By Osei Tyson on September 6th, 2002

Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: Acclaim Studios Austin
Publisher: Acclaim
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Memory: 1 Block
ERSB: Mature
Also On: PS2, XB, GBA

Presentation
If you were over 16 and owned an N64 5 years ago. Chances are you owned a Turok game or two. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, Turok: Rage Wars, & Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion, all were on the N64. But if you ask almost anyone that has followed the series. They will tell you after Turok 2. The series took a major plunge. After two years in development Iguana Entertainment now known as Acclaim Studios Austin. Has once again brought us back to the jungle to blast away baddies, kill innocent dinosaurs, and do all that with the most creative guns in FPS history like all Turok games. But did Acclaim bring back the enjoyment from Turok 2?? Read on and see.

Graphics
When I first played the game, I was let down. I was expecting it to WOW me like Turok 2 did. But the levels truly shine as you move ahead. Wait till you climb up the mountain trails walking through many tall blades of grass and shrubs that move when you walk past them. excellent. Trees sway in the wind. Each blade of grass drifts slightly. The only let down is the texture detail in the bigger rocks or mountain tops and in the water. I’m assuming they were toned down to make the game run smooth. Which this game does move. Very Very smooth and fast! The first levels don’t have much sky detail as in clouds and such and I remember thinking where are the rolling clouds like in Turok 1 and 2? As you progress however you see the stages get better and better. As if the worlds a evolving as you complete each chapter. But it still didn’t give the eye candy like Seeds of Evil did.

Sound
Thanks to my new speakers that supports DDPL-II. I simply love the sound effects and music it adds an incredible amount of tension, and rivals some movie scores i’ve heard lately. Even though I like the jungle type music from 1 & 2 better. The weapon sound effects are a little muted, but I suppose that actually makes them sound more true-to-life. And the baddies voices also come out crisp and clear. I know the game does not sound this good without Pro Logic II. So I dropped a few points.

Gameplay
What seperates this game from other Turok games. Is the enemy A.I. Enemies will hide behind bushes, pop out shoot, and then hide again, back and forth. They will roll away avoiding shots. The best part is when you shoot them they drop there weapon and raise there arms up, giving up. Thats when you take out your shotgun and blast there limbs off as they grab for that missing limb. Awesome. They also run away after you shot there weapon out of there hands. Its the coolest thing you have to see. The stealth missions are also a treat. Even if the Metal Gear Solid bug is going a little too far lately. Oooops I forgot to mention the bad side of things. The dual analog control in a big pain in the ass. If your a console only FPS player. PC vets can ace it fast. But console players will have some getting used to. Why did Acclaim leave out the option of full single analog control(like Perfect Dark) like the past Turok games? Bad mistake guys becuse most hate it. I think Tal’Set is tired of falling off cliffs trying to aim and shoot a Raptor. Oh and the flying stages I got one word for them BORING!!! And they are too easy. Only time I every lost on one was when I crashed and splatterd into an invisible wall. Wanna hear about the storyline see just use the one word I had for the flying stages. Yes there are invisible walls. If you can overlook the bad you have a decent game.

Conclusion
Turok: Evolotion did indeed evolve. Both in a good and bad way. But it still fails to top or even match the new standards of FPS on the current next-gen consoles. I don’t even have to compare it to the big boy onthe block Halo. Compare it to Deus EX, Red Faction, Half Life, Medal of Honor. All of them set new standards in different catagorys like Gameplay or Storyline or Graphics or Sound. TE comes close at times but never makes it. I know us GCN owners are starved for a "Mature" FPS. But even if Turok Evolution can hold you for a while. You’ll miss nothing by letting it slip by. Turok 2 still rules!!

~ditto~