Culture

Platform: PS3, XBox 360, PC
(3/5)

   Turok was one of the earlier games released for the PS3 and XBox 360. It was greatly anticipated due to its earlier fame on the Nintendo 64 but after its release was generally viewed as a great disappointment. The graphics weren't great, the story line was a bit weak, and it was brutally difficult.
   I believe this game is under-appreciated. While there is no doubt Turok is a challenging game – the steep difficulty level was its main downfall – much of this difficulty was due to gamers’ unwillingness to adapt.
   The earlier Turok games were designed more as First-Person Shooters (FPS), with a run-and-gun feel. To play the new Turok this way makes the already challenging game nearly impossible. This version of Turok gives the player many options in confronting enemies. The baddies can be shot with a variety of guns, and some of the guns could be silenced, allowing for stealthier kills with a loss of firepower. The player was also given the traditional Turok weapons: a big knife and a bow. The bow could one-shot kill almost any human, and the knife has the potential to one-hit kill almost anything in the game, the only exception being the large dinosaurs.
   This allows the player to choose to blast away with guns, silently assassinate enemies from a distance, or get up close with the knife for a silent kill. People who found the game far too difficult chose to lay into enemies with full automatic fire, which, while acceptable for some scenarios, could not be maintained throughout the game due to low ammo drops by enemies.
   Turok is not an incredible game; however, it can be fun and poses an interesting challenge for gamers who have become used to games that only require unloading entire magazines at single enemies.