Turok Evolution (Xbox)

Thus, the game's action returns to the Lost Lands, albeit with smarter visuals and some excellent, moody audio effects. The gameplay itself, while primarily action based, does reward occasional stealth, although more fun will be gleamed from the broadened arsenal of hardware and choosing when to use them. There's a lot to explore, and the enemy AI puts up a far harder fight than the game's predecessors, all of which count as sizeable marks in the plus column.

Turok: Evolution is no classic, though. Its levels are frequently a little too sprawling, and despite the generally enjoyable gameplay, a little more urgency wouldn't have gone amiss. That said, it's a title that's going to reward expectant fans of the franchise, and while it's not cutting edge stuff, Turok: Evolution does offer good value for money, and a challenging, lasting single player mode, with an equally enjoyable multi-player segment bolted on.

Bottom line: it's a flawed game, but still an entertaining one. And thanks to a generous smattering of levels, tight controls and a sizeable game world, there's enough on the disc to keep the player immersed for some time. --Simon Brew

This is a huge, immersive, atmospheric and very playable FPS. You'll keep cpming back again to again to its massive levels with a psychotic and determined gleam in your eye. In fact, you'll have to keep coming back again and again, as the most frustrating aspect of this is the lack of humane 'save' features. You may be inches from end of level victory, take a bullet in your broad manly chest, and then it's back to the start.
But this did not desrve the critical panning rceeived. Doom 3 allowed me save wherever I was, but I'm enjoying Turok more.


This game deserves 0 stars!!   June 19, 2005
Sam (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This game is probably the worst game I have ever played on the Xbox. I really enjoyed Turok 2 on N64, so I was excited to pick this up. However this game has just nothing going for it. The graphics are awful, they really could have been so much better. There is no stroy line at all! It is just filled with killing for no reason. In an FPS game I feel story line is essential, on single player. Halo had a great one, as did Goldeneye on the 64 and others. The sound isn't too bad in this it does the job ok.

When I first the raptors, I thought, this is where the game will pick up (thinking along the lines of jurassic park) but I was wrong. The enemys have no AI at all. They just seem to duck then shoot!! The raptors die after 2 (yes 2) shot! Or one chop of an axe!!!!

Awful game not even worth 99p, really don't buy this!!


Give it a break!   June 2, 2003
6 out of 10 found this review helpful

Turok Evolution seems to have generated a hugely polarized audience - more than any other game for the Xbox I have seen reviewed in fact.
People should stop drawing comparisons with Halo - the fact they are both FPSs is really irrelevant.
The criticisms I take on board are the annoying flying levels late on in the game; sometimes the environments do become a little 2D; maybe one or two additional saves within larger levels would have been desirable.
I think a lot of the negative reviews are written by people who
expect to gain full playability within an hour of switching their console on. I cannot understand how anyone can say for example that the controls are any more difficult to pick up than the immensely annoying Timesplitters series!
I also think people are spoilt by the "save anywhere" facility on most games which means u complete a game inside a week and never play it again. I got to chapter 3 and did find it incredibly difficult to complete - but the game has to stretch you early on to get you competent enough to complete the later levels, which are superb - anyone who has completed Chapter 10 will be able to vouch for this. The environments become progressively more challenging and you get plenty of ammo/health/weapons (the swarm bore attachment for the rocket-launcher is brilliant) to use plus the array of enemies increases too.
The variety of levels is also good too: ranging from stealthy raids on enemy encampments at night; jungles; cityscapes; plus there are clever ambushes and traps set for u which require you to use your weaponry inventively.
Quite honestly why anyone pays 30-40 quid for a game to complete it in a week is beyond belief, just as people who pay for and then zip through games continually with cheat codes amaze me too.
Pathetic and talentless I call it. The exuberance I felt as I finished the thing was as good as Halo for all you comparison diggers out there. But then u probably cheated your way through that too, or else set it to "easy".
To summarize, if you like a lot of killing with associated gore, and have got a bit of time and patience - buy it today! If you are impatient and not into persevering with games then drop it like a stone.


One of the poorest shooting games about...   January 2, 2003
M. Richardson
0 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is very unfortunate as the Turok license has so much potential!

The good points:
Dinosaurs, pretty cool when you try to sneak past a T-Rex, or hold off a swarm of attacking Raptors.
Cool weapons- one of the best points, and the only thing that kept me interested at some points. Some of them are truly great and innovative (such as the cerebral bore et al)
Flying levels: A very, very clever and cool idea, unfortunately this is ruined by bad execution.

Now, the downsides:
The Flying levels are full of problems! The bird feels hard to turn, and there are some unrealistic features, if you get too clsoe to water (say, thebirds feet tough the surface) you will not skim along it but simply explode! Walls also seem to have their own gravity and draw you in, while invisible walls can be so frustrating! You think you will pull off an impressive maneuver, by launching your attack run, pulling up and looping over, firing a few rockets at anything unlucky to try and chase you. However, you are stopped by an invisible wall (or should I say ceiling?) which dirests you straight onto the rocks, and death!
Multiplayer is pretty poor: It has the advantages of cool weapons, and the maps are pretty well designed. However, there is no map or sensors, so it is very rare you will be able to find your opponent. Also, aiming is hard, you must get your tiny target over the enemy to inflict any damage. In a 20 minute deathmatch none of us reached the required 15 frags, I came first and I only kgrabbed 4 frags!
Graphics: Although not as bad as has been slammed, they aren't the best around and can only detract from the experience, enemy 'slegs' look ok, but the dinosaurs and landscapes are very poorly done. Also annoying is the way that dead bodies sink into the ground AND disappear about 10 seconds after they fall! Not what we want!
AI, what AI? Enemies have one tactic which is 'charge at player, shoot if you feel like it'. Grrrrrr.
And again, the targetting problems can come up, I eventually gve up out of frustration on the last flying level, but before that the almost impossibility to reliably score hits can occur.

Overall, this is definitely not worthy of being in any xbox owners collection. Buy Halo, Buy Timesplitters 2, maybe even think of getting medal of Honour or Nightfire. Wait for Brute Force, Halo 2, DOOM III, Castle Wolfenstein- WHATEVER! Avoid this!


Please refrain from buying this item   October 27, 2002
IAGN (Manchester)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful

Bland graphics coupled with frustratingly slow, poor gameplay make this one of the most irritating games i have ever had the misfortune to play. I was lucky. A day before buying this game I played it at a friend's house and spared myself [the money] which would have otherwise been wasted. The inability to save mid-mission often leads to endless cursing at the screen, even if you thought that you were over that stage in life when you threw things at the frustratingly unresponsive TV screen, this game will surprise you. Rather than ramble on about my disgust with Turok I will list some of the reasons which have formed my opinion:
> There is no atmosphere to the game whatsoever. It seems so artificial and unlifelike and subsequently you fail to become engrossed in the action.
> The graphics are bland and do not do the Xbox justice whatsoever; walk into a wall of grass and you are surrounded with ugly green pixilated 2D cutouts. The game developers have obviously taken the lowest common denominator in the Next-Generation console market and failed miserably to make Xbox owners appreciate how powerful their system is.
> The poor gameplay has tried to be covered up by ridiculously stupid guns which add nothing at all to the game unless you are some pathetic adolesent loner who has nothing better to do than drewl over the badly animated mammoth 'implements of destruction'. (wow how great(!)). Don't get me wrong, using a rocket launcher in Halo is always immensely satisfying: it's only this game completely overuses the concept of bun guns to the point where you don't really care what you pick up.
> Jump puzzles and FPS's just don't mix, they just lead to irritation, adding nothing to gameplay and frustrating the gamer. Far too many lie in this game.
> It is very unsatisfying when you complete a level, you don't get the same thrill you should: you feel as if your time has been wasted.
> Lastly, but by far from least, Turok shoots itself in foot with the fatal mistake of any FPS (First-person-shooter) the bodies of your slayed enimes quickly fade away moments after they fall on the ground. In games like Halo (sorry I keep going on about it, but it really is the FPS that all new FPS's should aspire to) the bodies stay there, they don't magically disappear. In Turok this adds to the general unrealistic feel of the game.
The only remotely possitive aspect of this game are the flying levels which provide some relief from the ordinary, boring, repetative levels.
Spare yourself the hollow feeling of wasting [money] on a pathetic game such as Turok and wait for the many new (and infinitly better) FPS's to come, for example; Unreal Championship and Timesplitters 2 or just buy the almighty HALO (if by some very strange circumstance you don't already have it). Anyway, that's about it and I feel that I have fully justifyed the reluctant 1 star i have given Turok.