Previews// All New Turok - First Looks

Much of Propaganda’s development efforts have been focused on AI systems – there are separate ones for the dinosaurs and the human enemies. The idea being that you can set the two enemies against each other. Certain dinosaurs, for example, will be attracted to flares, so that you can send them to where human enemies are and, when they spot humans, they will attack. Certain types of dinosaurs will also attack each other when thrown into proximity. The human AI looked pretty impressive – as it should in a next-gen game – with much outflanking and so on taking place. And Turok’s squad-mates have distinct characters, each having their own specialist weapon. The interplay between human enemies and dinosaurs is, so far, the only feature that Propaganda has confirmed will be in the online side of the game.

There’s a stealth system, which Propaganda says it purposefully designed to differ from existing stealth systems, in that it lets you move speedily, which has got to be good. The bow and knife are the weapons that let you kill silently. There’s also a mauling system involving a certain amount of button-bashing and a kill move which comes into play when dinosaurs get up close and personal,. Puzzles are not the game’s focus, although Propaganda says there are “minor mobility puzzles”; the studio also says that it strove, wherever possible, to let players use multiple paths. And you can dual-wield different weapons – ammo conservation is a strategic aspect of the game.

Demos
The first demo we were shown covered stealth and the dinosaur behaviour, with Turok dropping into stealth mode, then rapidly sneaking up to take out a human enemy with his knife from behind – the usual slow creeping that generally accompanies stealth moves was refreshingly absent. Then the dinosaur AI was highlighted, with Turok firing a flare (the alt-fire on the shotgun) in the direction of a group of dinosaurs; a raptor, attracted to the flare, then encountered that group and attacked. Close dinosaur combat was also shown – a small raptor leapt on top of Turok, and the resulting melee ended with a kill move. The first demo also showed that it pays to know your dinosaurs in Turok – some will run away when a flare is fired in their direction.

The general look of Turok’s planet was very impressive, as you’d expect from a next-gen game, with deeply convincing foliage – very much in the spirit of the original game, which set new standards for in-game foliage. Indeed, propaganda showed a tech-demo in which Turok crawled through a field of long grass, and approaching raptors were heralded by grass movements – this technology, Propaganda explained, was designed, more than anything, to add to the game’s atmosphere. A bizarre boss-battle placed Turok in an underground cavern holding an underground lake, with a sea-serpent water-boss owing much to the hydra of Ancient Greek myth. Turok had to roll away from attacks and, armed with a flamethrower, ignite plumes of gas emanating from geysers at the edge of the lake. Propaganda explained the departure from rigorous dinosaur fauna by saying that the entire planet was genetically engineered, thereby allowing types of creature tending towards the mythical.

Another demo saw Turok and his squad jumping in and out of jeep-like vehicles with mounted guns, dismounting when ambushes occurred and then carrying on after all enemies had been eliminated. Such skirmishing showed off the enemy AI well, it also illustrated the manner in which your squad-mates will, by default, protect you as much as they can; Turok definitely isn’t a game in which you can stay put and blast away.

The game includes a rocket-launcher, which explodes with a visual stretching effect. A railgun and a chaingun will also feature; Turok, naturally, has his signature bow and knife. Propaganda has tried to build visual indicators onto the weapons themselves that show how much ammo they contain, which is a cute idea.

Artificial intelligence
There’s no doubt that the AI is the very heart of Turok, and one of its defining factors as a next-gen game. Without actually getting our hands on preview code, we can’t confirm that it works, but it’s certainly ambitious. Human enemies, for example, will call for backup when they see a dead body, and will use available cover. Dinosaurs and raptors will automatically attack each other on sight and, if they see a corpse, will go and eat its flesh. Your squad-mates will hang back if you enter stealth mode, and in a firefight, will call out enemy locations.Propaganda said: “We didn’t want to create an ecosystem – it’s not a sim, but an action game. But we did want to build in flexibility, so you’re not getting the same behaviour over and over again.”

General observations
Turok is pretty promising. The way Propaganda tells it, it’s clearly a labour of love - it launched a major assault on BVG when Propaganda heard that it had acquired the rights to the old franchise – and most definitely stays true to the spirit of the original, with, for example, its meticulously modelled foliage.

The flashy next-gen AI should bring about a unique gameplay experience too, providing it is nicely balanced. And there are plenty of neat touches in the game, notably the stealth which, for once, isn’t akin to watching paint dry, and the way the dinosaurs have a touch of Dawn of the Dead-inspired zombies to them.

The game is scheduled to arrive late this year and it really does stand a chance of rehabilitating a seemingly moribund franchise, which, in the games industry, is a very rare occurrence indeed. And its adult nature will certainly start to bring about a reassessment of BVG’s standing as a publisher, given that, until very recently, it has relied on through-the-motions milking of Disney’s kid-friendly franchises. BVG, it seems, now wants to be taken seriously as a games publisher, and Turok could and should help it achieve that aim.

You can read our interview with Propaganda founder, Josh Holmes, right here.