Fans of the previous games will remember plots involving strange stories of trans-dimensional, fantastical themes combined with dinosaur-hunting gameplay. With its reinvention, Turok ditches that extreme fantasy for a more traditional action approach. Tyrannosaurus Rexes and Velociraptors alike are still present in game, but this time you are sent to a remote planet, where it all takes place in the future. You assume the persona of Joseph Turok, an ex-commando sent in with Whiskey Company to take down your former mentor, Ronald Kane. Prior to landing, your ship is shot down and the story goes from an extraction mission to one of pure survival.

The game will have you traversing the planet to find pieces of wreckage, save crewmates, and just survive in order to escape. Ultimately, the story plays out like a B-list action movie similar to a combination of Starship Troopers and Jurassic Park: not very many members of the crew survive, with giant scorpions and dinosaurs abound.

As the mission changes, so does the drive of the story. While Turok struggles with events that happened under Kane�s command through flashbacks and dialogue, you learn why Whiskey Co. is so uneasy to have you on their crew. However, the dilemma that Turok struggles with is really lost throughout the game and isn�t developed until the end of the game. Since the game touts survival, there is little connection to what Turok is struggling with and why he hates Kane so much, making the experience feel more like a gratuitous reason to kill dinosaurs.

But you�ll be surprised how fun killing prehistoric reptiles is! Although the story may take a backseat, this makes the game a fun shooter. The question is: what other game will you be able to fend off Velociraptor attacks with a combat knife or take down a T-Rex? In a feint attempt at change, Turok throws in a twist to the corridor shooter. Larger, sandbox-style areas are separated by linear paths, and offer players dynamic ways to play them.

While the corridors may be a breeze to run through, some of the open areas create situations with an unbalanced difficulty level. Some sections will require multiple replays to figure out exactly what to do, or the situation will be so tough and unfair it will take numerous attempts to complete. Ultimately, the A.I. is supposed to act dynamically to situations but at times ends up either standing in the open or takes cover on the wrong side of an object.

To escape the planet you�ll have to make your way through Kane�s Mendel-Gruman army�in keeping with the lacking story, you don�t really know why they�re there, other than they�re terra-forming the planet and conducting experiments for new biological weaponry. Instead of blasting your way through the enemy, you can have Raptor-on-Raptor or Raptor-on-bad guy action by shooting a flare on an enemy when a hooked-toed dino is around. The interaction creates a feeling of survival against nature, but the novelty is relatively short-lived.

On the other hand, these open areas allow for the use of some of the most badass weaponry in games to be employed. By using the combat knife, you can sneak up behind unsuspecting enemies and various dinosaurs to engage an animated attack. Although the attacks may be scripted, there are quite a few different animations and, depending on the kind of enemy and where you strike from, something different is sure to happen the second and third time around Also at your disposal is the Turok-classic hunting bow, used for stealth kills and pinning enemies to walls.

Of course there is additional heavy weaponry, but it�s all your standard equipment and does little to separate the game from other shooters. The knife and the bow really help distinguish the game from the rest of the field; both remain as tools at your disposal for the entire adventure, with two slots for additional weaponry. The knife is not mapped as a melee attack for close-quarter use, but uses its own weapon�s slot and must be selected�the problem becomes switching between weapons. Using the D-pad allows you to select different weapons, but doing so will occasionally equip the wrong one for the situation, and is ultimately unnatural, clunky and inefficient.

This setup becomes the most annoying during online matches. Broken up into your standard types, games can end with fiddling between weapons and a rant of obscenities. This is frustrating as online games can be intense, even-though they ultimately devolve into a string of knife kills. Nonetheless, stalking after players and jousting one-another with knives results in trash-talking galore.

Co-op challenges extend the life of the game where teamwork is essential. However, developers must begin to understand that there is a difference in calculating difficulty measured in a never-ending stream of enemy AI versus competent strategy; and unfortunately, Turok presents to the former. Also, with only three missions, once they�re done, there�s little reason to replay them unless you want to help out your friends. 

For the most part the game looks fairly good and runs smoothly, but isn�t without flaw. Textures are a little bland, and levels have little to differentiate themselves. During battles with the larger creatures, damage is indicated by modeling similar to the �dino damage� of the old Jurassic Park action figures, with chunks of flesh missing. Post-mortem enemies twist, contort, stretch and flail in strange ways. Also, there is a bit of clipping during knifing animations, as well as floating kills.

The sound really adds to the feel of the planet, and when coupled with the corresponding animations will have players on their toes. While the voice acting is nothing special, it fits, and the music sets the mood of the action. Similarly, the weapon sounds work well for their respective power. However, at times helicopter sounds will pop in instead of gradually approach usually surprising the player than anything else. 

Perhaps the biggest misstep in the game is the boss battles. While the idea for many of the battles may have seemed epic and exciting during the pitch, they really fall flat. The damage system doesn�t let you know how close to winning the fight you are, and unless you have high power weapons with you, it�s going to take awhile. Some of the battles mix things up requiring you to use the environment, but are either unintuitive or impossible to use. In one fight you�ll have to take on a T-Rex, and while there are rocket pods around, the second you try to use one the beast is on you. Also, in perhaps one of the most anticlimactic battles ever, a mini-game involving various button mashing is used to dispatch your enemy�it may have worked for games like Shadow of the Colossus and God of War, but it feels too out of place here.

In a time when first person shooters are in excess, does Turok fit in? The simple answer is yes and maybe. Propaganda�s re-imagining of the franchise is a somewhat guilty pleasure and a good first shot for the current-gen, but it does little to distinguish itself. What it does offer is the chance to kill many a dinosaur, and use a weapon that the modern world has all but forgotten about. Although there isn�t an interesting story, being able to have knife-and-bow matches alone make the game worth it to those who were fans of the older titles. And for those who ever wondered what it would be like to wrestle with a Velociraptor, Turok will satiate your dreams.

Gameplay: 7.0
Graphics: 8.0
Audio: 8.0
Lasting Appeal: 7.0
Overall: 7.5 

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