Turok: Evolution
Encyclopedia
Turok: EvoIution is a first-person shooter
video game developed and published by Acclaim Entertainment
, released for the Nintendo GameCube
, PlayStation 2
, Xbox
, and Game Boy Advance
in 2002. A port for Microsoft Windows was released in 2003 for the European market. It was the last to follow in the series before it was rebooted by a 2008 entry in the Turok video games series, called Turok.
On earth during the old west, Tal'Set faces off his enemy, Captain Bruckner and succeeds in cutting off his arm, but both of them are sucked into a wormhole. Tal'Set is nearly killed and the people of the River Village, who found him, call upon Tarkeen to heal him. Tarkeen then commands them to bring Tal'Set to him. He is sent into the jungle and kills enemy factions, lizard-like enemies known as the Sleg, that are close to the Village. Tal'Set hooks up with Genn, a pilot from the Village, who will be guiding him to the seer. Along the way, he uses a Quetzalcoatlus
to evict the Sleg from the jungle and destroy their air ship.
Tal'Set reaches Tarkeen's sanctum and Tarkeen tells him that it was he who summoned him and that he must accept the mantle of Turok and release Tarkeen from a curse. When Tal'Set refuses, Tarkeen tells him that the Slegs had managed to reach the Village. This enrages Tal'Set which prompts him to cut through the mountains to reach the Sleg base, where they are holding the villagers and the River Village leader, Wise Father. He infiltrated the base and releases the prisoners and then enters the Sleg fortress.
Tal'Set proceeds in liberating the base and learns that a "human general" was the one who ordered the attack on the jungle and the Slegs that Tal'Set fought were only a diversion. Deeper in the base, Tal'Set is ordered to retrieve the enemy war plans, which he does by destroying the reactor and causing it to meltdown. With the reactor causing much chaos, he is able to reach the prison cells, kill the guards and rescue the Wise Father and his comrades. They both escape the fortress, but outside they assault on the human city of Galyana, but for the army to reach it the must cross the Chasm, which can only be crossed in two spots. Tal'Set enters the Shadowed Lands and makes his way through the ruins to an old bridge, where he blows it up to stop the Slegs from crossing the Chasm. He is rescued from falling to his death by his Pterosaur and he proceeds in destroying an enemy stronghold in the Chasm with Genn.
After the stronghold is destroyed, the Pterosaur crash lands near the second are where the Slegs are trying to cross: The Suspended City. Tal'Set breaches the city and cleanses the street with his comrades, surviving the first wave of Sleg paratroops entering the city. He clears snipers from the rooftops and proceeds into the city square, and from there he enters the sewer system. The sewers lead into the maintenance tunnels under the Great Library, which Tal'Set enters so he can reach the Senate Chambers behind the Statue of the God of Justice. He breaches the Senate and saves the Senators, who tell him that the only way to stop the Slegs from cutting through the city is to destroy it. He is sent to find the other senator in the Great Hall, which he succeeds in doing and uses his clearance to release the tethers that are connecting the city to the Chasm walls. Tal'Set barely escapes aboard another pterosaur.
The city is successfully destroyed, but the Sleg leader, Lord Tyrannus, has one more tactic to try. He unleashes the Juggernaut, a massive mechanized beast to level the city. Tal'Set infiltrates the Juggernaut via pterosaur and destroys its cannons, crippling it. Before escaping, he is confronted by Tyrannus, who says that they will continue fighting and that he will kill him, but he is stopped by Tarkeen. Tal'Set escapes on his pterosaur and rushes to Galyana, where he stops the Brachiosaurus
artillery from destroying Galyana's walls and then evicts the Slegs from the premises.
Although Galyana had been saved, Bruckner still lived, and Tal'Set sought vengeance for what he did to his people. He finds Bruckner aboard a mechanized Tyrannosaurus rex. Once Tal'Set defeats the tyrannosaur boss, Bruckner attempts to escape, but is crushed by the falling beast. Bruckner is left to die by Tal'Set, who says that "he does not deserve a warrior's death" and is then eaten alive by a small pack of Compsognathus
. Afterward, Tal'Set tells Tarkeen that he accepts the mantle of Turok, leading to the events of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
. At a Sleg temple, Lord Tyrannus mourns his defeat.
scored the Xbox version a 6.8 out of 10, the GameCube version a 7.0, the Game Boy Advance version a 7.2, and the PlayStation 2 version a 6.1. Publications such as Play magazine and Yahoo! Games
praised its "fierce energy" and "general violence and mayhem". Common complaints focused on what was called a weak storyline and unimpressive AI
. The PS2
version was more heavily criticized than the Nintendo GameCube
, Xbox
and PC
versions due to poor framerates and inferior graphics.
The game's villain, Tobias Bruckner, lived on through Electronic Gaming Monthly
s annual Tobias Bruckner Memorial Awards, which "honored" what they perceived to be the worst in video games, with categories specific to the games released in that year.
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
video game developed and published by Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
, released for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
, PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, and Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
in 2002. A port for Microsoft Windows was released in 2003 for the European market. It was the last to follow in the series before it was rebooted by a 2008 entry in the Turok video games series, called Turok.
Plot
The game begins with the seer, Tarkeen, explaining the history of the Lost Lands which had, for years, been fought over by tyrannic warlords.On earth during the old west, Tal'Set faces off his enemy, Captain Bruckner and succeeds in cutting off his arm, but both of them are sucked into a wormhole. Tal'Set is nearly killed and the people of the River Village, who found him, call upon Tarkeen to heal him. Tarkeen then commands them to bring Tal'Set to him. He is sent into the jungle and kills enemy factions, lizard-like enemies known as the Sleg, that are close to the Village. Tal'Set hooks up with Genn, a pilot from the Village, who will be guiding him to the seer. Along the way, he uses a Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...
to evict the Sleg from the jungle and destroy their air ship.
Tal'Set reaches Tarkeen's sanctum and Tarkeen tells him that it was he who summoned him and that he must accept the mantle of Turok and release Tarkeen from a curse. When Tal'Set refuses, Tarkeen tells him that the Slegs had managed to reach the Village. This enrages Tal'Set which prompts him to cut through the mountains to reach the Sleg base, where they are holding the villagers and the River Village leader, Wise Father. He infiltrated the base and releases the prisoners and then enters the Sleg fortress.
Tal'Set proceeds in liberating the base and learns that a "human general" was the one who ordered the attack on the jungle and the Slegs that Tal'Set fought were only a diversion. Deeper in the base, Tal'Set is ordered to retrieve the enemy war plans, which he does by destroying the reactor and causing it to meltdown. With the reactor causing much chaos, he is able to reach the prison cells, kill the guards and rescue the Wise Father and his comrades. They both escape the fortress, but outside they assault on the human city of Galyana, but for the army to reach it the must cross the Chasm, which can only be crossed in two spots. Tal'Set enters the Shadowed Lands and makes his way through the ruins to an old bridge, where he blows it up to stop the Slegs from crossing the Chasm. He is rescued from falling to his death by his Pterosaur and he proceeds in destroying an enemy stronghold in the Chasm with Genn.
After the stronghold is destroyed, the Pterosaur crash lands near the second are where the Slegs are trying to cross: The Suspended City. Tal'Set breaches the city and cleanses the street with his comrades, surviving the first wave of Sleg paratroops entering the city. He clears snipers from the rooftops and proceeds into the city square, and from there he enters the sewer system. The sewers lead into the maintenance tunnels under the Great Library, which Tal'Set enters so he can reach the Senate Chambers behind the Statue of the God of Justice. He breaches the Senate and saves the Senators, who tell him that the only way to stop the Slegs from cutting through the city is to destroy it. He is sent to find the other senator in the Great Hall, which he succeeds in doing and uses his clearance to release the tethers that are connecting the city to the Chasm walls. Tal'Set barely escapes aboard another pterosaur.
The city is successfully destroyed, but the Sleg leader, Lord Tyrannus, has one more tactic to try. He unleashes the Juggernaut, a massive mechanized beast to level the city. Tal'Set infiltrates the Juggernaut via pterosaur and destroys its cannons, crippling it. Before escaping, he is confronted by Tyrannus, who says that they will continue fighting and that he will kill him, but he is stopped by Tarkeen. Tal'Set escapes on his pterosaur and rushes to Galyana, where he stops the Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of North America. It was first described by Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Grand River Canyon of western Colorado, in the United States. Riggs named the dinosaur Brachiosaurus altithorax,...
artillery from destroying Galyana's walls and then evicts the Slegs from the premises.
Although Galyana had been saved, Bruckner still lived, and Tal'Set sought vengeance for what he did to his people. He finds Bruckner aboard a mechanized Tyrannosaurus rex. Once Tal'Set defeats the tyrannosaur boss, Bruckner attempts to escape, but is crushed by the falling beast. Bruckner is left to die by Tal'Set, who says that "he does not deserve a warrior's death" and is then eaten alive by a small pack of Compsognathus
Compsognathus
Compsognathus was a small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. The animal was the size of a turkey and lived around 150 million years ago, the early Tithonian stage of the late Jurassic Period, in what is now Europe. Paleontologists have found two well-preserved fossils, one in Germany...
. Afterward, Tal'Set tells Tarkeen that he accepts the mantle of Turok, leading to the events of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is a first-person shooter video game developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim for the Nintendo 64 console and personal computer platforms. It was released in 1997 in North America and Europe. Turok is an adaptation of the Acclaim Comics comic book series of...
. At a Sleg temple, Lord Tyrannus mourns his defeat.
Multiplayer
Turok: Evolution features four-player split screen multiplayer. The game features at least 13 multiplayer maps, several of which contain dinosaur AI bots.GameBoy Advance Version
The Game Boy Advance version of the game takes the same concept from the past Game Boy iterations. It is side scrolling and has 2D graphics.Reception
Evolution received mixed reviews upon its release. The review aggregator MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
scored the Xbox version a 6.8 out of 10, the GameCube version a 7.0, the Game Boy Advance version a 7.2, and the PlayStation 2 version a 6.1. Publications such as Play magazine and Yahoo! Games
Yahoo! Games
Yahoo! Games is the section of the Yahoo! website in which Yahoo! users can play games either with other users or by themselves. The games on the website are typically Java applets or quick Flash games, but there are others which require a download. Many of the games that require a download...
praised its "fierce energy" and "general violence and mayhem". Common complaints focused on what was called a weak storyline and unimpressive AI
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...
. The PS2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
version was more heavily criticized than the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
and PC
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
versions due to poor framerates and inferior graphics.
The game's villain, Tobias Bruckner, lived on through Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
s annual Tobias Bruckner Memorial Awards, which "honored" what they perceived to be the worst in video games, with categories specific to the games released in that year.
External links
- Turok: Evolution at IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...