Turok: Evolution

Turok: Evolution (TE) is the newest genesis of the Turok series that has brought the adventure of hunting and killing dinosaurs (both normal and of the mutated variety) to home consoles everywhere. But instead of treading new ground in the first-person shooter genre, TE copies the formulaic FPS foundation so much so that gamers will get nothing in the whole package they haven’t seen done better in other games. Still, despite its lack of innovation, TE (barely) manages to at least be worthy of the game rotation of Xbox FPS fans that have grown tired of replaying Halo or Agent Under Fire and are looking for a change of scenery.

The developers obviously had Halo in mind when they created TE. Much of what is in TE (weapons, level design, music) has been done before better, especially in Halo. The level layouts are similar in style and length to what was seen in Halo’s impressive design. But there are a few too many areas of the game where its unclear as to where you should be going next to advance in the action and also precariously hidden danger areas on cliff-type terrain that wind up sending you unexpectedly plummeting to your death, forcing you to repeat levels.

TE’s story doesn’t really make a hell whole lot of sense and you’ll definitely feel like your in the middle of a Jurassic Park-themed game at times, but at least you’ll get plenty of playing time on the game’s levels. TE isn’t a short game. It will take at least 25 hours to finish the game’s 14 levels. As the story goes, you are Tal’Set, leader of the Saguin nation of North American Indians. During a battle against Captain Bruckner, you both find yourself thrust into an alternate world called the Lost Land, filled with dinosaur creatures long extinct in the time you came from. In addition to that, there is a race of vicious mutated dino-men under the command of Lord Tyrannus that ally with Bruckner and whom you will battle against with your human compatriots. Basically it turns into a little cowboys-and-indians action mixed with Jurassic Park-meets-the-Time Machine.

What drove me absolutely insane were the levels that require you to ditch the FPS gameplay and jump on the back of a Quetzalcoatlus. A large flying dinosaur controlled by the humans you find yourself fighting along side, you must shoot your way through perilous cliffs and cavernous territory with a lack of acceptable controls to navigate safely to the mission’s end. It’s apparent that the old Sega Saturn Panzer Dragoon games (as well as the upcoming Xbox-exclusive series update, Panzer Dragoon Orta) are the inspiration of TE’s flight mode.

But while the old rail-driven action of the Panzer Dragoon had decent shooting and flight controls that made playing them a good time, TE’s totally-devoid-of-good- -control flying missions usually require multiple frustrating attempts to complete. Some are so difficult, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is many a gamer that has abandoned the game at that point, maddeningly refusing to progress any further (and using cheat codes doesn’t help you here either: you can still die even with the invincibility cheat activated). That’s how badly these flying missions detract from the gameplay experience.

One area where the developers really nailed the Halo impression is in the sound and musical score department. While it can’t top the beautifully perfect music that floated throughout Halo, it’s right up there in quality. The sound effects are exceptionally well crafted too. The sound of the thick jungle floor being trounced by your feet (or for that case your enemy’s feet or the dinosaurs populating the world) is a good touch. The chatter of the mutant dinosaurs that comprise the rather large force that squares off against you is similar to what was heard in Halo in the same respect. Weapons fire provides the appropriate amount of genuine noise, and while not overly impressive the roaring and vocalizations of the many dinosaurs that fill TE are good.

Defined by the PC’s keyboard and mouse control, FPS action has been notoriously difficult in the past translating to consoles. The default controller setup in TE copies Halo, but if you like me aren’t totally comfortable with that configuration, it can be changed. The game handles reasonably well, but it can get a little twitchy at times, particularly when trying to climb up ladders or vines. As already mentioned, the flight controls are atrociously difficult and unwieldy, so I won’t embellish any further on that. Overall, having your character do what you want him to do is done with relative ease. One minor disappointment was not being able to use any of the vehicles that show up in the dino-men's bases.

Of course as you would expect there’s the usual array of weapons that show up in a FPS. You've got your flame throwers, rocket launchers, plasma cannons, shotguns, grenades, pistols, and machine gun-type weaponry in your arsenal. Since you are an Indian, you have a bow with a variety of different arrows as well. And what would an well-stocked arsenal be without a small-scale nuke at your disposal to make burnt toast of everything in sight. One great feature of the various weapons is that each has an alternate (usually more powerful) second attack or function, which usually comes from an upgrade found in your travels.

For instance, the rocket launcher can be configured with a power-up to shoot five missiles instead of one. Or even better yet, a nuke attachment can be fitted for when you want to get radioactive on the enemy. Also lying around are power-ups for health, keys that must be found to open blocked entranceways and ammo refills for your weapons. These are not always strategically placed, though, as sometimes they will be in areas where you won’t need them and they will be sorely missing from parts of the game where you really could use a health kit or extra round of ammunition after or during a heavy battle.

Graphically the game isn’t spectacular, but can be impressive at times. The dinosaurs that you encounter are realistically rendered. Some of the dinos seen are the brontosaurus, compys, vicious raptors, and the bad boy of them all, tyrannosaurus rex. The mutated dino-men in TE kind of resemble the soldiers that were in the forgettable Super Mario Bros. live-action flick from a few years back Some of the outdoor levels have the appropriate level of jungleness to their appearance, although when you find yourself surrounded by large jungle plants up close there’s a massive outbreak of pixelation. Also the times when you find yourself submerged in water can disappointingly create a graphical breakup and flutter that creates some confusing gameplay moments.

And finally, what would a FPS be without multiplayer? The usual deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag is joined by some unusual modes like monkey tag, where the object is for you to hold onto the monkey (yeah, a monkey) the longest. There’s also a multiplayer fight using the aforementioned Questzalcoatluses, but I DEFINITELY would recommend staying away from that. One fun character that is available to select from in multiplayer is a raptor. You can’t pick up any weapons, but your sharp claws, teeth and swift movement make up for it.

Turok: Evolution really tries too hard (unsuccessfully for the most part) to be just like Halo in many areas and the flying levels nearly ruin the game experience, but the levels that are strictly first-person shooting in addition to the good multiplayer options make up for it by being a bloody dino-killing good time. If the game was more clear on your level objectives, the levels themselves filled with less invisible walls, and the flight missions were done with better controls (or my choice eliminated altogether) then TE could have been closer in quality to the game it wants so badly to be.

- Lee Cieniawa

lcieniawa@armchairempire.com