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Posted on July 8th, 2005 - 12064 Reads

Rated Mature Turok: Evolution GameCube Review

-- Written by Clark Kent Nielsen



 Now that Acclaim has gone bankrupt and closed its doors, the company's franchises may disappear altogether. No more Turok? No more Extreme-G? Iggy's Reckin' Balls gone forever?! Let's not be pessimistic, though, since someone has been mysteriously releasing Army Men games, a franchise that belonged to the other deceased developer, 3DO. One thing that has happened to Acclaim's games are some sweet budget prices. $5 for Turok: Evolution? Count me in.

Turok: Evolution is a standard first-person shooter at heart. The objective for each level is very clear: get from point A to point B and stay alive. Helping you battle the lizard-like Slegs are a wide range of useful weapons: bows, shotguns, miniguns, rocket launchers, etc. It's a typical weapon roster for a FPS, but it works really well in Turok. I know, this sounds like something you've already played, but the level design really makes up for the other rudimentary parts. Though the levels end way too early, they involve just as much strategic puzzling as gory shooting. And it couldn't be a Turok game without dinosaurs! Imagine flipping around a corner and finding yourself face-to-face with a T-rex munching on another dead dinosaur... or stumbling across a Stegosaurus brawling with some Slegs. Dinosaurs are cool, and their implementation in Turok creates a more believable and threatening atmosphere. Every several chapters, the game switches gears and has you perform flight missions in a third-person view. However, these flight missions act more like a cover-up for a lack of regular level ideas. Their execution feels like Star Wars: Rogue Squadron and detracts from what should be the focus of any FPS.

You've been told before that people are unique, and when it comes to the controller setup for a FPS, this couldn't be more correct. Surely Acclaim knows that every FPS fanatic has his/her own idiosyncratic way of playing, so why isn't their an option to customize the controls? You get two setups to choose from. Two. The second setup isn't even comfortable, because it doesn't allow you to jump and run at the same time. I don't mind the default, though. Turok's controls feel very natural and responsive, and the inclusion of a jump is very nice. But this jump also manages to get your character stuck on ledges and other objects. Swimming isn't handled any better. I often times had to give in and drown, because I couldn't get my character to swim out of the pool.

The adventure spans about 14 chapters with several sub-levels in each. I would give yourself one or two hours for each chapter. The levels aren't very open and expansive, however, so there isn't any incentive to go back and explore. Luckily, Turok boasts a decent multiplayer mode. At first glance, it seems this four-player battle was only added as a last attempt to appeal to a wider audience, but the end result is still fun. Some of the multiplayer maps are a little too big for any less than four players, but the majority pave the way for some heated deathmatches. The neatest level is a network of connected tree houses where the ground below is infested with hungry raptors. A third, neutral threat is always appreciated. There are many ways to customize the matches, too, from giving the "loser" a boost to starting everybody with all power-ups. The only thing missing are some AI-controlled bots.

Turok is a fairly old game in the GameCube library. Its visuals obviously prove this. Textures and animation are bleak, and the game tries to mask its boundaries with perforated walls of vegetation that look more like throw-up than forestry. But the game boasts a "pleasant" framerate. I say "pleasant," because it occasionally hiccups, but Turok never chugs to the point where it's unbearable. Perhaps we have the load times to thank for that. It takes 30 seconds just to load the interface and another 50 to 60 seconds to load every level! It's not as bad as the three-minute load times in Herdy Gerdy, but anything over 20 seconds is still too much. It makes the game really frustrating, actually.

Sound is an important part of any first-person shooter to provide necessary and immersing cues. The enemies in Turok are awfully quiet and manage to sneak up on you out of nowhere. This lack of sound is compensated by those that are present-- because they fit very well. The music is also really good for a mindless, low-budget FPS. The intense jungle/tribal soundtrack sometimes gets too overdramatic (to the point where it sounds like Star Wars: Episod I), but it's much better than expected.

Final Comments: If I had paid $50 for this game instead of $5, or if I had played all the other Turoks before this one, I might be writing a completely different review. That's not how it worked out, though. I actually found Turok: Evolution to be a surprisingly fun first-person shooter. But don't think I'm calling it a great game, because it's not. The awful load times will test even the most patient of people, and the controls beg to be given more attention. You could certainly do better (Timesplitters 2), but $5 is a small price for a decent single and multiplayer experience.

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