playdownstation: Turok 2 Seeds Of Evil

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Turok 2 Seeds Of Evil

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil throws hordes of superbly animated evil mutants and overevolved dinosaurs into the range of an arsenal that makes other games' weapon collections look like lonely baseball bats hanging on a beat-up pickup truck's rifle rack. Start with a battle-claw for hand-to-hand combat and a bow and arrow for longer shots, then move up to plasma rifles and a heat-seeking missile launcher. Since you can't fire heat-seeking missiles underwater, Turok 2 has specialized SEAL-style weapons, such as a harpoon gun and concussion torpedoes. When mere human-sized weapons aren't enough, saddle up on the back of a friendly dinosaur and charge into battle, firing a dino-mounted 20mm cannon.Want more good news? OK. Unlike many first-person shooter games, Turok 2 provides its bad guys with decent artificial intelligence. You may have to dodge mutants working together to set up a crossfire, or run down enemies who are too smart to just step in front of your weapons. And while you're shooting all the evil monsters and tracking down cowards who flee from your big guns, you'll enjoy well-rendered scenery from five different worlds.If this sounds great to you, and you enjoy exploring strange alien environments and shooting nearly everything that moves, you'll enjoy Turok 2.But there are some problems that might prevent you from enjoying it completely. The biggest annoyance is that the game's excellent artificial intelligence isn't matched by intelligent-level design. This is one of those games that requires you to search every corner to find the key you need to unlock the door on the other side of the honeycomb of tunnels. You'll need to use the game's mapping tools to make sure you've looked behind each big door for the small clues and behind each small barrel for the big clues. If you're a master of the Zen of Just-Wandering-Around, Turok 2 won't bother you; but if you're the type of gamer who wants to feel a sense of urgency or a sense that your actions are meshing with a larger story, you may end up tapping your fingers and thinking about other challenges.