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Turok: Rage Wars (N64)

Reviews on Turok 2: Seeds of Evil were something of a mixed bag. Some saw the game as the closest first person shooter to Goldeneye while others saw it as great looking pile of horse dung with sprawling levels and graphics that cracked up every time more than two enemies were on-screen. Following this Acclaim have now announced that Turok: Rage Wars is the game that they wanted Seeds of Evil to be but couldn't develop in time.

Initially Turok: Rage Wars is a game that people will see as the usual annual series cash-in. With new games from the FIFA, Tomb Raider and just about every other line of games being released every Christmas, some people have begun to treat this title with a bit of cynicism. But those who see Rage Wars as nothing more than a few deathmatches bundled onto a piece of plastic will be gravely disappointed for underestimating the title. The gameplay has been improved considerably with the speed of play being far smoother and faster than Seeds of Evil while the cameras pan in and out of the screen to give us beautiful shots of the new, improved scenery.

The single player option in Rage Wars wasn't a totally necessary touch, but it adds a further depth to the game and even allows you to experience some kind of storyline. Choosing from one of four characters from Turok 2 to start with, you then enter a quest of destruction. Slaughtering your way through varying scenarios, the single-player mode allows you to hone those all-important skills of butchery and barbarism which come in extremely handy later on. They aren't what make this game, though. Admittedly, it is fun knowing you are given challenges where you only have one life and have to fight your way out of a raptor pit, but where Turok: Rage Wars bursts into fruition is the multiplayer modes.

The multiplayer game itself is fast and furious. There's not much appreciation for individual lives in Rage Wars because your character will die and die often in a variety of ways. One way Rage Wars keeps it interesting in all game modes is by limiting the amount of ammo you can carry. There's no loading up with 1000 shotgun shells and just setting up camp. You will run out of ammo often and that default Warhammer weapon will pop up much to your dismay. This is all part of the game's efforts to keep you moving. You simply cannot stay in one place for too long. Even if you do engage an enemy and come out victorious there will either be another one of your buddies right around the corner ready blast you, you will be extremely low on health or dangerously low on ammo.

There are four modes of play with four players, but this doesn't just limit you to four rigid set scenarios. In these separate sections you are able to alter almost every aspect of play to suit your needs. You can dictate which players side with you or would rather take your brains out with a warhammer, you can alter their skill and aggression meaning you could always have the upper hand if you're a softy, but best of all, you can do it without the normally prerequisite three mates.

The multiplayer game has increased levels of strategy because eventually you will become a good player and you will need new challenges. You can jack up the time limit or the number of frags needed to complete a level or even start limiting yourself to the least effective weapons in the game. Or, if you're really into major achievements, you can start focusing on the humiliating class of attacks. The Inflators and Freeze Guns are neat but they don't clear the room like a good old shotgun or rocket launcher.

There are also a few modes for players who only have one pal to knock about with. The first and obvious is where you stalk each other down and the first to die is the loser. Just the usual, then. But then there's the co-operative mode where the two of you enter an Alien Resurrection-style facility together and proceed to hunt down those elusive raptors as a team. This is where the game comes into it's own for two, but if you've got four players then you're probably better off sticking to a multiplayer game with three pals.

The usual suspects return in the weaponry lineup with the Grenade Launcher, Chestburster and Warhammer all returning, among others. My personal favourite, the Cerebal Bore, also returns as a one-shot weapon which can be powered up with various pick-ups. There's quite a variety of weapons -- but Rage Wars also includes Power Core pickups that will give you a variety of temporary powers like invisibility, slow time or regeneration. The Power Cores are extremely valuable and frustrating because you never know what you're going to get.

As far as criticism goes, there can only be one major grudge, but even then it holds no bearing on the four-player action. The single-player Quest mode is slightly too steep when it comes to a learning curve. The first boss, of which there are many, is covered in invincibility goo. Nice idea, but he's a swine to kill. However, persevere at it and you soon begin to realise that the game is allowing you to learn.

As graphics go, there's not much new to see in that of Rage Wars. The game only showed a severe slowdown in rate of frames when we gave it the maximum amount of stuff to keep track of in a four player game. We're talking about four guys running around using Chestbursters on each other while there are Napalm Gel canisters, PFMs, Iron Claws and Sentry Turrets all deployed and attacking or exploding at the same time. Other than this the framerate with four players is less than 30, like in Goldeneye, but it stays consistent for the most part.

Thankfully, the arenas have been designed in such a way that the hindrance of Turok 2, the fog, has been eliminated entirely. You can see for miles around a killing field and pop people off even before they know what has hit them. Again, this adds to the urgency and frenetic action of play that simply just keeps on building. It all looks blisteringly good in hi-res with the help of an Expansion Pak, and although still maintaining the fuzzy, slightly out of focus look of almost every N64 game you'd be hard pushed to find such a satisfying killing spree this side of Goldeneye.

If you already own Seeds of Evil or the original Turok, then you should be aware of the gore-filled joy that Turok can bring. The one player modes aren't near as good as the multiplayer options but then Turok: Rage Wars was intended for 2-4 players and not one so this understandable. Nothing gets in the way of any of the modes though and they all work fine and dandy. Turok: Rage Wars serves to do exactly what it says on the box-- entertain.

Noel Brady