Review: Turok Evolution (GBA)

A High-tensile fence. Concrete. Scottish toffee from last Xmas. Gandalf. Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast. Paul Bettany in Gangster No.1. Members in a triple x moviehouse. Lying to someone after a night on the town. The T-1000. Lazio fans. The bouncers at Destiny Nightclub. Boba Fett. And Turok Evolution on the Gameboy. What do all these things have in common? They're all rock hard.

The Turok series has been phenomenally successful with over 6 million copies sold worldwide, and nearly 30 of them were on the Gameboy. The previous handheld incarnation was a disappointing Turok 2 'conversion'. Gone were the lush graphics, the magic of the weapons, the thrill of the chase and the lush, free-spilling gore, replaced by a shallow sideways scrolling platform/ shooter. Sadly Turok Evolution GBA isn't a FPS. You could have guessed this was gonna be the case despite the GBA having proved it's ability to handle the genre in titles like Ecks vs Sever and the ports of Doom and Duke Nukem. But Turok is a big game with a big deadline for all platforms to meet. As a sideways scrolling platform/ shooter, much of the fun of the big screen game is removed. No immensely huge weapons or explosions. No stealth sniping of young dinos, and not too much hunting of 'em either. Which is all a shame, but let us take Turok Evolution GBA on its own virtues, and considering the Gamestyle opinions on the PS2, Xbox and GC versions, this can only be a good thing.

The Turok brand seems to be flexible in the narrative of it's games, in other words, Turok isn't in them anymore. Bizarrely, Evolution starts off in the year 1886 where Tal'Set, leader of the Native American tribe the Saquin, is battling the US Cavalry commanded by Capt Bruckner for possession of the land. However, before Tal 'Set can engage him in combat a wormhole opens that swallows both men. They arrive in the Lost Lands where the evil Lord Tyrannus (don't laugh) seeks to conquer the world with his Dinosoid army. Tal Set joins with Djunn, a fencing trainer, and they seek out to stop Tyrannus and Bruckner. You can choose either Djunn or Tal'Set, the differences between the two being a matter of initial weaponry, the former starting with a Hook Blast and the latter with an Axe. It matters very little because the pistol that you both start with is more effective than either of the specific weapons, and it has an endless supply of ammo, still it's not especially powerful. You can pick up stronger weapons later on with limited ammo, so you'll want to save some for special occasions. Evolution neatly incorporates the weapon select wheel from the console versions.

While you're moving you can select your harbinger of death without the need to stop. Don't stop. The most devious part of Evolution's structure is the enemies who regenerate if you stay still. A pool of shimmering pixels on the floor or by a window and boo!! another one pops out and stabs you in the back. The positions are set, so on replaying the levels you can anticipate the positions of the baddies, but stay too long jumping some wire or shooting a dino and some bugger will pop out behind you and before you can say "jack robinson" it's an assault on both sides. On later levels there's an attempt in variety by means of a Operation Wolf type interface (when you use a d-pad, not a lightgun) which doesn't really work.

The graphics are great, looking distinctly like the arcade version of Metal Slug and using SNES-like colours and animations for the sprites, the two-tone font of the text mixed with some touches from the console versions, such as the weapon wheel. This gives you a range of weapons, but no Turok speciality guns, just usual pistol/ flame thrower/ rocket launcher fare. The soundtrack reminds me of many a 2D platformer, with Metal Slug cries of pain over the top. The multiplayer option allows you and a friend to team up in a co-op mode but you both need copies of the game, which is a shame because another player might balance the odds a little. There isn't a difficulty curve to speak of, instead you're thrust straight into the land with little to help you. There are powerups for energy and health, and boy, do you need them 'cos your health bar declines far, far too quickly. I could say that Turok Evolution is a 'solid title that will provide a lasting challenge' to gamers. In plain English it's hard, very hard. A good deal of perseverance is required to conquer it, but to be frank I haven't got enough of it. The game is solidly constructed with a variety of platform obstacles but the difficulty level is sky high just on its normal setting, your character reaching the restart screen after biting only three bullets, or any of the obstacles stacked against you.

What makes Evolution harder is the Gameboy format. Years ago a game designed like this would be on a home console linked up to a decent sized screen, but on the GBA the pop-up enemies are that bit more tricky to see, you have that bit less time to react to and with the unforgiving health system you soon pay. The game is segregated into 20 levels, but the multi-digit horror of level codes (with an extra code for weapons) means that it's not as user friendly as it could be and dampens any replayability it could have had. If a game like Evolution, and I say that because it has little that relates it to it's source material, if a game designed like this had been on the SNES or even the PS1 it would be a cult classic, a truly hardcore game.

Conversely, little critical attention is spent on a Gameboy release secondary to new console versions, but what are the chances of Rfx getting a kiddie-proof platformer in the shops? Turok Evolution GBA is a test of skill, dexterity, vision and perseverance. 99% of gamers need not apply.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Chris Faires