Turok Xbox 360 Review

Over the past few years we have all witnessed forms of entertainment with their own share of problems. Recently, movies like the Batman and James Bond needed a reboot after been unmercifully ran into the ground in previous years, and thankfully both came out shining after the much needed change. However, not all reboots work, and even though Turok was always a franchise on its last legs – and for the last few years has been desperately looking for someone to revise it – Propaganda Games have more or less unmercifully kicked it when it was down rather than aiding it in any way.

There is not even a settling in period, as it is downhill right from the very start. The controls seem to fight you every step of the way, and are so bad you’ll be trying to find a happy medium in the sensitivity options more than you’ll be playing the game over the course of the first hour. Regretfully, even after many minutes of tinkering it is still very hard to find something suitable, and as a result you’ll always be missing important shots on enemies, thus letting them get the first shot in. Now, in most game this would not be a problem, and you’ll take them down soon after, but when you get hit in Turok the screen shakes. So, once the screen gets a-shakin’ from the first shot you take you now not only have to fight against bad controls, but also try and put up with all the shaking as well, which at times is just maddening.

If that’s not bad enough the you have to put up with some of the most inconsistent AI seen in a game in years, which can see-saw from having pin-point accuracy to almost having blinkers on, and not noticing when you are standing just meters away from them. This bad AI is made even worse when the dinosaurs in the game meet up with the guys you’re fighting, and although you’d expect them to fight there are many times when they just stand looking at each other until you let of a few shots to trigger some AI routine the game has otherwise seemed to have forgotten about. On top of that the game has a severe case of repeating enemies, with almost every one of the human bad guys looking exactly the same.

Is that enough? Not likely as there is more to annoy the further you go. The game also offers very little to signpost you as to where you should go next, so you will end up walking around the jungle wondering where to go; at times probably resorting to a suicidal jump in order to try and get to a location simply because you cant figure out the correct path. Then, another problem is the game’s uses of stealth, which is just a mess. Sometimes you can hide in the long grass or in a bush and the game will register you as hidden, and the bad guys will not see you, meaning you can take them out with your knife or trademark Turok bow without bother. However, at random times you will be seen (even if you think you are perfectly hidden) and then all of the game’s problems are compounded onto each other. You’ll try and shoot at the guy that starts shooting at you, but miss because of bad controls, then get damaged by enemies far away due to the inconsistent AI, and then finally try and run away but get lost, and suffer a confusing, unfair, and very infuriating death.

However, in the decrepit pit of mediocrity there are a few facets of the game which rise to the surface, and almost impress. The story is interesting enough, and the voice acting is a little better than the norm. Also, particular sections such as when you first experience the bigger dinos are enough to illicit a small gasp as you are impressed by the sight of what has appeared before you. But still, when most of the game plays like a throwaway title from the earlier half of this decade then even the most impressive set pieces cannot save the game. Speaking of saving that is also one of the game’s most annoy flaws as the checkpoint system is scattered all over the place, meaning there are many points throughout where you’ll be forced to play through a particular 10 minute long section all over against due to one of the many inconsistencies making an unwanted appearance.

In the end we know many games share these problems, and there are always things that can be seen as a blemish on even the most amazing of games. For example, Bioshock may have amazed around every twist and turn, but we would be the first to admit that a few of those turns ran into boring fetch quests which almost ruined the later parts of the game for us. However, when a game is basically built upon a series of ever increasing bugs and problems you know something is not quite right. To put it bluntly Turok is a mess. It’s unfinished, glitchy, and filled with archaic problems other FPS titles have conquered a long time ago.

So, what we are then left with is a substandard single player experience with a rollercoaster like difficulty curve that does nothing but annoying those that might try to find some small bit of fun in the game. Along with this is a multiplayer mode that will most likely die on its arse in less than a month, as it really offers nothing substantial to differentiate itself from the two heavy hitters in the genre already on the market. Sure, it may not be the worst Turok game ever created, but anyone that has had some experience with the series will know that is far from a compliment.

Definitely not the best debut game a new company could hope for, and in fact could be called one of the worst debuts in recent years for a studio that initially showed so much promise. Gamers deserve more, and hopefully should demand greater quality from both developers and publishers by leaving this steaming pile of dino shit on the shelves.

4 out of 10