Turok Preview
We visit Propaganda Games in Vancouver and spend some quality time with Turok.
After events in both San Francisco and London, we've seen a fair bit of Turok in recent weeks. Said events focused on Turok's multiplayer and single-player content, respectively, so when we were invited to visit Propaganda Games in Vancouver earlier this month, we weren't entirely sure what there was left to see. There was plenty, as it turns out. Not only did we get to see a lot more of the single-player campaign and to play on previously unseen multiplayer maps, but we were also afforded our first look at the game's co-op and "wargames" modes. We should also mention that this was our first opportunity to see Turok running on the PlayStation 3, and we're pleased to report that it's practically indistinguishable from the Xbox 360 version.
First up was a guided tour that took in levels and locales from all over the single-player campaign. Without wishing to give too much away about Turok's plot, it's clear that Joseph Turok (that's you) and a number of his colleagues from the Whiskey Company elite commando team have become separated after crash-landing on a planet where they're supposed to be going after a guy named Roland Kane. Funded by the Mendel-Gruman Corporation, Kane has established a number of bases and research facilities on the planet and also commands the sizeable military force tasked with protecting them. Turok and his colleagues become separated as a result of the aforementioned crash and so, as you progress through the game, you'll be reunited with (and maybe even lose) some of them.
You won't be able to control your colleagues in Turok, but having played through a couple of levels in which we were accompanied by up to three of them, we can report that their behavior wasn't problematic in the slightest. Our colleagues stayed back and out of sight when we were moving quietly through tall grass en route to a stealthy knife kill, for example, but were quick to rush to our defense anytime we came under attack from a Mendel-Gruman operative or a dinosaur. We also noticed that our colleagues were pretty useful when, in a level taken from relatively early in the campaign, we assaulted a small Mendel-Gruman equipment area. Our guys certainly weren't so effective that we had nothing to do, but they performed well in their support roles and, for the most part, looked to be taking cover quite intelligently when they came under fire. The artificial intelligence of the Mendel-Gruman forces appears comparable to that of the friendly characters, and we were particularly impressed by the believable way in which they reacted after stumbling upon the body of one of their comrades that we'd silently taken out with a knife just a few minutes earlier--almost looking panicked as they alerted each other and set about searching for the killer.
Turok wouldn't be Turok without plenty of dinosaurs, of course, and while checking out single-player content we had plenty of opportunities to get up close and personal with a number of different species. We won't pretend that we remember even half of the dinos' names, but their varied behaviors made a lasting impression, and you might be surprised to learn that the huge Tyrannosaurus rex in the aptly titled "Mother Superior" level isn't necessarily the one that we're most worried about. No, that honor goes to the small "lurker" dinosaurs that we were introduced to toward the end of our demo. The lurkers like to hang out on vertical rock surfaces and on trees, where they wait to leap at unsuspecting passersby. Fortunately, the lurkers aren't too difficult to spot from a distance if you know where to look, and can be picked off with a sniper rifle or the bow before they even know that you're in the area. Get too close, though, and you'll find that they're a formidable foe, largely because they're extremely fast and aren't shy about attacking in numbers.
Other dinosaurs that we encountered during our time with the single-player portion of Turok included raptors, who roam in packs and are extremely protective of their nests, and a number of different herbivore species that have no interest in getting into a fight unless they're provoked. Predictably, the most memorable encounter was with the aforementioned T. rex, which we had tracked back to her nest after she made off with a colleague. The ensuing battle took place in a forest clearing that served as an arena of sorts and in which there were very few places for us to take cover. Rocks and large exposed tree roots afforded temporary respite from the T. rex's relentless attacks, but no area offered complete protection; and while simply standing still might've worked in Jurassic Park, we didn't feel inclined to try it in Turok. The T. rex is the closest thing we've seen to a boss enemy in Turok, incidentally, and we're told that there are at least three or four such encounters in the campaign.
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- GameSpot Score6.0fair
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- ESRB: Mature
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