Turok: Evolution- Chapter 1

Turok: Evolution (2002) was developed and published by Acclaim (Now bankrupt, R.I.P)

My rating for Turok: Evolution, based off of my playthrough experience, is: Average

Turok got reconstructive surgery for the new breed on consoles. It was a natural "Evolution" of the gameplay that most FPS games adhered to. This was a net benefit to the series, as the paradigm of finding a key on maze like levels, collecting pointless tokens and other collectables, and being devoid of story didn't fare well any longer. Times have changed, and Turok evolved (Pun totally intended)!

The game starts off well with Turok being sucked into a wormhole and dropped into an alien land, helping one of two warring factions. I know, I know; it's not very creative, but it's something. You aren't playing dedicated FPS games for story, are you? Me either. I play for the guns! And the guns deliver! From start to finish you are provided a wide array of ingenious killing devices to dispatch your enemies in some very creative and brutal ways, some practical, some not so practical, but all fun. Some weapons work better than others for one reason or another. I often found myself wondering what happened to my arsenal only to remember that guns without ammo are hidden until you get ammo, which makes managing them easier.

You jump back and forth between on foot FPS gameplay, and flying combat. The flying combat is a nice change of pace; however, I wish I had known I could change the camera angle sooner as it would have saved me TONS of trouble. Combat, on foot, varies between shooting dinosaurs (Awesome!) and some lizard like enemies. There is enough variance in enemy types to keep this considerably long game (15-20 hours) fresh.

The environments range from gorgeous jungle settings to drab, dull cities. They made a smart move by starting you off in the jungle, if they started you in the city, it would have been a drab start. There is a range of non-aggressive NPC animals in the game which I thought were both cute and funny, but they were mostly in the first few chapters. The latter half of the game is mostly urban warfare and gets stale visually. I didn't care for it; they should have had more nature-based levels.

Where I feel Turok: Evolution really screwed up was with the checkpoint system, which was a common problem back then, and as irritating as it was in 2002, it is extremely noticeable now. Some checkpoints are short and have relatively little resistance, and others that are long and you fend off armies. If you die you may have to repeat the last 20 minutes again and again until you succeed. Then there are the ladders... OH MY GOD! The ladders are HORRIBLE! I died so many times late game because of ladders that did not work. Not cool! Another problem is difficulty spikes due to poor resource management. Sometimes there are only drops for certain types of ammo, like 3 of the 12 guns you are carrying, and limited health. Other times you find way more than you can carry. It's very uneven.

Graphics: It's a mixed bag. The jungle environments are lush and dense while the city becomes a pain to look at. There is a lot of action on screen as well. It's a good-looking game overall, albeit uneven in appearance.

Controls: Good. I had no problem shooting masses of enemies and the gamepad layout is as simple as it gets. The flying could have used more work though.

Gameplay: Linear FPS levels with a lot to shoot. On some levels you need to find a key (or keys) to progress. The gameplay comes from how you use your weapons. It would not surprise me if Turok: Evolution inspired Insomniac's crazy approach to weapons. There are some flying levels to change the pace.

Sound: Juicy. Weapons and explosions sound juicy and satisfying. No Nerf guns here.

Music: It's there, but I can't remember a single tune now.

Story: Pretty standard. Not paper thin and nothing big.

Stability/Bugs: No crashes. I had some issues with bugs, but nothing stopped me from finishing the game.

Opinions: Turok: Evolution is worth playing if you want to get into an old-school style FPS. There is a lot of fun to be had if you don't mind some bad checkpoints and rough edges.

Turok: Evolution is available on PS2, Xbox, PC.

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DHG played Turok: Evolution on Xbox

Part 1