Dino Crisis

Game: Turok
System: Xbox 360
Release date: February 5, 2008
Developed by: Propaganda Games
Published by: Touchstone Interactive

The Turok franchise has fallen on hard times. It was once upon a time one of the premier console first-person shooter series, but the last three installments, including Turok, have ranged from mediocre to terrible. The games have become uninspired, linear, derivative, and boring; as a result Turok, as a franchise, has disappeared among much better shooter series: Call of Duty, Halo, Half-Life, etc.

Turok seems to be a reboot of the franchise; it references none of the events from the previous installments. In fact, Turok references almost nothing outside the main plotline; it's almost entirely without context. Cpl. Joseph Turok and an elite squad of marines crash land on a planet ruled by ruthless madman (and Turok's former mentor) General Roland Kane and do everything they can to survive his henchmen and the fearsome creatures which live and hunt on the terraformed world.


Like in previous Turok installments, players must explore an unknown and dangerous world filled with human enemies and dinosaurs. While the human artificial intelligence leaves something to be desired, the dinosaurs in Turok are quite terrifying. Attacking from behind and in the dark, scurrying out of nests and caves, the dinosaurs are the stuff of nightmares. Strangely, players can carry only two weapons at one time (in addition to a bow and knife); moreover, the weapons are mostly conventional military arms one could find in almost any first-person shooter. This is a far cry from the vast arsenal of creative, futuristic weapons which players could use in the N64 Turok games.


Turok includes a few noteworthy additions to its mostly lackluster gameplay. These include stealth kills, quick-dodge maneuvers, and "dino luring." Players can use the voracious appetites of nearby dinosaurs to their advantage by luring them into a crowd of human enemies with secondary fire flares from the shotgun.

The Turok franchise is overdue for a renaissance. Developers of the next Turok game should forget about emulating newer, popular first-person shooters and return to the series' roots: large, open-ended environments; a huge assortment of weapons; bizarre, alien enemies; immersive graphics and sound; and sinister sci-fi storylines. What players have in the new Turok are linear levels, uninteresting heroes and villains, and forgettable weapons. Where's a real dinosaur hunter when you need one?

Score: 75/100