Turok 2

Summary

Genre: Shooter
Number of players: 1-4
Rumble Pak: Yes
Controller Pak: Yes
Expansion Pak: Optional

Review

When Turok first came out, in the N64's first year, it was rather a revelation, in that it had relatively realistic graphics, certainly the best on the '64 at the time, as well as having some quite good gameplay mixed in there too. However, now that the FPS standard has been raised considerably since then, does the Indian still make the grade?


Gameplay: To get right down to it, there seems to be a heck of a lot of trecking about around levels looking for items and switches. While this isn't a problem for a game like Goldeneye, with it's small levels, unfortunately Turok has absolutely HUGE levels, which will take you more than half an hour to get through each, even if you know exactly what you're doing. And this is not a good thing, by the way. Imagine, if you will, that you miss something near the very beginning of a level, and then have to go right the way back to the start, only to have to trek back again to get back to where you were. Ridiculous. That's the main problem with Turok. Certainly there's no way you'll be able to finish the game if you have a life outside the computer world, because it gets far too annoying. Personally I think that the levels in Goldeneye were ideal, because even if you did miss something, usually it wouldn't take long for you to find it.

Some of the weapons in the game are pretty good, and the sniper mode in some weapons is very well done indeed. Weapons such as the Nuke are possibly just a touch over the top, but they are quite impressive to watch.

Another problem with the game is that you can go on for some time through a level without actually bumping into an enemy. You would have thought that at some stage someone making the game would have realised that in comparison to the size of the level there was a marked shortage of people and things to fight.

All-in-all, it doesn't really make the grade in my book. Some of the enemies such as the raptor are fun to fight, but they don't come around nearly as much as they should. The rest of them just run straight at you and hope that somehow you won't be able to shoot them. And that's not too much fun, to be honest.


Challenge: The only challenge is whether or not you can be bothered to sit it out and finish the game. It's not that tricky a game, other than the final boss. The enemies are all idiots, the most taxing puzzles only need a switch to be thrown to solve, and Turok's weapons are far too powerful. You can have too much of a good thing, you know.


Graphics: These are possibly the best thing Turok has going for it. All the enemies are very well drawn and animated, and in fact the Raptors are especially so. They really do move quite realistically. Death scenes are particularly good, although these too are rather limited. Still, they are a nice touch. Backgrounds are superb, you quite possibly won't see better on the N64, but one of the most disappointing things about the graphics is the fogging that so plagued the first game. Now, either Turok picks the worst days to start an adventure, or he's going very blind indeed, but either way he often struggles to see past his nose. Frustrating, to say the least.


Sounds: Very very poor indeed. They're almost as bad as the ones on Clayfighter, and that's really saying something. The music is deadly boring, and the grunts that Turok makes are limited to two noises, as far as I can tell. Some of the dinosaurs and the other enemies do make some good sounds, but they really are few and far between. Something of a disappointment.


Multiplayer: Quite good fun. Nowhere near the standard of Perfect Dark, but in its own special way it's good. There are several forms of play, ranging from Frag Tag, where one person is transformed into a monkey with no defences whose objective is to make it to a beacon without being killed by the other players, to the standard all on all. You can also play in team 3 vs 1, 2 vs 2 or 2 vs 1. It's not that bad to play and the levels are a far better size. Of course, like the rest of the game you'll grow tired of it after a while, but it's fun while it lasts.


Summing up: A very disappointing game that could have been so much more. Not worth your time or money. Avoid!


Gamesmark: 50%


Reviewer: Tangycheese