User Review : Turok

Number one in my series of "Retro Reviews".

Welcome to number one of my series of "Retro Reviews", Retro being games that came out more than a year ago, this is basically me, going through my old games and reviewing them as though released today, starting with the 2008 Reboot, Turok for the Xbox 360.

Developed by Propaganda Games and published by Disney Interactive Studios, Turok was released in 2008, a reboot to the hugely successful and popular original, there was high expectations for the game. The game boasted three way battles, different ways to approach missions and objectives, co-op campaigns and multiplayer, sounds great right, right? Well, the game didn't quite live up to many peopls expectations, but proved a decent title for some weekend gaming.

GRAPHICS

With Turoks lush jungle setting, the developers had a field-day creating the world in which Turok is set, ofering huge vista's and landscapes the graphics were great, the scenery som of the best at the time. The characters were not really approached realistically but all had their own look, which helped add to the diverse characteristics in the team. With some jagged edges, the graphics weren't the best for human animation, but the world was fantastic and highly immersive.
Highlight Graphical Moment: When escaping your crashed ship, the gamer is treated to a beautifal vista, looking out at the planet seeing its lush jungle and towering creatures, breathtaking stuff for it's time.

PLOT

Turoks plot was, well, Generic. Corporal Joseph Turok, the character of whom the player controls, was once a member of Wolf Pack, the enemy faction of the game, and worked alongside General Roland Kane, the, you guessed it, Antagonist of the game. However after a disagreement Turok moved to Whiskey Company, of whom were contracted to, you guessed it again, apprehend Kane, Turok's former mentor. After being shot down on to the pre-historic planet, Whiskey Co. set out to complete their mission, being killed off one by one, it is left to Turok, to complete the mission. Whilst the plot is generic, it is helped along by the characteristics of the members of your team that add's to the games overall feel, with you at times genuinly feeling sorry for the characters of whom meet their grissly demise. Also of which proves good in the game is the hiring of Ron Perlman (Hell Boy, Fallout Series) as the team-mate Slade and William Fichtner (Dark Knight, Prison Break, GTA: Vice City) as the team-mate Logan, Donnie Wahlberg (Saw II, Righteous Kill) as the team-mate Shepard, Timothy Olyphant (Agent 47 in the Hitman movie) as Cowboy, Gideon Emery (Many Voice-Acting Roles in video-games) and more. It is the games Strong Voice Acting cast that by far is not credited enough (it's a shame about the cheesy dialogue).
Highlight Plot Moment: The Final Battle with Kane, of which provides a Master/Apprentice feel to the story, a satisfying conclusion to the game, added to by the cheesy T-Rex Battle.

GAMEPLAY

It is my strong belief that the most important aspect to a video game is the gameplay, and I truly believe in many aspects, Turok delivers. The area's of which deliver are it's highly engaging and tactical Co-op missions (of which provide the team-work/asisstance the AI Team-mates don't in the Single-player), the addictive multiplayer aspect to the game and its overall combat system. The combat, whilst simple, is fun, the gun's have secondary fire, you can roll out of harms way, you can execute enemies with the provided Knife and much more. The multiplayer very much is the best part of the game, very much offering a blend of stealth and action. The single player however, is slightly dissapointing. Whilst fun, the single-player becomes frustrating quickly, why? The team-mate AI is the worst in any game I have ever played, they are sponges that soak up bullets, the only help they provide is to help you locate enemies by blind-firing in their direction, they become constantly downed and give away your location in moments you are attempting to be stealthy, futhermore the enemies seems to have more powerful bullets, on even the Normal Dificulty setting you must constantly make use of the surrounding to crouch and avoid the super-bullets. The enemie difficulty I can take, but the AI of the Team-mates is unforgivable.
The weapons in the game are fun, from the Pistol to the Flame-thrower there really is a lot of choice in-which players will destroy their enemies with, it s a little dissapointing that they didn't bring back some of the fantastic weapons from th older games but it is understandable.
Another down-side to the game and a broken promise is that of working stealth, it seems the only time stealth can be applied to missions is when scripted, with enemies having super-hearing and sight.
The interactive cutscenes are good fun and well implemented in to combat offering brilliant executions and more to satisfy the gamers crave for gore.
Highlight Gameplay moments: Pulling off a successful execution with the knife multiple times in multiplayer and my team-mate actually gtting a kill in campaign.

OVERALL

Whilst the game falls short of many peoples expectations, it is fun and offers some truly immersive moments in games. My honest opinion is that the game is underrated and it was a shame to har of the sequels cancellation (It wa going to include playable Dinosaurs also).