The “Turok” series has been dead for a long time.
When the game first came out for Nintendo 64, it was heralded as one of the best console first-person shooters. The two proper sequels that followed improved upon their predecessor.
But when Turok Evolution came out on the next generation of consoles, the world wept as their favorite Native American hero was featured in what many considered to be one of the worst games ever. Now, almost six years later, the franchise is back with a Xbox 360 title, simply called “Turok.”
This game has potential but falls short in almost every area.
The story is about space marines that must find a war criminal on an unknown planet and bring him back to earth. As players progress, bits and pieces about Turok and the war criminal, Kane, will be revealed through some very cool flashbacks. The flashbacks will make Turok seem more human and develop his character better than anything else in the game. That’s a problem. The flashbacks may be cool, but the story never picks up. Deeper things are hinted at and the dialog can be funny at times, but it just seems like a summer flick that relies too much on explosions and action with not enough story development. It’s just too bad that the depth isn’t there. Much of that is also due to the fact that the game is beatable in two sittings.
The gameplay is generic but works. Some areas of the game seem to hand out cheap deaths, and can get frustrating as hell. After the short campaign, players can play the typical capture-the-flag and death match modes online. The only thing that sets these modes apart is the inclusion of dinosaurs and bugs on the maps that will constantly attack everyone in the match. One neat online mode is a four-person co-op mode. Unfortunately the mode only has three maps to play, more potential that never gets built upon.
It was hard to love this game. I liked it, but could never stop thinking of what this game might have been if only it had spent more time in development. Hopefully the next “Turok” game doesn’t take so long to come out, and the developers take the time to build on all of the potential laid out in this game to make a worthy sequel.
Source: Advance Titan