Grind your teeth for unforgiving checkpoints, relentless enemies and frustratingly difficult gameplay.
Contains: Strong Violence, Language and Threat
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Turok is a Sci-Fi First Person shooter that takes place on a terraformed planet inhabited by genetically engineered dinosaurs and ruthless armed forces.
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STORY - 3/5
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You take on the role of a soldier named Joseph Turok. Previously, Turok was a member of Wolf Pack, a specialized military detachment whose members were trained in black ops by General Roland Kane. Turok had a falling out with Kane's group and was later reassigned to the general military and was eventually made the newest member of Whiskey Company-a team that has been assembled to apprehend his former mentor, a now wanted man, and return him to Earth. After committing various war crimes, Kane had disappeared three years earlier only to surface on a backwater world, populated by dinosaurs.
You crash land on the terraformed surface, escape the crash, and are seemingly alone in the dense and thick jungles. It isn't long before you realize the truth of the planet you've stepped on to, and are pursued by dinosaurs until you catch up on the rest of your squad.
Its a complete reboot of the series, and ignores all previous games storylines, and this new storyline which is offered, is an entertaining and pleasing new entry to the Turok universe.
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CHARACTERS - 3/5
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A great cast of familiar actors create unique likenesses for each of the characters they portray, which include Ron Perlman, Timothy Olyphant, Donnie Wahlberg and Powers Boothe.
Joseph Turok is the game's main protagonist who is capable of using a longbow, and is effective with his blade. Your presence isn't welcomed by one of the group called Slade. Aswell as a short temper, he also has a grudge against Turok, because of a mysterious event which took place when Turok was a part of Wolf Pack. All of the characters are interesting individuals, and watching their reactions towards Turok provides some entertaining moments, even if a couple do get on your nerves during the gameplay.
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GAMEPLAY - 2/5
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Frequent ambushes of highly trained military soldiers, and hordes of deadly man-eating dinosaurs are the consistent threats of Turok, but there isn't much time to admire the surroundings with the vast amount of damage you'll be taking at regular intervals.
The gameplay is frustratingly difficult, and will hinder enjoyment, which turns out to be a rare offering for the duration of the game. A positive opening sequence sees you and a surviving squad mate escape the crash unhurt. Not long after, you witness the harshness of the planet literally come to life with prehistoric creatures, and watch helplessly as your partner is dragged into the trees and dispatched with vicious force and presumably eaten by something hungry for flesh. Your tense and anxious to move on, and anxious to see what else this planet is home to.
Well it isn't long before your fear is answered, but it probably isn't the answer you were hoping for. The variety of dinosaurs are ferocious and attack you brutally, but with many trying to latch onto your flesh at one time, change your whole complexion of the word 'fun'. The human foes as well as the genetic inhabitants are relentless to take down, and are the reason why Turok is such a frustratingly challenging game.
You are thrust into unlikely scenarios which test your patience, and when all seems like things are looking up, your thoughts are demolished because of a ridiculous lack of checkpoints which are few and far between. Weapons prove ineffective on many enemy types, and the dodge manoeuvre is pointless unless your up against one Velociraptor at a time. You get knocked off your feet easily, and the screen turns to that near death stage of a red filter around the edges of the screen ridiculously quickly, giving you no chance to regenerate against the upcoming hordes beyond.
Its fair to say, that the developers weren't looking to create a fun game, but an excruciatingly challenging one, that is complete with harsh moments of despair, where its almost impossible to encounter any opportunities that relish satisfaction for your efforts. Your knife comes in handy for some dinosaurs if you manage to get to the side of them and quickly snap up your chance to execute a finishing move, but the dodge function doesn't work out like you'd hope, and merely delays the inevitable moment of you suffering more painful frustration.
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GRAPHICS - 3/5
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When you reach the rare moments for a chance to relax, you'll be able to scout out your environments, and the visuals are a pleasant surprise. Turok uses a heavily modified version of the Unreal 3 Engine, with modifications on realistic textures, A.I, and particle effects. The lighting of the jungle is really well integrated, and you can really believe the surroundings your trapped in and the sun trying to shine its way through the plant growth to shed some light for the bloodshed ahead. The colours are vibrant and suit the jungle environments, flares give the notion of feeling comforted with more light and blood spurts when slashing with the knife sound deliciously brutal, and provide a sense of wanting to silent kill more enemies in the same manner.
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SOUND - 4/5
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The voice acting is a strong point for the sound portion of the game, and because of the talents of famous faces, you can fully understand why. While guns don't sound good to shoot, and often sound muffled and weak, the gameplay still has some unlikely good points to take away from it. Dinosaurs produce realistically savage sounds, and constantly keep you on your toes in time to adapt to their inevitable presence somewhere in the environment, and their are times of awkward silence when you know something bad will happen, since the only sound is coming from the chirping creatures high above your position. Stomaching the fact your not alone is a tense procedure throughout the game, especially when some dinosaurs conceal their appearence in trees, and lie in wait in tall grass.
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CONTROLS - 2/5
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The controls are far from comforting, and changing weapons has rarely been more awkward and confusing. Your given the option to duel wield different types of weapons together, but its pointless and never fits the shootouts you'll be facing. Why have a shotgun coinciding with a submachine gun? There may be moments where this could work, but picking the correct moment is something you'll likely not take on, since your enemies won't wait for you to finish changing strategy. The aim-assist is woefully inadequate and don't help the game at all. But, the controls are at least responsive, and so when your given the chance to silently dispatch an enemy, it will thankfully work out like you hoped.
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ATMOSPHERE - 4/5
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It may be unforgiving and tragically difficult, but at least a tension-filled atmosphere is generated. With a strong focus of survival in natural environments, Turok will place you in many nerve-wracking situations, whether you need to lure a lizard-like beast out of a tree to dispatch it, or needing to make it past a huge T-Rex to get to the objective, you'll be on edge for nearly the whole game when dinosaurs are involved. The problem is, the sense of tension in various predicaments can easily be withheld from you if you have to replay it. Unfortunately there are lots of common errors you'll make, and just one is enough to force to restart from the far away checkpoint, which eventually misleads you from the enjoyment factor unnecessarily.
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ENEMY AI - 3/5
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The modelling and animations of the dinosaurs are certainly a respectable achievement in Turok, and its incredible watching a Tyrannosaurus Rex flex its leg muscles accordingly when striding towards groups of enemies and even you in an attempt to eat you. The dinosaurs act as a neutral force and, if you choose to, can be used as a tool to attack enemy soldiers by luring them with flares and gun fire. Its a bit ineffective though unless you dash past dinosaurs in the hope that human foes are waiting a bit further down the path.
Friendly AI is poor, and you'll feel very much alone in some battles, where your team mates either take too much damage and stay down on the ground for lengthy durations, or don't choose to attack at all, letting you do all the work to lure lizard-like dinosaurs out of the foreboding jungle.
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LENGTH - 3/5
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If you manage to not submit to defeat, and keep Turok resumed in your system, then the length of the campaign will probably last a surprisingly long time, thanks to the level of challenges blocking nearly every route to your main goal. If you can endure all these irritating obstacles, then you'll reach the end within roughly 8-10 hours.
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REPLAY VALUE - 1/5
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Turok is definitely not a game worth recommending for one playthrough, and if you manage to beat the game, there is no alternative but to sell it as quickly as possible to gain some of the money you lost purchasing it.
Turok had a good premise, but because of inconsistent checkpoints and brutally annoying enemies, the possibility to enjoy the game collapses in on itself, and in the end make Turok a total letdown which does nothing spectacular other than testing your patience at every hostile onslaught.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 6/10
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Good Points: Dinosaur modelling and animations look natural and realistic, Varied mission objectives, Tense atmosphere in good looking environments, Good cast of characters voiced by familiar acting talents.
Bad Points: Gameplay is frustratingly difficult, Unforgiving checkpoint system, Poor friendly AI, Weapons don't feel fun to shoot, You get constantly knocked down from dinosaurs and explosives, Awkward controls with some pointless features.