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I’m not really a huge fan of the Turok series, although I did enjoy the
original that was released on the N64. When that game spawned two more sequels
and one multi-player “expansion”, the games generally began to decrease in every
possible aspect including gameplay, replay value, fun factor, etc., and
eventually the series started back up into the shadows and for awhile there
wasn’t much talk about the Turok series. Then not too long ago,
speculation surfaced that another installment in the Turok series was set
for release on one of the next generation platforms. When this information
surfaced, I started thinking to myself that it was most likely going to be
released as a Gamecube exclusive because the series was an N64 exclusive. After
awhile, the speculation started turning into announcements from Acclaim, and
soon enough screen shots started to rise on the internet, and Acclaim started
giving press statements like that said stuff like this will be the best
first-person shooter to date, and other things like that...and also an
announcement was made about it going to ALL three next-generation platforms;
Gamecube, X-Box, and Playstation 2. Now the game has made it’s release, does it
live up the name?
Plot/Story:
When an old American Civil War lookin’ fellow, named Captain Tobias Buckner,
ambushes the Saquin Tribe, the human race is found to be facing extinction. Now
we’ve got Tal’Set, a mortally wounded warrior that engages in combat with
Bruckner, when a cave-in sends Tal’Set into an underground tavern, where only
moments from death, a portal opens up and pulls Tal’Set into the “Lost Land”.
Just as Tal’Set was about to side with death, Seer Tarkeen saves him and is
nursed back to health by the “River People”.
Now Tal’Set goes out to find who has brought him to this “Lost Land”, and this
is when he discovers that his role in life is much more than he though, which is
to become Turok, the Son of Stone, and protect and savior of the people. Tal’Set
doesn’t want to accept this destiny, he finds out that the leader of the
Dinosoid armies, Lord Tyrannus, sets out to purify the “Lost Land” by
slaughtering anything and everything who doesn’t bow to him and join him. Now
Tal’Set is off on his adventure to prevent all this and fight Captain Buckner.
Gameplay:
First of all, before we start anything, let it be known that Turok: Evolution
doesn’t continue the Turok series, in fact it’s actually a prequel, which
explains events that are in connection with the games on the N64. There are
about 15 chapters, each having 2-3 or so areas, adding up to 15 levels of bloody
fun. Now there are two types of levels; you’re either in the air, or you’re
playing traditional Turok on the ground. First to the flight levels,
which were a really good idea to add to the game in order to keep the Turok
games fresh instead of going down the crapper like those Army Men games
did (actually they probably never got OUT of the crapper when they first
started). For the levels you take flight in, you’ll be riding your trusty
Quetzalcoatlus, or what I like to call it, the really big prehistoric bird with
long wings(40 feet to be exact). The use of weapons isn’t too complicated to use
and choose, as there’s only a blaster and missiles that you can use; “L-2”
controls the missiles, which act as homing targets when you’re locked on to an
enemy fighter, and the “R-2” button controls the blasters, which you have an
unlimited amount of while you only have up to 20 missiles to use. The flight
levels aren’t very action packed, and most of it consists of a few fighters that
you have to shoot down, and everything else is pretty straight forward; go
through there, swing around here, watch out for rocks, shoot this down, shoot
that down, and stuff like that. Also there are only certain areas where you can
free roam and circle around, and those are during the few fights that there are,
so 90% of the time you’re flying you’ll have to go on a pre-set path, dodging
obstacles and hoping that you don’t get shot down. The flying levels would have
been so much better if it weren’t for the sloppy controls, as you could barely
control the bird, and aerial combat? Pppshh! You can barely see what you’re
shooting at, and when you do, you’ve got to hit it right on, like you can’t
shoot ahead of where it’s going and it’ll run into your fire. Even if it DOES
run into your fire, you still have to hit them dead on, so if you’re into aerial
fighting, don’t expect an A+ product here.
Getting away from the air, once your feet are planted on the ground, you’re back
to being good ole’ Tal’Set, exploring through different environments that
include the Jungle and Indoor/Cave areas. Going back to what Turok was
meant to be, a dinosaur hunter, the Jungle is full of different dinosaurs like
little rabbit like critters, Velociraptors (can’t remember the exact spelling),
etc., and you’ve also got different Dinosoid soldiers like the Slegs, and as
your progress to the higher levels, bigger, badder, and meaner enemies will
start to show up, with stronger weapons and more difficulty to them, meaning one
shot kills won’t be as easy anymore unless you cut their head off or get em’ in
the noggin’. Speaking of the enemies, what’s a Turok game without some
pretty cool weapons. When you first start the game, you’ll have some kind of
Tomahawk looking thing that can be used to hack through lots of stuff like
foliage, multiple enemies, etc., and you can also use one big attack by holding
the fire button down to pull it back, and then letting go to clobber something
which will usually knock em’ out in one hit. Anyway, soon after you start you’ll
find a bow and arrow, Tek Bow, a pistol, and about 6 or 7 other weapons, each
usually stronger than the last, although the cooler ones are the shotgun and the
tek bow. Granted, there are only 7-8 weapons in the game, however each weapon
also has 1 or more upgrades, such as the snipers scope for the pistol that
allows you to pick enemies off from a distance, or the Tek Bow which allows you
to shoot different kinds of arrows including regular arrows, poison arrows, and
explosive arrows. Usually my favorite weapon in any game is the deadly shotgun,
however in Turok: Evolution I have taken a liking to the Tek Bow. It’s a
little more complicated than the regular bow and arrow, as you can’t just press
the button to shoot. You actually have to hold the fire button down to bring
back the arrow, and then you can shoot it; a little bit of a longer process,
yes, but the results are very satisfying.
If you like to go and shoot everything, causing a ruckus everywhere (“Bring
da mother f*****g ruckus”), then you can do that. But you can also take
a more silent approach, and use the Tek Bow’s 2x sniper scope to your advantage
by sniping off everything from a long distance away. My favorite part of the
game is definitely when you shoot an enemy in the head, there head like explodes
and blood goes everywhere, creating a one hit kill. It’s very awesome, and I
like to experiment, so I had a fun time using the Poison arrows which would send
enemies into spasmatic convulsions, and then the explosive arrows which if you
aim a straight shot to the head, will blow their head completely off, including
half of their upper torso.
Another aspect that Acclaim really worked on is the jungle areas, where you can
use the different foliage to sort of play the tactical way (like I like to do a
lot), and sort of sneak around Solid Snake style, using bushes, trees, grass,
etc. as cover from enemy sites. Also as in real life, if you run through the
foliage, you’re going to give your position away because you’re too loud and
plus the bushes/grass/trees will shake and give your position away to the enemy.
So instead of running, kind of walking with a brisk pace will allow you to sneak
up on enemies. There are a few levels where you’ll have to go stealthy, and use
a spider-like robot that you throw, and then control it in third person where
you can lure enemies into other locations to set them up so you can attack them
without being seen, and it can also be used as a bomb. This will become your
main tool for these levels, because if you’re spotted at all, the area will go
into a sort of “lock-down”, which basically means you’re screwed and you’ll have
to start over.
Graphics:
I’m actually surprised, as Acclaim did a nice little number on the graphics for
Turok: Evolution. But first to the bad part, which would be the character
models. Tal’Set still looks like he did on the N64, with a low-res polygonal
count, his facial and body features all look really, REALLY bad. That’s ok
though, because the environments in Turok: Evolution were extremely well
taken care of, as there is tons and tons of foliage in the jungle; which
includes grass, trees, bushes, etc., and there’s a big amount of activity
happening on-screen before there starts to be any frame rate stutters, something
the original Turok was absolutely horrible at. However aside from the
jungle attributes that kind of bring it to life, there’s not much else you can
say about the rest of the game.
Aside from what the surroundings look like, how about that gore, eh? That's
right, Turok: Evolution has kind of "matured" more since it's N64
brothers and sissies, as there is a ton more violence and blood than there ever
was in the other games. For instance, if you get a head shot with an explosive
arrow using your Tek Bow, not only will the enemy's head be gone, but the whole
upper half of it's torso will also have been blown up. This also means blood
flying everywhere, body's being blown apart, and the coolest part ever, the
"detachment of the heads". Probably the cooler part of the game, is when you
start the game up, the Iguana is walking and it smashes a fly with it's hand,
then you hear a crackle and it throws it's Tomahawk off the screen and the next
thing you see is it smashing into someone's head, and blood gushes from it's
neck and it falls down. Now that's what I call an intro, why can't more
companies be that creative.
Another newly added feature to the game is the usage of FMVs for a couple
cut-scenes throughout the game, which actually aren’t that bad and do have a
nice bit of detail to them, although I’m sure most people will probably be able
to notice that the picture is kind of grainy (and no it wasn’t my TV). You can
see the detail of Tal’Set’s chiseled stomach, and the realism of plants and
dinosaurs, including the big bad T-Rex which you get to fight later on in the
game.
Sound:
There about 1000 lines of sound effects, and more than 2,500 lines of spoken
dialogue make up most of the sound you’ll be hearing in this game, aside from
the background hum or drumming that kind of sets the mood in the game like when
the drums are beating really fast, there might be something that’s coming
towards you, although most of the time it’s just going to do that to keep you at
the tip top of your senses. The sound effects include, but are not limited to;
Dinosaur screams, flying bullets, the sound of a successful attack as you hear
blood squirting everywhere and them gasping for air, and a whole lot more. When
you use your weapon, the sound of each weapon’s ammo bouncing off of rocks,
trees, enemies, water; all have a distinctive sound to let you know what you’ve
hit, so it’s not the same “thump”, no matter what you hit.
Rock’s Thoughts:
If this game were to be considered a line segment, say line AC, then my feelings
on this game would be the midpoint B, because I enjoy certain parts of this
game, however a big majority of the game is rather boring, and once you beat it,
there’s absolutely no reason to play it again. This game would be ok for a 5-day
or so rental period, because the game isn’t the most challenging game you’ll
ever play, as I beat it in a 6 hour time period with no problems at all. Once
again, the PS2 is bombarded with more below average-average games.
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