An Underrated Title, In A Great Series (Turok Evolution (PS2))

Member Name: Guile176

Product:	Turok Evolution (PS2)
Date:	15/04/03 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great weapons

Disadvantages: Some dumb AI

Despite a having a weak second game, the Turok
series has been a long time favorite of mines.
From its cool theme, to its amazing weapons and
gameplay, i've loved it. As you can imagine, when
Turok Evolution was announced, I was immediately
interested. The first pics of the game looked
simply amazing. Sadly, when the game was released
last Sept, it was met with some rather negative
press. Still, I didn't care, I wanted to play it
anyway. And after investing some good time into
it, im very happy I did.

In Turok Evolution, you assume the role of a Turok
called Tal' Set. You have been called to the Lost
Land, where you must battle the evil
reptilian-like Sleg, as well as your Nemesis, the
evil Captain Tobias Bruckner.

Rather then being filled with wide open (and often
very confusing) areas to explore like in Turok 2,
Evolution's levels are much more strait-forward
feeling as they were in the highly underrated part
3. Now, this isn't to say that your on a set and
strait path through every level or there's little
to explore. Its just that you'll be doing far less
backtracking and
getting lost. You also won't have
to worry about spending 2 hours trying to find the
next save point as you did in Turok 2. At the end
of each of the games areas, this game will
autosave for you.

The level design itself, mainly takes place in the
jungles, rather then the more futuristic setting
found in Turok 3. Other settings include inside
cities, on top of bridges, and inside a Sleg base.
The Sleg base mission is a little different then
most in the game. I guess the developers were
trying to go for a Metal Gear Solid type deal
here, where the whole idea of it is supposed to be
stealth, rather then gunplay. While stealth does
play a good part in these missions, it mostly just
comes down to shooting out spotlights and guards
from a distance. If you should be seen, then an
alarm will sound and more guards will rush out of
their barracks in search of you. If this should
happen though, its not really much of a big deal.
Just hide someplace for a little while and then
the guards will be called to stand down.

Finally, there are air missions where you fly atop
a winged dino with guns and rockets mounted to it.
Before playing them, I
heard alot of complaints
about the control in the flying sections. While I
do agree they could be slightly tweaked, I really
didn't have too much of a problem with them after
a little practice. The only real control issues I
had were at 2 parts in one of these levels. At one
point, your dino swoops down into a cavern. The
first time I got to this section, my dino refuse
to pull up and forced me into the ground. The
second part came when you had to pull up and exit
the other end. At this point, the camera forced me
on a course which led me to my death on the
ceiling. I was honestly pretty frustrated by it,
but fortunately it only happen to me once on each
section.

The Turok games have always been known for their
flashy weapons, and Turok Evolution is no
exception. Not only does Tal'Set's arsenal include
the typical FPS (First-person Shooter) such as a
pistol, shotgun and rocket launcher, but includes
other cool toys such as a flame-thrower, bow and
arrow, plasma cannon and a radio controlled spider
mine. To top it off, you can find several weapon
upgrades. For example, you can find a sniper scope
for your pistol, Tek upgrade o
n your bow, and a
mini nuke attachment for your rocket launcher.
However, despite being rather basic, I found the
most useful weapon in the game to be your Tek Bow.
This baby not only has its own scope, but also can
be loaded with poison and explosive tipped arrows.
I never tired of popping off my victims head at
long range with this thing.

Sadly, the enemy AI in Turok Evolution isn't
exactly the greatest. Although it tries to be
intelligent by rolling out of the way, or hiding
behind crates, all too often its just really
stupid. Sometimes enemies will walk into walls or
climb ladders and get stuck. Other times there
will be 2 enemies standing side by side at a
distance, and it you should pop ones head off with
an arrow, the other won't react in any way. Damn,
you would think that after Halo, developers would
be trying to better imitate the AI in that game. I
guess not.

Aside from the standard single player campaign,
Turok Evolution also supports up to 4 players via
split screen. In multiplayer, there are a variety
of different modes you can play. Some of the modes
here include standard Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch,

Hunter, Capture the Flag, Blood Bath and Sniper
Match. I have to say that this is one of the best
multiplayer modes i've seen in a FPS. The maps
here were just too cool. Its just unfortunate that
this game doesn't support XBox Live, as this game
would really rock online. Other then that, the
only real problem I had with the multiplayer, was
the gun turrets. Why is it, that when you get
behind one, nearly your entire screen is blocked?
Come on, what's the point if you can't even see
what your shooting at?


Graphics 7.5:
I really have no clue why so many people were so
hard on the graphics. Sure, the characters look
like they were ripped out of the N64, but the
large environments look great. The worlds
(especially the jungle areas) are lush and filled
with all sorts of tree's and various types of
wildlife. The textures were mostly great, but
could have looked a little better in some areas.
The water especially comes to mind. It just seems
that this game was made around the PS2 and its
graphic capabilities, rather then the XBox. Also,
there is a little popup present in some areas.
However, i
ts not nearly as bad as some reviews
made it out to be.

The biggest problem I had with the graphics, was
Tal'Set's lack of climbing animations. Whenever
you try to climb something, you'll see your
characters hands in the same position as if you
weren't climbing. This looks really ridiculous,
and I think the developers could have put a little
more into this area of the graphics.


Sound 9:
When it comes to sound, the Turok titles have
usually done it pretty well. You'll find a nice
variety of sound effects, as well as some great
sounding music. The voice acting however, could
use a little work. While its not nearly as bad as
something like House of the Dead, Acclaim could
have forked over a little more cash for some
better talent. I especially found the female
pilots voice to be annoying.


Control 9:
Although a game-pad is no replacement for a mouse
and keyboard on a FPS, this game controlled great.
Everything was really responsive, and very simple
to learn. Only problem I really had was climbing
ladders and walls. When climbing up, your
character sometimes had a litt
le trouble grabbing
on, climbing down was more or less the same, but
worse. You see, when you try to climb down, you
can't exactly see the ladder too well. This led to
me falling off a ledge more often then not. This
wasn't exactly amusing, as your character can take
some nasty damage from falls.


Overall, I would highly recommend Turok Evolution
to anyone who enjoyed the originals on the N64.
Even if you didn't play those, then give this one
a go. As long as your not expecting the next Halo,
then you should enjoy yourself. Also, this game
was recently lowered down to a mere $20 at most
stores. So, if you're a little tight on cash then
this would make a great buy. Good job Acclaim, I
just hope you can iron out some of this games
flaws for a future sequel. If so, then the next
Turok title should easily be a 5 star title.

Summary: