Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #696 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Touchstone
• Released on: 2008-02-08
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Platform: Xbox 360

Sugar Magazine
"A must have for every stocking this year”

Customer Reviews

Oh man
Turok, the greatest shooter of the 90's, sporting sniping, dino murder and loads of blood.
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, doubled all of that with killer graphics and super violent guns.
Turok Evolution: Absoloute rubbish, disgusting graphics even for a PS2 and awful clunky gameplay.
So, after Acclaims last stand and wave to the world of gaming many thought Turok was icstinct.
But now its risen from the grave (ressurected by Touchtone), roaring, clawing and biting, dying for another dig at human flesh, so here it is.
The gameplay is decent enough, with tame but hefty guns, beautiful graphics and awesome Dinos.
But the one thing you are going to hate is the difficulty, on some scenes (namely the Crash Site Ambush level) is as if the game says to you 'Right, your here, you paid for this game, welcome to hell hassa', they'll be rpg men throwing rockets at you, madly dumb granaders, men with assualt rifles, and then, just you think 'i know, i'l go and nab ammo from the camp' you turn around and theres a bloody tank!
It throws everything at you, atop that two decent shots well cause you death and you get thrown backwards into the line of fire with each explosion! And did i mention this is on NORMAL?
Its Ninja Gaiden hard, freaken NINJA GAIDEN HARD!
But, if you can hack that and have the mental ability not to chuck the game out the window, its damn fun.

Generic, and let down by flawed AI
I wanted this to be good so much. I've been playing games over 30 years and spent seven years reviewing them professionally, and Turok was, to me, one of those franchises that never quite got the recognition it deserved. Something always seemed to steal its thunder - for example, the N64 version was overshadowed by the likes of GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. Now he's back (Joseph Turok has been around a surprisingly long time, and not just in games), but can he cut it in the next-gen market?

Graphically, this game is impressive - to a degree. The jungles, caves and ravines are well rendered, and feel as alive as the ones in Far Cry, even though there is very little variation. The sections set indoors are less alluring - basically, just more uni-fit grey metal interiors we've all seen a thousand times before. The dinosaurs look and move great, and the frame rate is high. So far so good.

However, the game does have fundamental flaws. Most obvious is the thinly-disguised love-fest on the part of its designers for James Cameron's Aliens - the technology, the conversations, all are startlingly unoriginal, and even some of the wall signage makes reference to places from the movie. However this sort of homage is commonplace, and so it hardly merits being regarded as a problem (I only point it out though because games like Half Life 2 are unemcumbered by such tiredness of thought).

But, the bland-looking enemy soldiers are the biggest problem, or more specifically their behaviour. The dinosaurs we can excuse for being dumb one minute, supernaturally alert the next. They are beasts after all, and natural-born hunters once they catch scent of prey.

However, enemy soldiers will often not see you standing in front of them merely because you are stood in waist high grass (I think you're meant to crouch to hide in it, but it works if you don't!)

Also, if you make a stealth kill and the body is later discovered, the enemy suddenly turn and attack you, no matter which direction you face, whether or not you're behind cover, or are even in their line of sight - they just know... Pretty poor, and annoying for a game that often pushes you into stealth situations only to artificially force you out again. Enemies also don't attack tactically, but with swarm instincts making them easy to move down with guns, but stupidly confusing up close if they get to melee range (there is no lock on, so lining up with your knife is a matter of luck)

Gears of War and the Orange Box have set the standard for 360 shooters, and unformtunately that standard is way above what Turok manages to accomplish.

Turok Review
First of all this is a review on turok for the xbox 360 and i will split up the game into sections.

Gameplay- When you first play the game it takes getting used to, trying to shoot an enemy can be a pain due to the sensitive aiming (its adjustable by the way!) could just save it during the game. Unfortunately the checkpoints are scattered through the levels in stupid places, e.g. you might be fighting for 15 minutes then suddenly die and get angry, yes you will get angry... don't be surprised.

Graphics- The first thing i noticed was the character models looked very similiar to gears of war and at some points the faces looked cartoony. But actually if you look at the lush forests and the massive rexes stompin' abut the place the visuals are acctually very good, to say the least. They are not stunning and sometimes can be rather dark so many players will soon be looking around the options to look for a brightness setting, good news there is one!

AI- After reading many reviews saying that the AI is stupid and worthless I'm going to have to agree on some points and disagree on others. They can be funny and stupid sometimes, a fellow enemy could be just walking in front of you without spotting you or suddenly when you think you're hidden they spot you out of nowhere. But i must say i am quite impressed with some of it, if you just sit and watch the raptors tearing marines to bits then a guaranteed smile will adjust itself onto your face. Whether its the T-rex chasing and tearing apart raptors or the stalking done by some of the dinosaurs, the AI is superb in most senses.

Best Bits- I must say there are bits in this game that will either terrify the hell out of you or make you gasp. The first thing that struck me was the movie like setting, characters getting eaten, getting stalked by raptors and intense gun fights. Another thing is that the game is godamn scary in some parts, which is good by the way! Just imagine, you're running across a large field, the bones of humans lie on the ground when you hear something. As you reach for your knife a pack of dinosaurs start to panic and run away. What could of scared them? And then as you look into the distance your pants start to melt as a massive t-rex is coming your way. You start running and your too scared to look behind you. Sweat is pouring down your face and you can almost feel the breathing of the barbaric gaint. Fianlly you seek refuge in a giant log, you realise the t-rex is distracted as may raptors attack it and you flee to the other side of the field, almost there when a raptor leaps on you, after a quick slice of the knife you escape to the other side breathing hard.

Overall- This game deserves a 7.8 out of 10