With 2007 now over and a raft of high quality first person shooters in our wake (Halo 3, Bioshock, Crysis, Call Of Duty 4), it is going to take something special to grab our attention in 2008. With this in mind I was pleased to receive a copy of Turok for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. So do we start off 2008 with a bang, or merely a whimper?

Any ideas how to turn this thing off?

I will admit, I was never a huge fan of Turok on the Nintendo 64, the whole concept, while appealing, just never tickled my gamer bone. This time around Touchstone and Propaganda games have aimed to surpass the acclaimed Nintendo 64 classic by giving you command of Joseph Turok, however the catch this time is that you are now a member of Whiskey Company, a bunch of misfits. The basic backstory is that Turok was once a member of Wolfpack, a group of mercenaries, but he deserted the team when his conscience got the better of him. Turok and Whiskey company are now hot on the heels of his old mentor, Roland Kane. Wolfpack’s leader (Kane) is on a remote island and when the gang arrives they are shot down. What was once a hunt and destroy mission quickly turns into a mission of survival as the team are now faced with dinosaurs and an array of hostile planet life, as well as armed guards.

So is it any different to the plethora of shooters we already have? Well not really, it is not going to be challenging Crysis for steamy, screen licking first person action, and it’s certainly not going to put Bioshock to shame when it comes to story telling either. You switch weapons with the d pad, jump, crouch and fire with the trigger buttons, through a variety of jungle environments. There are some great touches such as being able to sneak up behind a guard, Splinter Cell style and dropping him with a kick to the back of the knee, while you sink your knife into his soft melon. It is a very aggressive game, and one which I feel may very well appeal to gamers who hate storing bullets and playing cautiously. It is quite apparent the makers just want you to go out guns blazing as the levels all have literally hundreds of ammo packs and weapons laying around for your enjoyment. This can make for some pretty fun sections of gameplay as you enter combat with a dinosaur, get chased, run backwards firing like a madman, to pick up other weapons on your way. The chaingun is present in Turok, and damn any game that has a chaingun gets instant bonus points.

Another weapon of note, which brought me many hours of enjoyment is the sticky bomb, with standard fire, a bomb is unleashed which sticks to a foe and another press detonates it. However this weapon is just awesome with secondary fire, as it places a mini minefield. It is extremely useful for taking out small groups of enemy soldiers. Ka-boom!! The shotgun has a flare launcher and the SMG has a silencer. Yes you heard me right, an SMG with a silencer! Say what?

Keep firing, another 400 rounds to the head might kill him

The weapons are the games strong point and the bow is a great tool for semi long distance sniping. No one knows what hit them and when they do, you are long gone. The stapling effects are rather tasty too, impaling a guy on a wall while his buddies look on in full “WTF mode” always gives me a certain sense of satisfaction. Another great tactic, is to alert a group of enemies, then run backwards down a set of stairs, while dropping little minefields. Those who escape the carnage can be easily gunned down with the chaingun, which also has a great secondary fire ability, you mount it in the ground as a stationary turret. Yum.

Weapon storage is simple, you have four weapon slots and two are always occupied by the knife and bow, leaving the remaining two free for swap outs. Interestingly they have added a dual weapon wield mode and the combinations are almost endless. It is this freedom of attacking configurations as well as the array of weapons available that really set this game apart from the majority of first person shooters. Twin shotguns in corridors anyone?

Ok who the hell parked the boat this time?

I am sure more than one person groaned when they heard the first two slots were taken up by the bow and knife, however the knife is actually one of the most deadly weapons in the game in the right circumstances. Obviously, wandering into a room filled with enemy soldiers with your knife drawn and shouting “Ok anyone up for some ass whipping?” is a sure fire way to end up six feet under, but you can sneak up on almost anything in the game and deliver a death move, even against the dinosaurs, slitting their throats. It really does add a lovely violent Manhunt erm Dinohunt? edge to the proceedings.

It’s all great so far and I wish I could just stop the review now and give it 95%, however there are some pretty annoying issues. Firstly, while the weapons sound asskickingly good, some of them are extremely underpowered. Many enemies can withstand a stream of bullets to the head or chest as if you are firing pieces of popcorn. It doesn’t really become an issue until you wander into an area with multiple enemies. You just can’t unload enough into them to keep on top of things. It also doesn’t help matters that Turok can’t run. Apparently mercenary training in this part of the world doesn’t involve team members being able to move faster than a walking pace, hey maybe the guy has arthritis? This is quite a failing when being chased by a hungry dinosaur and Turok is out of ammo, you can just imagine the look on the TREX’s face when he see this dumb ass strolling merrily in front of him. On a rather amusing note, after Turok dies, his feet point up in the air and when you are resurrected you are facing the other direction, this would be helpful if in fact you could make a quick run for it, however walking away just doesn’t work and as you have to turn 180 degrees to start firing at the foe who just killed you, I just get the feeling the game was playtested by a room full of drunk monkeys. Either way, that T Rex is sure as hell laughing his ass off.

Is this my best side?

The dreaded Lame AI rears its ugly head again, everything in the game has the intelligence of a (very dumb) suicide bomber. I remember walking into an area, taking out a soldier with an arrow and pinning him into a wall. Another soldier nearby decided that taking cover was a silly option and aimlessly wandered over next to the corpse as if to say “Hey Joe, wake up buddy, let’s go for a walk”, not realising that Joe’s heart was bulging from his chest and his eyeballs had popped out about 30 seconds ago. Needless to say, his future wasn’t very bright.

I briefly mentioned Bioshock, and the excellent story and atmosphere that just dripped from every line of code. Turok’s plot is rather lame after a somewhat interesting start. The game peaked my interest early on with the team crash landing but it ends up left to the player’s imagination as to what exactly is going on. Kane is never discussed, we are only teased with random flashbacks which vaguely show Turok’s induction into Wolfpack, then the mission that made him quit the team. Everything else is skimmed over, so you don’t ever feel a part of the game, nor do you care what happens to Turok, Kane or the team. The last boss fight was really just me running around shooting at everything and hoping it would end before I had to get up and start cooking the dinner. It is just not very immersive or engrossing.

What the hell are you doing down there, get up!

The graphics are barely acceptable. The textures are not great and pop in is really noticeable. Ledges, trees and background objects all have really sharp edges that are in dire need of some anti aliasing. Bloom is vastly overused and people can look as if they are radioactive depending on their position to the light sources. To make matters worse, the PS3 version suffers from frame rate issues and frankly appalling textures. The Playstation version is noticeably worse and it is really quite inexcusable as the hardware is capable of so much more, there are times when a dinosaur can look like a transformer from a distance, that is when it finally pops in.

The audio is excellent with big sweeping dramatic scores accompanying the fights. When you hear a roar you know a dino is nearby, and all the spot effects and noises are top class.

No really, mine is bigger than yours

Game difficulty isn’t too challenging if you are in anyway experienced at first person shooters. There aren’t any mind taxing puzzles and it really is all just a matter of shooting anything that moves. Unfortunately, while the majority of the game is extremely straightforward there are several sections of game design which will have you kicking the next door neighbours dog. Guys with RPG’s apparently were born with telescopic vision as they can lock on you from incredible locations. It is not just hard, it is extremely unfair. The T Rex’s are total bast@rds, not due to complex AI algorithms, they just charge straight at you, and as they have the constitution of a small planet, you will be cursing lost life after life, praying that the next 10 crates of ammunition finally take the sucker down. These are not “skilful” challenges, they are just poorly coded tests of patience. One of the boss fights is equally as frustrating but I won’t ruin this for you if you decide to purchase the game. The environments are linear and poor in the making, there is nothing to interact with in the game, all you do is just run across them, fighting zone after zone of enemy.

The multiplayer is respectable, there are seven maps and a huge array of weapons available, and all the well known game modes are there such as death match and capture the flag as well as a rather inventive cooperative mode. Coop mode is very nifty, you get to play new missions with up to three friends. This sounds excellent and indeed I was so excited that I asked a few friends over to enjoy the experience, all 40 minutes of it. I wasn’t expecting the same game time as single player, but three levels? What a letdown.

Double the fun, but still boring as hell

All in all, Turok is a relatively fun game, and the dramatic stealth moves are mirrored by the awesome array of weapons and modes of firing. However the initial rush is quickly ruined by a poor damage system, shoddy graphics and overuse of bloom effects making many characters in game glow like the Son of God. The story is sadly lacking in depth and the fact that Turok can run no faster than a small child limits the appeal of combat abilities. If you like mindless shooters then this might be your cup of tea (or dinosaur soup?), otherwise save your money and catch up on the AAA games you missed in 2007.