Turok is a game that had great potential, but fall's far short.
The simple fact is that it is in no way a great game. And for some, including myself, only just crosses the line of passability.
The game is set on a distant prehistoric world, but unfortunately, the main character Turok, and his 'Whiskey Company' didn't intend on settling down there. As you progress through the game, new and old enemies arise and before you know it... well that's the thing.
Turok's story really is just confusing. Instead of just simply being on a planet that was forever populated by dinosaurs, it turns out that the main enemy has been 'experimenting' and has caused some sort of evolutionary overdrive to happen, for whatever reason. But the game never really makes and particular effort to try and explain the story in a deep way. It's also incredibly uninspired. I really expected better.
The world itself though is in my opinion, beautiful. The lush and vivid jungle enviroments really are visually astounding. The game is mostly composed of these kind of open jungle settings but also occasionally the game takes us to underground caves and into the odd factory. These however, aren't as great. They really suck away the excitment that the jungle creates and replaces it with a sense of claustrophobia and frustration. They generally consist of tired and recycles area's and passage ways that are repeated through out the level. It is a relief when you get back out into the wonderful jungle.
The gameplay and pace that Turok offers is quite mediocre and more often than not is very frustrating. The constant annoyence of random and frequent dinosaur attacks get very tiring very quickly, and the equally annoying human enemies are nothing more than moving ammo caches to me. When you actually do come to a planned out battle sequence, the gameplay is far too duck-and-covery. The enemies often are plentiful but the cover is not. Numerous times you will have to repeat the sequence over and over until you have the placement of cover and enemies memorized, and that gets very demoralizing. Instead of feeling like you actually want to get back into the game and beat the area when you die, you usually find yourself wondering if it's worth the hassle. Also, the weapons that the game others are just... crap. Really, there are some nice ideas like the sticky gun and the flamethrower, but the games arsenal is small, and very average. Another problem in combat is the camera and controls. When you use your knife to kill someone, an action sequence in third person shows you killing the enemies, but your are still vunerable to gun fire from the human enemies, and when you finish the move, the camera is usually pointing the complete opposite direction of the enemies, so you have your back to them.
When the dinosaurs attack you in packs, it is SERIOUSLY annoying getting knocked back on your ass when 3 or 4 raptors are basically tea-bagging you to death.
The game often tries to offer the option of stealth as opposed to the 'Gun Hoe' approach. But the stealth really is poorly done. The game packs too many enemies too close together for any really assassinations to take place. And for some reason, when one enemy in the area knows where you are, all the other enemies, even ones miles away from you become aware of your presence.
Multiplayer in Turok is suprisingly quite good. But unfortunately there aren't very many people that play it, so finding a decent match is actually quite a hassle. The map's are mostly quite well designed and the added presence of computer controlled dinosaurs spice up the action. The game does support 4-player online co-op, but there are only 4 maps and it more are less just one battle after another.
To sum up:
The Good: Brilliant and lush enviroments, great voice cast. Good stern multiplayer mode.
The Ugly: Very standard gameplay, terrible story, bad AI, contant annoyences soon take their tole.
Turok is a game that really had very good potential when you think of it. But unfortunately the developers messed it up badly. Maybe if the possible sequel was placed into the hands of a more acclaimed developer than the true Turok would be able to show the world what a good came it could be. Well just have to wait and see.
Thank you for reading.