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News 
My Two Cents on the Evolution
- Posted By Mike
Schneider, 03.11.2002
Now that I’ve been given some time to soak in everything that has been recently revealed about Turok Oblivion, the million dollar question everyone seems to be asking is, “is this going to be the first person shooter?” Having not played the game, it probably isn’t entirely fair to begin dissecting the game. However, it isn’t my job to always be fair, so… Let the dissecting begin:
Positive: Its Roots
It seems that most everyone I talk to always seems to most fondly remember Turok: Dinosaur Hunter – none of the robots and cyborgesque enemies, none of the futuristic environments – just good old dinosaur slaying in a forest environment. So then, it bodes very well seeing some mega, gigantic, and beautiful prehistoric simians roaming the forest, outdoor environments.
Negative: “Epic”
Wha? I know, how could a single word, “epic,” be such a bad thing? It’s the connotation. Epic means massive. Massive means Turok 2. Nintendo GameCube Magazine has already stated that Turok Oblivion boasts the most massive environments that we’ve ever seen in a Turok series. As we’re well aware, bigger ain’t always better. If Acclaim can pull it off and make its sheer size be a strength instead of an annoyance, then kudos to them. However, until then, I think some skepticism is in order.
Positive: Experience
Not too many people get five attempts at something. This will be Acclaim’s fifth attempt at what has essentially been a similar game with each try. More than ten years straight devoted to a first person shooter. The experience has to count for something, and what it counts for is only positive in the production process.
Negative: Leakage
I knew little about Goldeneye when it was released. I knew a ton about Perfect Dark upon its release. Goldeneye will forever be remembered as the more satisfying gaming experience for me. I can imagine I am not the only one who thinks like this. So then, it has to be said that Acclaim is already beginning to make a lot freely available about Evolution. Many levels, creatures, screens, audio clips, movies and features are already available, and the general storyline is public knowledge as well. Hopefully this doesn’t transcend into anything major, but it is true that the more you know about something the less satisfying the actual experience is.
Positive: The Technology
The boys aren’t going to be held back by technological limits anymore. Whereas Turok on N64 was plagued with the fight between graphical beauty and frame rate finesse, Oblivion shouldn’t be bounded to any level of compromise. A lot of people disliked Turok 2 and 3 because of frame rate issues. This most certainly isn’t going to be an issue this go.
Outlook:
Without any real information about Perfect Dark Zero, it seems that Turok is the current cream of the crop in the first person shooting field. David Dienstbier has always been a visionary of sorts and when he spoke of Evolution last May in Los Angeles, it truly felt as if him and his team were going to reach epic status with this work. Only time will tell, but the overall prognosis to this point in time is very positive.
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