The Turok series was once mentioned in the same breath as other excellent N64 FPS’s such as Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. I still have very fond memories of the the first two Turok games. However, since then the Turok series has shot straight down. Now it is known for absolutely atrocious games. Let me tell you this: This isn’t the game to revitalize the once excellent series that is now on life support.

First off, the graphics aren’t impressive at all. Now, I’m not a graphics whore. I still pull out my old NES and SNES games. However, by todays standards, Turok just isn’t that impressive. It reminds me of early next-gen games like Quake IV and Call of Duty 2. Sure, when they were released in 2005 they were impressive. Nowadays, however, that sort of shoddy work is considered sub par. Expect that sort of detail in Turok. The character models are especially bad, showing a low level of detail. Don’t expect the facial models that games such as Gears of War and Mass Effect have showcased.

At least the landscapes start out nice. The forests are lush and you find yourself admiring them at first. However, the scenery rarely changes. You are likely to see the same vegetation and the same dead animal parts multiple times. Throw in the occasional bland complex and you’ve got the makings of terrible level design. Well…Perhaps terrible is too harsh of a word. Suffice to say they take the over-used bits of FPS builds and toss them all together with just a couple pinches of greatness. A few of the levels were quite original, like one where you run along twisting tree trunks while shooting at enemies above and below you moving along the same twisted paths. However, moments like that are few and far between.

Next would be the audio, which is so forgettable that I actually almost forgot to address it in this review. Imagine that eh? The music is nothing special, and can become quite repetitive if you actually listen to it. I tended to drown it out while I played, focusing on other elements. The voice-acting was decent, which is something I can’t say for a lot of the game. It was applied well, and none of the characters spoke overly much. The only time I found it annoying was whenever the main character, Turok, would speak. Thankfully the man is more of a silent protagonist (with the occasional one-liner), or else I would’ve been muting the cut-scenes. Well, what about the sounds and noises that make up the bulk of the audio category you may ask…Equally as forgettable as the music. Turok doesn’t go out of its way to make this world believable. Few atmospheric sounds, yawn inducing gunfire and explosion, and dinosaur sounds that seem to be ripped straight from Jurassic Park are about the best that Turok boasts.

Now, I can forgive a game for repetitive and bland level design (as well as forgettable audio) if it offers up some excellent gameplay…namely a system that keeps me craving more. With Turok, I thought they would surely go the way of Far Cry and make it a sandbox FPS…Ha! I was quite wrong, to say the least. In fact, Turok is one of the most linear FPS’s in recent memory. The game is careful to push you in one direction, occasionally throwing in an illusion of choice: You get to pick which way to go when you come upon a fork in the road. However, both ways are almost always uneventful and lead to the same place shortly after.

If this turn of events wasn’t frustrating enough, Turok’s action is just as predictable. It’s the same FPS fare, except without a flare of genius. It has the standard guns, and most can be dual-wielded (2 shotguns? Um?). The AI enemies that you throw yourself up against keep you constantly wondering if they will be smart or stupid. At one point I had enemies flanking me in a pincer-like movement. Upon firing on one group, both took cover. In taking cover several had their posteriors sticking out, which allowed me to quickly mow down one group and move to the other. One moment they’ll be pinning you down, then you throw a grenade and they just stand there. That, ladies and gentlemen, is called bad AI. However, don’t let me forget the knife attacks which make many enemies far too easy. Once you get your knife (within the first 15 minutes) you can do a stealth kill at close range. This makes many of the weapons you have virtually useless, as any dinosaurs or humans that get close up will fall prey to it: Instant Death. Why use that nice shotgun when a knife will suffice?

I could no doubt go on and on detailing "small deficiencies" like the spotty hit detection and the ability for enemies to take several head shots from one gun but only one from another…but I feel I should move on to the story which provides plenty of opportunities to cringe. Sure, I didn’t expect Final Fantasy or Baldur’s Gate when I popped the game in my system…But I did expect something interesting. Instead I get a man with a midget Mohawk who’s apparently supposed to be Indian with a head shaped like a badly bruised prune. I said to myself at that point: "Okay, just a crappy main character, nothing to fear." It got worse. His former mentor has broken the law and fled to a remote planet. Cliche, but perhaps it would get better? Let me tell you all this: It doesn’t. The story makes little sense, and when it does make sense it is so cliche and overused as to make you cringe. I expected better than this.

What’s funny now, folks, is that the parts that shine the most are the parts that don’t make that much of a difference: The controls and camera system. Mind you, there’s really nothing special about them (which describes the game as a whole). However, the controls are fairly responsive, with a few small things that don’t do much to detract from the game. The only glaring weakness is the unresponsiveness of getting the knife attacks to work. You generally have to jam on the button hoping that the game reacts to one of those presses. The camera is a bit sluggish at times, but I found it to be reliable. Sure, it doesn’t zip as fast as you want it without a little tweaking, but again…it doesn’t detract from the gameplay and can be fixed fairly easily.

I have watched the Turok series evolve from the first to the latest. Before this version, each game was worse than its predecessor…This one is in no way as bad as Turok: Evolution, but it isn’t that much better. It’s definitely not worth a purchase if you don’t have any interest in single player, as what little of worth there is to play is online. This game didn’t feel done in places, and it definitely didn’t feel polished. I highly recommend a rent only, even if you are a long time Turok fan. This is not the game of old.