Sat 27 Aug 2011
Playstation
Turok Review
The last Turok game I heard about was the first one to ever be released on the Nintendo 64 way back in 1997 which was actually pretty good given it was only the second game released ever for the Nintendo 64, they actually made six successive Turok games afterwards which I was not aware of, this sais a lot about the Turok franchise, it tends to fall under the radar. I don’t know why I must have only been about 11 or 12 at the time but for some reason I completely overlooked and disregarded this series. I can only hypothesize it was because the idea of killing dinosaurs just didn’t appeal to me. Anyways fast forwards about a decade later and suddenly I take a trip down Nastalgia lane with this recent release for the PS3 titled just, Turok. I am as excited as you are about finally delving into the Turok world, so let’s have a look shall we?
Let me start by stating, this is not the polygonal N64 Turok which for some odd reason I was half expecting to see. To be blunt I was speechless upon getting my first glimpse of the this Next generation Turok. The grass was so vividly weaving back and forth in the wind, parting as you pass through it, heck you couldn’t even see grass in the original Turok, everything was just one block of green. It looks like a scene out of Jurassic park, like you went back in time to the dinosaur era and it was just carrying on naturally, the landscapes are meticulously detailed, the character models and dinosaur models are spot on, the water movement effects......the game looks damn good, like a PS3 game should look.
The gameplay is right up there with the graphics, no load times, everything just proceeds smoothly as it should. The game utilizes the auspicious Unreal 3 engine which apparently works for dinosaur games as well. Although the game is primarily a shooter it does feature varied stealth mode style play which provides some variety and keeps the game interesting. The inclusion of stealth mode felt very natural, it didn’t feel like an unnecessary option just lumped in there for whatever reason, in this game it has practical uses, it’s easy to incorporate and no doubt a logical alternative to gunning down every Raptor you see like a jerk and thus wasting ammo.
The games mechanics feel spot on, firing your weapon is fun and the A.I is diversified enough to keep the constant shoot, kill, proceed formula from too quickly becoming redundant. The framerate is very smooth, ironic given that this was one of the major complaints that gamers had with the original N64 version of Turok. Suffice to say it looks like they got it right this time. There’s actually NPC’s in this Turok who interact and aid you in battle, o, but they don’t climb latter’s for some reason.......I don’t know why.
A greater focus on interaction between the player and his environment is certainly noticeable and the environment is simply gorgeous, but graphics these days aren’t enough to make a game simply because every game these days look so good. You can always wield two weapons at once which is great, so it’s a lot more flexible. The game also has RPG elements which keep you focused on your character. The environments are much more futuristic and very sophisticate, indoor leaking laboratory bunkers subtly unveil a bit of the story, the minimalistic low bass approach reinforces the foreboding feeling. Voice acting is spot on, very well done, the Rain Effects are sharp and flowing water looks real. The control system could have used a lot more work though, when zoomed in, it unfortunately doesn’t alter its speed to match the perspective and is extremely difficult to aim. There’s a lot of detail but noticeably a lot more put into rocks and other aspects of the game, the graphics aren’t consistent, more emphasis is placed on some aspects of the environments than others.
So is Turok worth the money....Turok despite its noticeable improvement in graphics, the fun an exciting gameplay is still a very rudimentary experience, this is a game that belonged to a different era, it very much feels like it’s of that error. This is your fairly standard, run of the mill FPS game, shoot, kill, proceed. The good thing is it plays fast, it looks good and it’s most importantly it’s actually quite fun. Turok hits the shoot em up aspect of the game out of the park, the firefight sequences are realistic, the enemy AI is believable, and most importantly shooting enemies is fun. Turok kills it this time, the AI is diverse, there’s a great selection of weapons, the game looks realistic and believable in spite of a few minor short comings here and there. Multi-player offers a unique experience complete with dinosaur’s and humans. The bottom line, while Turok is not a perfect game, it gets the important things right. Well done.
Rating – 86%
Pros:
The game looks good, the graphics are realistic and believable
Great Weapons Selection
Diverse enemy AI keeps the game interesting
Unique and awesome Multi-player experience
Cons:
The graphics although overall very well done could have been more consistent.
The control system could use a bit more work especially when using scope weapons
Let me start by stating, this is not the polygonal N64 Turok which for some odd reason I was half expecting to see. To be blunt I was speechless upon getting my first glimpse of the this Next generation Turok. The grass was so vividly weaving back and forth in the wind, parting as you pass through it, heck you couldn’t even see grass in the original Turok, everything was just one block of green. It looks like a scene out of Jurassic park, like you went back in time to the dinosaur era and it was just carrying on naturally, the landscapes are meticulously detailed, the character models and dinosaur models are spot on, the water movement effects......the game looks damn good, like a PS3 game should look.
The gameplay is right up there with the graphics, no load times, everything just proceeds smoothly as it should. The game utilizes the auspicious Unreal 3 engine which apparently works for dinosaur games as well. Although the game is primarily a shooter it does feature varied stealth mode style play which provides some variety and keeps the game interesting. The inclusion of stealth mode felt very natural, it didn’t feel like an unnecessary option just lumped in there for whatever reason, in this game it has practical uses, it’s easy to incorporate and no doubt a logical alternative to gunning down every Raptor you see like a jerk and thus wasting ammo.
The games mechanics feel spot on, firing your weapon is fun and the A.I is diversified enough to keep the constant shoot, kill, proceed formula from too quickly becoming redundant. The framerate is very smooth, ironic given that this was one of the major complaints that gamers had with the original N64 version of Turok. Suffice to say it looks like they got it right this time. There’s actually NPC’s in this Turok who interact and aid you in battle, o, but they don’t climb latter’s for some reason.......I don’t know why.
A greater focus on interaction between the player and his environment is certainly noticeable and the environment is simply gorgeous, but graphics these days aren’t enough to make a game simply because every game these days look so good. You can always wield two weapons at once which is great, so it’s a lot more flexible. The game also has RPG elements which keep you focused on your character. The environments are much more futuristic and very sophisticate, indoor leaking laboratory bunkers subtly unveil a bit of the story, the minimalistic low bass approach reinforces the foreboding feeling. Voice acting is spot on, very well done, the Rain Effects are sharp and flowing water looks real. The control system could have used a lot more work though, when zoomed in, it unfortunately doesn’t alter its speed to match the perspective and is extremely difficult to aim. There’s a lot of detail but noticeably a lot more put into rocks and other aspects of the game, the graphics aren’t consistent, more emphasis is placed on some aspects of the environments than others.
So is Turok worth the money....Turok despite its noticeable improvement in graphics, the fun an exciting gameplay is still a very rudimentary experience, this is a game that belonged to a different era, it very much feels like it’s of that error. This is your fairly standard, run of the mill FPS game, shoot, kill, proceed. The good thing is it plays fast, it looks good and it’s most importantly it’s actually quite fun. Turok hits the shoot em up aspect of the game out of the park, the firefight sequences are realistic, the enemy AI is believable, and most importantly shooting enemies is fun. Turok kills it this time, the AI is diverse, there’s a great selection of weapons, the game looks realistic and believable in spite of a few minor short comings here and there. Multi-player offers a unique experience complete with dinosaur’s and humans. The bottom line, while Turok is not a perfect game, it gets the important things right. Well done.
Rating – 86%
Pros:
The game looks good, the graphics are realistic and believable
Great Weapons Selection
Diverse enemy AI keeps the game interesting
Unique and awesome Multi-player experience
Cons:
The graphics although overall very well done could have been more consistent.
The control system could use a bit more work especially when using scope weapons
