One of the game’s lowest points is the dreadful checkpoint system. The game has no support for saving mid-mission other than relying on reaching said checkpoints, which are spaced out far apart and force players to replay overly long chunks of the game. There are also many times, often in the caves, where wave after wave of enemies will appear that just begs one to think that it serves no purpose other than to pad the game time up a bit. It can be frustrating at the times when the player is fighting the umpteenth wave of enemies, only to die in the last one and have to start over at the start of the whole battle.
The multiplayer aspect of Turok is solid if not slightly mundane, and is made up of familiar game types such as deathmatch and capture the flag. Making things much less run of the mill however is the addition of dinosaurs into the mix that freely attack players on either team. The dinosaur factor makes the multiplayer much more unpredictable and adds quite a bit to an experience that would otherwise be quite bland. The game boasts a co-operative mode, but rather than let multiple players tackle the campaign levels they are instead they are let loose on one of a few co-op maps. The maps are intense and definitely play well towards the co-op dynamic, but the mode itself is far from as big of a selling point as it could have been.
One area that Turok pulls very few punches is in the level of detail that is displayed on screen. Barring the oft-beaten upon cave sections Turok has a level of visual fidelity that breathes life into the prehistoric world that the game takes place in. The animations of the dinosaurs are very believable as the player watches them gracefully move and attack their prey before occasionally twitching and convulsing a bit when killed. Almost all animations in the game are smooth and once a character has bit the dust a well-implemented ragdoll effect takes over from there. The environments themselves are absolutely teeming with details such as tall grass that can conceal the approach of dinosaurs and the player alike, the misty haze that saturates some of the jungle, and even non-hostile dinosaurs both big and small that wander about.
The new and improved Turok is easily the best since it left its roots on the Nintendo 64. Even though the title takes great liberties with some of the lore it manages to retain its integrity while at the same time delivering on a completely over the top albeit predictable experience.
