Turok: Evolution PAL Review
Turok: Evolution is the latest title in the long running Turok series of games. Previously, all Turok games appeared exclusively on Nintendo 64. Turok: Evolution is the first title in the series to go multi-platform.
Features
- Expansive prehistoric environments
- 16 unique weapons
- Unique "Flight Mode"
- 14 multiplayer modes
Much like previous instalments in the series, Turok: Evolution once again sends the player into the Lost Land to defeat a foe who intends to wreak havoc on the world with his minions. In this latest title, a character known as Tal'Set takes the reigns as Turok. The primary enemy in the game is known as Captain Bruckner, who is labeled as "a viscious Indian fighter from the American west".
As with previous games in the series, the most unique aspect of Turok: Evolution is its vast array of interesting weapons. Weapons such as the Pistol, Tek Bow and Rocket Launcher make their return this time around. But various new weapons have been added, including the Dark Matter Cube (similar to a grenade), the Antigrav Beam (used to slam enemies into walls and ceilings) and the Spider Mine (allowing you to lure enemies into a trap, bomb them or release a burst of toxic gas) among others.
James Burns: I must admit, I was never a huge fan of the original Turok games on Nintendo 64. Despite the fact that many see Turok 2 as being the pinnacle of the series, I felt that it was a let down. Sure, it looked wonderful. And the weapons were amazing. But the gameplay was lacking, I felt. The levels were enormous and difficult to navigate; half the time I was simply trying to get my bearings and work out where to go next. It just felt a little disorganized. And let's face it, moving around the game world should never feel like a chore.
To an extent, Turok: Evolution addresses this concern. The environments in this game are massive to be sure, but they are designed in a much more linear fashion than previous Turok games. Essentially, the levels in Turok: Evolution are a "point A to point B" affair. Thankfully, the levels themselves do not become tedious to navigate, whilst at the same time, they rarely feel too confined or limited.
But where Turok: Evolution adequately addresses one concern, it creates several others. The most frustrating of which is perhaps the way the game controls. On the default sensitivity setting, you will find the stick response to be very sluggish and sloppy. This makes it almost impossible to aim at any enemy that isn't standing right infront of you. The extremely poor stick response prompted me to increase sensitivity to about level 8 (there are 10 levels of sensitivity). Even at this level, however, stick response is still poor. At one point I tried moving to level 10, which was quite bizarre. Despite the fact that one little push of the stick would prompt a ridiculously quick/large movement, the game still responded slowly. It was almost like playing on the Internet with severe lag -- not good at all. Control response is important in any game and Turok: Evolution clearly fails in this regard. Despite the initial problems I had with the controls, I decided to press on and see if the game had anything worthwhile to offer.
As mentioned, the single player experience is primarily about moving from point A to point B. Of course, you will often be required to perform specific tasks such as pressing buttons to open gates or saving hostages. But ultimately, these objectives are clearly laid right infront of you in a very linear fashion. The end result is that the puzzles/objectives cease to contain any challenge whatsoever.
The primary challenge comes from the game's various enemy characters. But once again, this is an area that needed significantly more refinement. Much has been made about the enemy tactics in Turok: Evolution. Unfortunately, these tactics are applied either at the wrong time or in the wrong way. And in some cases, enemies simply ignore the use of any tactics at all. In some cases, you'll have a sniper shooting at you from a great distance. Once you locate the sniper, it's simply a matter of shooting him back. For the most part, the snipers in Turok: Evolution make very little attempt to avoid your fire. Some enemies, however, do actually run away and hide behind objects. And certainly, this adds increased excitement and challenge to the game's combat. However in some situations, if I damaged an enemy enough, the enemy would run straight at me and begin shooting at me from arm's length. That seems to be the total opposite of what a wounded enemy would normally do -- and it happened frequently throughout the game. It makes the enemies sound easy to kill, but they aren't. You'll be spending a lot of your time shifting the crosshairs over them (and you'll probably die quite often due to lack of movement/aim response).
As mentioned above, Turok: Evolution contains a myraid of interesting weaponry. This is one area where Turok truly demonstrates its potential. The secondary fire mode on each weapon also greatly expands the opportunity to inflict some serious damage on the game's enemies. From the Dark Matter Cube (which sucks in all enemies nearby, once detonated) to the Spider Mine (which is an incredibly fun weapon to use, especially in multiplayer), you definitely won't run out of interesting ways to extract some gibs here and there (I just had to fit the word "gibs" into the review somewhere).
In addition to the standard FPS stuff, you'll also find a unique Flight Mode included in the game. In fact, the game's entire second chapter is nothing but Flight Mode. Flight Mode basically consists of Tal'Set riding on the back of a pteradactyl. Think Star Fox and you'l have an idea of how it works. Surprisingly, I found the Flight Mode to be more fun than the standard FPS game. The pteradactyl doesn't suffer from the same "lag" in terms of control and actually ends up feeling quite smooth and comfortable to control. The Flight Mode levels are more than a mere diversion, but they don't play a huge role in the game overall. It would probably have been better if Acclaim had omitted the Flight Mode and spent that time fine-tuning the main FPS game.
Multiplayer mode is another major aspect of Turok: Evolution. And surprisingly, the multiplayer game contains a whopping 14 multiplayer modes. It also contains a significant amount of multiplayer levels, though most are quite small. Once again, multiplayer mode might actually be fun if it wasn't for the game's horrible control. Perhaps worst of all, I haven't found an option to increase stick sensitivity in multiplayer -- at least that would have helped. My younger siblings enjoyed Turok's multiplayer mode, but I suspect that older gamers are going to be much more interested in what TimeSplitters 2 has to offer in this department.
Visually, Turok: Evolution is a mixed bag. Some of the jungle levels look almost worse than what you'd find in Turok 2. The addition of plant life and grass, however, provides a somewhat more detailed look to these levels. Water in particular is very bad; it looks as though it is made of about five low-quality frames that have been hastily looped together. Later levels in the game generally tend to look much better, with a high draw distance and some nice texture work. Some levels in the game feature large dams or huge bridges -- there are certainly times where you will be quite impressed with the game's visuals. But overall, Turok: Evolution's graphics come off as rushed and low quality.
Sound is an area where Turok: Evolution doesn't perfom quite so badly. Most of the game's ambient music is appropriate and fits the mood quite well. Soft drum beats and faster-paced melodies are clear, crisp and provide the right mood for the game. Sound design, like graphics, is also sloppy in some areas -- particularly voice acting. You will notice some sequences where you simply can't make out what the characters are saying, due to the fact that the voices sometimes sound as though they are laced with heavy static.
If you're a fan of previous Turok games, you should think twice about Turok: Evolution. This game is really nothing like previous games in the series, with the exception of the weaponry. And if you're currently deciding what FPS you should own for GameCube, I don't think there can be any question that TimeSplitters 2 is the much more worthy purchase. But if you own TS2 and you're desperate for more FPS action, you shouldn't dismiss Turok: Evolution entirely. While it does come off as being a highly rushed product, there is still some fun to be had. If you're not a huge FPS fan, then I'm afraid this game is worthy only as a rental.