Numerous flaws weigh down what could've been a game of solid, though mindless, fun.
I was a huge fan of Turok back in the N64 days, good or bad. That said, I was much younger back then, so the harsh difficulty meant I enjoyed mostly due to the game's ridiculous cheats. That said, pile after pile of garbage has given cause to a total series reboot developed right here in my hometown of Vancouver. So let's see how it does.
The Good
Let's get this out of the way: knife kills are awesome in this game. In fact, they're so awesome, that experiencing them in the demo was enough for me to purchase this game. They are incredibly satisfying and are incredibly powerful against dinos. Turok does a great job in doing something different in knife mechanics, going for triggered cut-scene insta-kills over the semi-useless slashing in most games. Great job here.
The voice acting is top-notch, as one look at the cast list will show you (Ron Pearlman, Timothy Olyphant, Donnie Wahlberg, and Powers Boothe? Yes please!). The story, though not great, is serviceable, as are the inter-character dynamics. The little flashback cutscenes with Turok's time in the wolf pack are also well done.
Overall, the game doesn't do THAT much new. It's basically a solid first person shooter that basically is, for better or for worse, a good example of "the typical FPS." The graphics are decent, as are the guns and the gameplay.
Dinosaurs basically spice things up a bit. It seems as though the design philosophy was "make a standard fps and dump in dinos." It works too, for the most part. This is especially true with the multiplayer, which would be bog standard to the point of boredom were it not for the inclusion of the dinosaurs.
The Bad
Word of warning: you spend more time fighting humans then anything else. This really places Turok back at "bog standard fps" territory.
This also showcases one of Turok's two greatest flaws, that being the HORRIBLE AI. Enemies frequently run back and forth like headless chickens as they suffer targetting problems. They also just as frequently hide in cover....only they're just leaning against a wall and are entirely exposed to your cover. Turok also has a nasty glitch where the enemy always seems to spot and target you to a pre-natural level. Say you run in with your 4 squad mates in single player. Say your squad mates are all 3 feet away from the enemy and you are a good 20-30 feet away, not firing. Whelp, the enemy will all too often (almost every time in facT) utterly ignore your squad and immediately begin firing on you. Lame.
Speaking of the squad....when rolling with them, it all often felt too chaotic and too restricted. The complete lack of squad commands made things annoying, often forcing you to go in first for no reason at all or, at best, leaving your squad mates' fire utterly useless.
That said, they're shots are utterly useless. For some reason, I SWEAR that your squad has a difficult time killing baddies. They'll hit them sure, but it takes forever for them to land the "killing shot." Go figure.
Ah yes, those two flaws I mentioned. Flaw number 2 is the much maligned checkpoint system, which seems to be totally random. At times, you'll have two checkpoints minutes apart with nothing other than a cutscene separating them. At other times, you'll have to wade through firefight after firefight without one. It's absolutely infuriating. The "elevator of doom" in the second level is a prime example. The checkpoint system is utterly broken and feels as though no thought went into point placement.
To make dying even more a frustrating experience, cut-scenes are all entirely non-skippable. Ugh.
On another note, I found the weapon and character designs to be utterly bland and uninspired. When characters still don't feel utterly unique with such an A-list voice cast...you know something's gone wrong. The guns are also textbook FPS stuff as well...barring bow and knife. Aside from Turok, characters have few distinguishing features and do not stand out in their own game...let alone in comparison to other games. The weaponry is also somewhat typical.
Knife kills are also touchy. Often hitting the button when prompted simply won't go. Go figure.
Turrets are also bordering on useless in the game. They end up leaving you immobile and out in the open, giving you a death sentence. The prime reason for this is that Propagandi decided to break the norm and have turrets reload, and boy does it take forever. Yes, turrets should realistically reload but Turok shows why most games ditch that one rule of realism...pouring out consistent firepower is an issue of game balance, to balance out your being immobile and open. Hence, in Turok, turrets are death traps....all the more so when trying to hit little flying bugs that camouflage with the sky they're flying against.
On a narrative level, the story often feels like it's loses focus. Turok's motive for hunting Kane feels far away and undeveloped and at the end, you wish the motive was stronger and better characterized. Also, you'll often find yourself trying to make sense of it all, asking yourself "wait, i'm going over to that base why? How did I end up here again? etc" That's not good.
Lastly, many of the game's most interesting options end up totally impracticeable in context. Using the flare to control dinos or have them attack enemies at flare sounds really cool, and could've been, if it wasn't so darn difficult to implement. In the end, knifing the dinos and shooting the baddies with your boring pulse/assault rifle is just 50x easier and more efficient then using the flare, which is a shame. There's just no incentive to take the cooler option and in fact, it's really difficult to pull off.
The Conclusion
In the end, Turok is more or less an absolutely bog standard FPS with cool dinosaur battles, awesome knife kills, bad AI, and a bad save system, all to add a bit of flavor. It had potential, but there are just too many flaws and too many broad areas of blandness. At least it's a good length for games these days and the chapters are well paced. Give it a rent or buy it at a discount, but don't pay full price.