the Q1 2008 release date, but we're assured that this will be possible in the future. Until then, check out the brand new images that we have in our gallery and keep your eyes peeled for more information as we get it.

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