Zero Punctuation: Turok
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
NICE, very very nice. I agree in every point, and i love how you start to remember the glorius days at the end and then you spoil it! 
That was lovely. I agree with your first point about controls, having shouted "argh bargh arg arg" many times while trying to nudge over a bit to the left or right and finding myself shooting something off-screen instead. Okay, I know you don't care that I agree with your point, but dammit, I do.
Also, Ron Perlman has been in many zero-budget crap films, so as long as he got paid as much for "Turok" as he did for, say, "Double Exposure", I can't judge him too harshly.
Also, Ron Perlman has been in many zero-budget crap films, so as long as he got paid as much for "Turok" as he did for, say, "Double Exposure", I can't judge him too harshly.
Nice review indeed.
What I really hated about this game were the controls, they were not unresponsive but I couldn't get a single headshot in the game.
Now the other problems were the shiny graphics, a paper thin and ripped off story, and I agreed that this game wanted to be an average game... like Halo which is a really good example.
EDIT: Now I feel the coming of halo fanboys because of the statements of an average or bad fps...
What I really hated about this game were the controls, they were not unresponsive but I couldn't get a single headshot in the game.
Now the other problems were the shiny graphics, a paper thin and ripped off story, and I agreed that this game wanted to be an average game... like Halo which is a really good example.
EDIT: Now I feel the coming of halo fanboys because of the statements of an average or bad fps...
Turok is a somewhat enjoyable and fairly entertaining game but there are so many issues that bring the quality of the user experience down.
The sensitivity of the look function always seems to be off no matter what setting it's at.
The damage received by the enemy soldiers is very inconsistent making this feel more like a 'game'. For example; in hard mode, one arrow in the body will take most soldiers down but it will take a whole lot of bullets from a chain gun.
Quite often you'll throw an alternate fire pulse grenade at a soldier, they'll watch it roll, pause, shout "grenade", fly 20 feet in the air only to get up like nothing happened! One soldier took three grenades before taking the courtesy of leaving his mortal coil, this generally leaves the user only using grenades as a distraction.
A lot of the weapons feel weak; they are generally omitted as serious options when you have to face a group of three or more.
In some areas you'll be faced with endlessly spawning enemies until you enter a trigger area. While the trigger events add flair to Turok here they do not feel seamless.
I understand that in a game you want to be the hero taking everyone out (something that COD4 often failed in during the SAS missions) however, having numerous able bodied team members sit back and tell you to take down the giant enemy tank while they share Margherita and tales of times gone by becomes somewhat frustrating after your eight attempt. In fact, this happens in numerous sections of the game, company Whisky seems to be the worst 'elite' team of all time.
While being thrown on ground dinosaurs grenades and rockets is a cool feature it starts to become somewhat jarring. Noting the earlier tank battle; you'll run behind a wall where he doesn't have line of sight on you and whammo! A shell has sent you flying into the middle of the field! By the time the smoke and your blurred vision have gone allowing you to see where you are whammo, another shot sends you flying again! You are left completely disorientated not knowing where you are or which way you're facing, the grey rocks all look exactly the same, by the time you realise you're looking down the wrong end of the tank's turret you're screen goes red and you have to try again!
Despite these frustrations, Turok is, as I said, a good game. Recommended if you have a fancy for Dinos and guns.
The sensitivity of the look function always seems to be off no matter what setting it's at.
The damage received by the enemy soldiers is very inconsistent making this feel more like a 'game'. For example; in hard mode, one arrow in the body will take most soldiers down but it will take a whole lot of bullets from a chain gun.
Quite often you'll throw an alternate fire pulse grenade at a soldier, they'll watch it roll, pause, shout "grenade", fly 20 feet in the air only to get up like nothing happened! One soldier took three grenades before taking the courtesy of leaving his mortal coil, this generally leaves the user only using grenades as a distraction.
A lot of the weapons feel weak; they are generally omitted as serious options when you have to face a group of three or more.
In some areas you'll be faced with endlessly spawning enemies until you enter a trigger area. While the trigger events add flair to Turok here they do not feel seamless.
I understand that in a game you want to be the hero taking everyone out (something that COD4 often failed in during the SAS missions) however, having numerous able bodied team members sit back and tell you to take down the giant enemy tank while they share Margherita and tales of times gone by becomes somewhat frustrating after your eight attempt. In fact, this happens in numerous sections of the game, company Whisky seems to be the worst 'elite' team of all time.
While being thrown on ground dinosaurs grenades and rockets is a cool feature it starts to become somewhat jarring. Noting the earlier tank battle; you'll run behind a wall where he doesn't have line of sight on you and whammo! A shell has sent you flying into the middle of the field! By the time the smoke and your blurred vision have gone allowing you to see where you are whammo, another shot sends you flying again! You are left completely disorientated not knowing where you are or which way you're facing, the grey rocks all look exactly the same, by the time you realise you're looking down the wrong end of the tank's turret you're screen goes red and you have to try again!
Despite these frustrations, Turok is, as I said, a good game. Recommended if you have a fancy for Dinos and guns.
Now this is a review I like. Don't just review the game; talk about the genre in general and what it takes to make it better, if not perfect. It helps someone like myself, an aspiring game designer, to know how to appease the most cynical of gamers.
Despite the depth of the rants in this week's review, I can't help but wonder: Yahtzee, you covered FPSes on consoles and FPSes on PCs, but you didn't bring up Wii FPSes at all, which I think is disappointing considering that it's a pretty big debate right now as to whether or not the genre can be taken further on consoles. Sure, it stumbled a bit on Red Steel, but I say nearly perfected it with Metroid Prime 3 and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (although, the controls, from what I've heard, have been the only redeeming factor about this, so I wouldn't say it's worth taking the time to review this after your Airborne review).
On a completely unrelated note, it's nice to see you hinting at the fact that you will be reviewing games like No More Heroes and Rock Band in the future.
Despite the depth of the rants in this week's review, I can't help but wonder: Yahtzee, you covered FPSes on consoles and FPSes on PCs, but you didn't bring up Wii FPSes at all, which I think is disappointing considering that it's a pretty big debate right now as to whether or not the genre can be taken further on consoles. Sure, it stumbled a bit on Red Steel, but I say nearly perfected it with Metroid Prime 3 and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (although, the controls, from what I've heard, have been the only redeeming factor about this, so I wouldn't say it's worth taking the time to review this after your Airborne review).
On a completely unrelated note, it's nice to see you hinting at the fact that you will be reviewing games like No More Heroes and Rock Band in the future.
My god! This has got to be one of the best reviews yet! I loved it, it was so insane!
Either that or I really needed a laugh because I've been in a mopey mood lately.
Either that or I really needed a laugh because I've been in a mopey mood lately.
You haven't played No More Heroes yet? It's quite good. Although, not without some alarming problems. But it has loads of charm, and characters that seem to have come straight out of Cowboy Bebop.
Now I've seem to have gotten off topic.
Good review, and some nice insight to the creation of Australia.
Now I've seem to have gotten off topic.
Good review, and some nice insight to the creation of Australia.
Don't know about health meters, Call of Duty did a pretty good job I think, you know when your at full hp, 50% hp, and nearly f**cked! Meters are good for games like Final Fantasy when it's all about the numbers but for a good old 'seat of your pants' blaster..I say keep the HUD clear.