Turok began as an N64 hit years ago capturing audiences with it over-the-top action and borderline ridiculous guns that gave every video-gamer the adrenaline rush of PCP. Now, 11 years later, Turok returns with a cross-platform re-invention of the classic showdown between man and dinosaur.

You play as the protagonist named Joseph Turok, a hardened ex-mercenary that has joined the ranks of Whiskey Company sent on a mission to capture his old leader, Kane. While orbiting the planet, which is believed to be Kane’s new safe-house, your ship is shot down. The mission now has become much more difficult as the planet is swarming with dinosaurs. Ripping open dinosaurs and blasting the baddies is intermittent between quasi-clear flashbacks of your apparently shady past. Sadly, the story just falls apart as the game progresses. You end up not really caring to watch the cut scenes and just want to get back to shooting stuff. This might be because your objectives shift about halfway through to just surviving but nevertheless, this is not a cinematic masterpiece.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward. You will be accompanied by your teammates to fight your way through the jungles to certain checkpoints. It’s extremely linear but not too much in a bad way. You will face all kind of prehistoric monstrosities as well as some freaky mutations of ones too. And although some of the trees and rock textures are semi-blurred and others being downright bland, the animations and textures on the dinosaurs are absolutely breathtaking, but the gameplay is so fast you hardly get a chance to stop and really look at the work that has been done with them. The major downside to these creatures though, is their mental capacity. These dinosaur’s IQ is truly prehistoric; I mean, borderline retarded. There were multiple times they would just run around in circles or get stuck somewhere. These types of glitches never really bothered me much but it is worth mentioning.

The weapons of Turok are not as inventive as say Ratchet and Clank, but they get the job done. You can duel wield an array of small machine guns but also have access to the big boys like missile and grenade launchers. The most vicious weapon and frankly the most satisfying is the knife. Each gory knife kill is as awesome and gruesome as fatalities were to Mortal Kombat. The sounds of flesh tearing, cartilage ripping and bones breaking just puts one of those “oh gross” smiles on your face. And while I would be completely satisfied with the available options if it was any other game, Turok’s heritage demands catastrophic destruction that just doesn’t deliver. There aren’t any cerebral bores, shockwave weapons or chronosceptors that just obliterate everything on screen. What does make a pretty big return though is the Tek Bow. This one-shot-kill accessory comes very in handy and the second weapon of choice over the knife.

Turok offers a few online options with deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture-the-flag, and co-op modes but when I signed on to play, nobody was even online so I wouldn’t expect much action in the multiplayer department.

Overall Turok is a reincarnation of an N64 classic that doesn’t quite deliver the punch that Dinosaur Hunter or Seeds Of Evil did. Although it’s a good romp, this sequel is likely to quickly fossilize.

Gameplay: 7.5
A good start that quickly falls off into a discombobulated mess of the story’s true purpose but is successful in constantly delivering hordes of baddies to tear apart.

Graphics: 8.0
While the environments look a little bland, the dinosaur counterparts are truly an amazing feat of work.

Sound: 8.0
An ample amount of frightening and ambient sound effects but nothing Oscar worthy from the music department.

Difficulty: Medium
Only a few parts that seem to be overwhelming with hordes of dinosaurs but overall an average run for experienced gamers.

Concept: 6.0
This is the biggest disappointment of the reinvention: it fails to bring back the feel of the N64 classics.

Multiplayer: 6.0
I can only assume with more people playing this could be fun, but as it stands, nobody is online to actually play with.

Overall: 7.5
Turok is a noble effort to rebirth the acclaimed license of its original counterparts. In some ways it accomplishes this, but in others it fails. I can only recommend this one as a first step in creating better sequels and in that regard, I wish Touchstone the best of luck.