Visually,
Turok is a pleasant sight for the eyes. The artists have done an excellent job of rendering the game’s many varied environments and most of the time, with striking results. There are a few minor aspects that stick out like a sore thumb though. For instance, in the same environment you’ll see trees and foliage that sway in the wind, massive amounts of beautifully rendered insects and then… a pond that looks like it was taken from 1996. We’re talking single texture here, un-rendered and horribly out of place. Then there’s the case where objects seem to pop in and out of the plane of view for no apparent reason. Sometimes you’ll see trees flicker and then suddenly disappear while mountains will pop into your field of view out of nowhere. The artists obviously spent a lot of time crafting these environments to look stunning and appealing and it’s a real shame that they had to be hampered by the engine’s inability to handle them.
There’s a large variety of wildlife and creatures in the game, all of which are nicely rendered. Perhaps most impressive though is the way that they animate. Each of them behave and react just as you would probably expect. You can tell from the start that there is a truly complex skeletal system underneath each and every single one of your foes and I feel that Acclaim must be commended for their efforts. There’s a large variety of animation available for each of the game’s creatures and it goes a long way in recreating truly realistic aura.
There had been much talk about a new form of AI branded the Squad Dynamics System or S.D.S. If you ask me it’s much ado about nothing. The AI squadmates are pretty much worthless and serve as nothing more than enemy fodder. AI in a FPS is the make or break point as far as I’m concerned and it this case it breaks the game. Though the game’s enemy AI is fairly competent it’s plagued by far too many problems. In most of the levels you’ll encounter at least a few problems with the AI, most of which are amateur mistakes. You can usually take out two or three enemies in plain sight of another without eliciting so much as a flinch. There are a few instances of brilliance though, shooting a weapon out of an enemy’s hand will cause him to run away and ask for reinforcements if I don’t pick him off in time. However, just like much of this game, for every positive there are just as many negatives. A great example is a sniper level early on in the game; in this level, you’ll be forced to fight your way up a mountainside in order to do battle with a ship. The briefing gives you a warning about snipers that protect the passageway up the mountainside, so you’ll have to do your best to pick them off before they do you in. I understand the need for a sniper level in the game but I don’t understand why the AI is just so braindead. Enemies will form a beeline towards me, toting their sniper rifles in their hand. Sometimes the snipers hiding on the high ground will instinctively run at me and inadvertently commit suicide, ruining the basic structure of the level.
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