Turok: Evolution is a prequel to the Turok lineage that will
keep you playing for days. At the onset of the game, Tal’Set is at battle with
his nemesis Captain Bruckner, otherwise known as ‘Red Snake‘, and is
mysteriously pulled into a portal taking him to the Lost Land, along with Captain
Bruckner.

It’s a classic clash between good and evil, with an interesting twist, trigger
happy gameplay, and prehistoric enemies with futuristic weapons. Take the role
of Tal’Set and find out why you’ve been thrown back to the Lost Land and help
the people of the Lost land battle for their lives against the evil Lord
Tyrannus. You’ll soon find out that Tyrannus has appointed good ol’ ‘Red
Snake’ Bruckner as his new General in his all out blood-fest against the people
of the Lost Land.

Gameplay

Another excellent First Person Shooter (FPS) to add
to your Xbox library. The majority of the gameplay in Turok is indeed FPS with
an occasional ride on a weapon loaded flying dinosaur. Jumping right in and
playing will be no problem if your familiar with the Turok series, or other
popular FPS games such as Halo. From standard bow and arrows to nuclear enabled
rocket launcher, the selection of weapons is original, as well as incredible.
The Tek-Bow, our personal favorite, allows you to load an array of arrows, such
as exploding arrows, poisoned arrows, and the standard arrows, and kill with
precision through the scope. Sort of a prehistoric/modern version of the popular
sniper rifle.

It’s a non-stop blood filled battle all the way. Many times your enemies will
attempt to defeat you by means of outnumbering you. This brings up one flaw
in the game, the enemy AI. They don’t seem to respond as intelligently as we
had hoped, given the fact that there are so many ways to out-think your enemy
and march your way to victory. That’s not to say that the game is easy, it’s
not. It would have been more of a challenge to fight an enemy that truly ‘collectively
thought‘ about ways to stop you, instead, nearby enemies seem unaffected
by their nearby cohorts taking an explosive arrow to the neck.

The fifteen missions in Turok are rarely dull, in fact, you may find the need
to replay a level just to get the taste of more blood. Definitely the best output
from the series to date when it comes to action and gameplay. The controls are
easy to become familiar with, and navigating through the jungles and other various
locations is quite simple, with an occasional glitch that will more than likely
make you laugh rather than be annoyed. The introduction of the flight areas,
where you take to the skies on the back of an armed Pterosaur, are a good diversion
and seem well thought out.

Multi-Player Mode stands out in Turok as one of the best features of the game,
with several different multiplayer modes and up to four players on the screen
at the same time. It’s too bad there is no system link capability in the game,
as this would have pushed it’s score up another notch for lan party’s.

Graphics

You’ll be amazed at the level of detail in the lush Lost Lands,
as well as the incredible textures and graphical displays of bodily fluids.
Most items look good from a distance, and better up close. Moving, living environments,
such as plant-eating dinosaurs are incredibly rendered. As you near the ‘edge’
of a world you will notice a slight drawback on the level of detail to the texture,
but not enough to take away from the awesome graphics and effects in the majority
of the game. Effects, such as exploding grenades, bodies, and objects are done
very well and just add to the fun factor. Snipe off a leg, arm, or head of your
enemy and enjoy a beautifully rendered fountain of blood!

Audio

With a decent soundtrack complimented by awesome audio effects
and mood-setting tones, the experience of shooting everything that moves in
the Lost Lands is incredibly realistic and truly adds another level of intensity
to the game. Listen as your enemies shout commands and slur at you, and respond
with an accurately placed arrow, or not so accurately placed nuke for that matter.

Replay Value

Any game with a strong multi player like Turok scores high
in this area. let’s face it, every time a new friends stops by it’s a new enemy
to beat down on. But the single player game mode has allot of merit to warrant
it being played time and time again. Find new ways to slay your enemy, particularly
the poisoned arrows are allot of fun, as your enemy drops to his knees and pukes
to death.

Overall Score

Overall Score: 8.5 [Not an Average]

Additional Comments

Excellent graphics, action-packed gameplay,
killer multi player and lots of blood! That all makes for a great game. The
storyline and technical aspects of the game add to the appeal. One thing the
developers need to work on, oddly enough one of our favorite areas of the game,
is the multi player section. Multi player is great, but could be so much better
with the introduction of enemy AI and system link capabilities. Recommended
by XboxSolution Staff.

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