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Turok II: Seeds of Evil |
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While the original Turok was certainly a great game, it lacked much of what we have come to expect from N64 games, graphically and otherwise. While capitalizing on the success of the original, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil has taken big steps forward. Labeled the Goldeneye killer, this game comes very close if not surpassing the one and only Bond.
First, Turok 2 is the best game
graphically out on the market right now. Even without the
4 MB RAM Expansion the game looks good, but the high-res
mode is tremendous. The fog is all but eliminated in
Turok 2 that dominated the first game's appearance. In
addition, the characters are "soft-skinned to hide
polygon seam lines and make them more realistic. Turok 2
has been vastly improved, with support for advanced
real-time lighting, allowing realistic atmospheric and
surface effects such as flickering firelight and
shimmering water. The graphic are crystal clear, as you
can actually tell that's an enemy in the distance and
then snipe him in the head with the tek bow, then watch
his head blow off as blood gushes out of his neck after
he collapes. With this in mind, the enemy death scences
are the best ever seen in a first-person shooter. You can
blow off heads and arms, while the monster relentlessly
tries to kill you. Enemies will stumble around after
getting hit and twitch on the ground all while blood
flies everywhere. The enemy AI is also great as some will
duck for cover behind a crate or run around until they
get a clear shot. The enemies also are sound-sensitive
and will come running if the hear a shot or one flies by
them.
The gameplay has been subtly
modified, with less emphasis on jumping and more on
action and exploration than the original. To make
gameplay less linear, some objectives require you to
return to previous levels. Some of the levels include:
The Port of Adia, a ruined coastal town; Slaughter by the
River of Souls, an ancient Romanesque city; and the Death
Marshes, a desolate swamp shrouded by thick fog. The 6
levels are huge, probably too huge considering the lack
of save points in the game which makes the game a
headache to play. Warning! Do not try to play the
one-player mode unless you have a good two hours to make
it to the next save point. This is one of the major
problems in the game. And while we're on the subject of
problems, anyone who knows even remotely about Turok 2
has heard about the framerate problems. We had to bring
it up sometime in this review. Yes, Turok 2 has SOME
framerate problems, but too many people think the game is
one big framerate disaster. The only time you even notice
is when you have to defend the totems that seal the
Primagen. A lot of enemies are on the screen at once and
it does slow it down, but it's not unbearable. You can
still hit the enemies and move. The framerate also slows
down with four players, but the RAM pack does help out a
little as well as picking one of the smaller levels.
People make too big of deal over the framerate issue of
this game. Before we get to the multiplayer part of the
game, there was one more problem I'd like to address and
that is the crashes that occur in Turok 2. I have indeed
had Turok 2 crash on me in the second level and it was
without the RAM pack. I do not think the RAM pack is to
blame for it, as well as the supposed 'first shipment' of
games where Acclaim rushed it out the door before the
holidays and then fixed the problem. I think the problem
has to do in the game itself as it is almost impossible
to find every bug in a game, but I think Acclaim should
have noticed this as it seems to be a pretty common
problem. But enough of this, on to the multiplayer!
Of course, Turok 2 would not be
complete without a multiplayer mode. The options extend
beyond that of a simple 4-player deathmatch with a number
of variations. In the "Frag Tag" mode, one
player is randomly chosen to be a monkey. All the other
players then try to kill the monkey and earn frags. If
the monkey is able to make it to a warp, a new player
will become the monkey and the match will continue. There
is also a "Team Blood" mode where teams can
battle it out against each other. There are many
multiplayer levels to choose from and you can even choose
the texture set of a level. There is a wide variety of
weapons ranging from your crossbow to the deadly cerebral
bore, which when locked on shoots an alien device that
attaches it to the opposing players head anddrills into
their skull. Multiplayer does lack some weapons that can
be found in the single-player mode, but the weapons are
still fun and well balanced.
Turok 2 is certainly an execellent game, but does it beat Goldeneye? Does it really matter? Goldeneye has been out for over a year and a half and the N64 needed a new great first-person shooter and Turok 2 delivers. The tremendous graphics, great play control and high-res mode with the RAM pack make Turok 2 a certain winner. The multiplayer mode is a blast and provides endless hours of entertainment. Cerebral boring your friend's head, while cheap, never gets old. We give this game a rating of 5 stars for brillant high-res graphics and a great multiplayer game as well as good single-player mode. Turok 2 is a must have for almost anyone.
Rating:
