Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

The Good
I really enjoyed all the different weapons that Turok could get - there were a LOT. The bow and arrow was a powerful first weapon, and you can recollect your arrows after you use them (they don't disappear after fired). The plasma rifle definitely did some damage in the middle of the game, and also doubled as a sniper. But my favourite weapon so far is the razor wind...it literally acts like an organic boomerang - it knows where to go and kills enemies quickly but painfully.

The background music was also very melodic and deep, it only seems to get better and better as the levels pass. This is very important in any game - the soundtrack is probably the most attractive part of the game, or any game, for that matter. The sound effects were good too. I still get a good laugh every time I get a hundred tokens and the character says, "I AM TUROK!"

I particularly enjoyed the intermission hub between levels - the scenery was beautiful and if it were any more real you could fall off the edge! The cheats you earn between levels can be very fun too...

The Bad
On the whole I didn't really like this game that much. The most important reason is the movement. I found it too easy to be able to fall of a cliff or into a pool of lava, and felt almost as if I had no balance or I was pushed. The biggest example is on the level in the ship with all the air vents, and the air currents would gradually push you off the steel bridge into the energy stream. I found this very annoying and too hard (especially with those turrets firing at you).

Also, it was too easy to die. If you fell into a puddle of acid or lava it was instant death. You can't simply suffer greatly and get back up. Health is too scarce, and you're almost always on your own.

Another annoying thing is the saving procedure. In this game you can't save your game on the spot, you have to find a safe haven portal (and there is not a lot). You are also granted one full-health cheat and one full-ammo cheat per level, but sometimes even that is not enough. So make sure you only use the full-health cheat if you're under 15% or so.

The most irritating thing, however, is when you save, quit, then reload your game. Your automap memory is erased, so everywhere you've travelled to you'll have to find it all over again. This might be a no-brainer for those with superior navigation abilities, but the levels are huge. It is too easy to get lost even with the automap, especially in the ship when the textures and the scenery repeat themselves throughout.

Multiplayer isn't really that exciting either. You only get eight land weapons and four underwater weapons, and even then they've been stripped of power and graphics from the single player version. Music in multiplayer is disabled, and the wall textures are monotone (only one wall texture per level - but you get to choose which one).

The Bottom Line
This game is definitely above mediocre, but I would certainly not consider it a masterpiece. There are a few attractive "up's," but also a lot of technical "down's." It's definitely a good adventure and if you want to get it fine (you'll definitely love the graphics and the weaponry), but this game discouraged me from trying out the prequel or the sequel.

The Good
This game has incredible graphics, sound, music, controls, and gameplay. I was not a very big Turok fan until I started playing this game. This game is long but very fun. The world gradually keeps changing as you keep traveling from level to level. What makes this game very special is the ability to travel from level to level on foot without a level selection screen. This gives you the ability to explore more of the levels. The graphics in this game are wonderful with all the great shadows, color effects, detail of the environment and character detail. The AI in this game is decent. The enemy does hide behind objects sometimes while others just try to kill you. The sound quality is awesome. You can hear the echos of the gun shots in the hallways and the very loud blast of the Nuke. There are only six levels but they are nice and long. The music fits the game very well. What I also enjoy about this game is that you start out finding simple weapons such as a pistol, shotgun, and tranquilizer gun and are fighting simple enemies like Entrails (Human-like Lizards.) Eventually, you are blasting Bio-bots (advanced powerful robots) in the hallways of a metal ship. Also, this game takes you on a great adventure through the Lost Land and you do not need to understand the language to understand what to do except maybe some of the objectives. However, this is my favorite game of all time because it has a great single player adventure and some multi-player. Also, the bosses are incredible especially the cheat codes. I recommend this game very much especially for first person shooter lovers.

The Bad
There were a few flaws in this game that I did not like. Sometimes, I shot an enemy with a grenade but, nothing happened. Also, I do not like the idea that I have to complete all of my objectives before I can leave the level. The multi-player needed music and there should have been bigger gun fights. Also, the game could be a little repetitive. But, sometimes the repetition is fun. You also, could be lost in the levels if you are not so sure of where you are. I just wish the items from the first Turok were in this game and that there would have been more unlockable stuff.

The Bottom Line
This game is very fun to play if you want to go on a big adventure through massive levels. There is a little story to this game to play to, the multi-player is ok if you have a friend and the game is great to play even with the cheat codes on. However, it is a very long game even if you speed run it with codes on easy mode. So, do not think that you will see the amazing true ending of this game anytime soon.

The Good
Turok 2 is a very, very good looking game. Running in Hi-Resolution it rivals Majora's Mask as best looking game on the 64. Turok 2 even supports widescreen displays with a letterbox Hi-Resolution graphics mode. I just cannot emphasise how good Turok 2 looks. The character models come off a little blocky but the crystal clear textures, outstanding weapon models and particle effects simply elevate the game to another level of transcendental graphical deliciousness.

Turok 2's level design is fairly epic. Although corridors rarely curve the maze like interiors are intelligently crafted. Exteriors display a similar level of polish featuring immaculate detail - especially during the Lair of the Blind One's level. The Primagen Ship is probably the best level in the game. When you think about it the level really isn't that great, it just feels so grand and intimidating. It's claustrophobic corridors hide aggressive enemies amongst tangles of wires and dazzling sparks and particles.

The enemies in Seeds of Evil are a mixed bag of good and bad. In their favour they are delightfully varied and insidious. Some throw bombs and commit explosive suicide when you inflict enough damage while some try climbing walls and spitting some sort of corrosive molecular material at you. The bottom line is they are fun to fight and that's what good enemy design is all about.

In total there are 20 weapons in Turok 2 and they are all a blast to use (no pun intended). Some weapons such as the Cerebral Bore are simply wicked while some that seem like they should be boring, like the Bow just aren't. Iguana just got every weapon right. Even though half of the weapons are simply variations of the original weapons they differ to the extent that you have to change your strategy. For instance the Mag 60 is just a three round burst firing pistol however it features massive recoil so you have to learn to compensate.

Sound wise Turok 2 is simply a splendid aural experience. Seeds of Evil features over 10 minutes of voice acting and outstanding music which never seems out of place and just works so well with the action on screen. Weapons feature intimidating blasts and explosions rattle your speakers with realistic ferocity. The Dinosoids growl and snarl primally and Turok lets out a heroic "I AM TUROK!" sample when you achieve an extra life. It's worth searching for extra lives just to hear that sample.

The Bad
Fog. The trade off for such a gorgeous game is a severe fog problem. Originally called the "Turok Effect" for this very reason you have to suffer a thick layer of fog over every exterior area. It doesn't seem like a big problem until enemies begin bounding out of this convenient fog to claw you to death, or plasma begins shooting out of the fog forcing you to walk into the hail of fire to take out the shooter. It's gets very frustrating after a while.

You'd think with all this fog the frame rate would be acceptable, but no. The frame rate is atrocious. Playing in Low-Resolution you normally get around the 25-30 fps mark however if you want to enjoy the game in Hi-Resolution you have to suffer frame rates of around 20 fps at times of low activity to a veritable powerpoint presentation when the particle system is in full swing. At some points it came close to ruining the experience for me.

While enemies are well designed their AI is pretty dumb. Most enemies simply stand still attacking you while you blow them to pieces with explosive shot gun shells. Other times I found enemies running around me and just continuing, ignoring me completely. It's frustrating because you want the AI to match the presentation however this is not to be.

Character models are hideously blocky affairs. Turok himself looks great however everything else seems to be a geometric mass of scaly textures and spines. The best example of this problem are the Children in the port of Adia level which look like they all have some sort of hideous facial deformation.

In the end Turok 2 is simply another formulaic FPS experience. Iguana has tried to incorporate a heavy emphasis on exploration to break the monotony however there is little to do apart from shooting things. Level goals seem like an aforethought to the level design and it all begins to grate after a while. The Triceratops riding sections are pretty much as shaken up as the game design gets.

The Bottom Line
Turok 2 is a fantastic looking game. It is really gorgeous, easily one of the best looking games on the Nintendo 64. The level, sound design, enemy design and weaponry are all very interesting and creative. The inclusion of voice over work is to be applauded and the inclusion of Hi-Resolution wide screen is unnecessary but welcome. Unfortunately at the same time Turok 2 suffers from simply being another FPS experience with very little to do. Level goals are vague and almost seem superfluous and the enemy AI is bad. Frame rates fluctuate wildly and the severe fog ruins exterior sections of the game by providing enemies with more than enough opportunities to cheap shot you. Turok 2 is a good looking game that extends the opportunity to be a lot of fun. I just wish there was more to do.

The Good
Well the weapon selection was pretty decent. The levels are neatly designed and are well detailed. The enemies had a very interesting look. Luckily Turok 2 has a code to unlock every level and cheat. This code helps a lot.

The Bad
This game was to freakin' hard! The enemies are very annoying and they won't leave you alone until you kill them! The fire power of the guns were WEAK. The guns were practically useless. The levels were so big that you could easily get lost in every level. You could also not skip the cutscenes. This games controls sucked. You moved with the C buttons and look right and left with the control stick. There is a control setting that handles the game kind of like GoldenEye(N64). Even players will get frustrated with this control system. The graphics were a bit fuzzy. In other words, Turok 2 was kind of like a 3D version of DOOM. Players who want to play a nice and quick shooting game, you might want to avoid this game. The boss levels were also too hard.

The Bottom Line
Well unless you absolutely love FPS games and Turok, this is a game for you. If your looking for a game that you could play while your relaxing, this is DEFINITELY not the game for you. I wouldn't pay over $7 for this game because this game simply sucks and its not worth all your money.

The Good
Before Acclaim were bribing parents to name their new child 'Turok', they actually had quite a solid franchise on their hands. Turok 2 took the basic 'Native American butchering dinosaurs' concept of the original title and made some major enhancements in two areas.

The first of these was the addition of rather more profound weaponry, such a tactical nuke, and the infamous  Cerebral Bore. If you aren't familiar, the Bore not only delves into the target's cranium, but also detonates an explosive charge once it reaches the brain. Quite inventive, and certainly gruesome on three levels -- conceptual, visual, and aural. Not ultimately that useful in the heat of battle, however.

The second area of enhancement are the gigantic, complex, and horrifically malformed bosses. Turok 2 took advantage of the plug-in N64 memory pack to render these teratogenic nightmares with enhanced clarity. One thing the bosses have in common is a tendency to lose body parts to Turok's predations, in gory fashion. Quite amusing, if you're into that kind of thing. Potentially sickening if not.

The Bad
Despite these enhancements, I can't really say that Turok 2 surpasses, or even equals, the original Turok. I mean, everything looks good on paper, but I ended up playing more of the original and less of the sequel -- even though I owned part two and only rented part one (on multiple occasions).

If I were to speculate on why the sequel doesn't really appeal so much, I could come up with a few ideas. First, the frame rate suffers for all the added visual complexity, making play more difficult, even frustrating at times. Second, the level design is not as pleasant or interesting or free-form as the intriguing misty canyons of Turok one. One of the later levels is so dark, laborious, and un-fun that I stopped playing for good rather than press on.

Moreover, the weapons may seem extravagant and highly destructive, but in the end I feel like I could clear a room more effectively with DOOM II's Super Shotgun. They have great novelty value, but aren't really that fun in practice.

The Bottom Line
I reckon that I spent upwards of $80 on this cartridge after tax. Probably a mistake -- I should have rented it once instead. But I was so taken with the original that I got a little irrationally exuberant. Oh well - I'd still give it a B+, as the four-player deathmatch is worth a good 20 hours of play with some buddies.