Plugged in.
Just about done with Turok Week here at Power Cords. Seeing as how I’ve been talking up a storm about the comics series and the art direction of the videogame series, I figured it might be a good idea to post some of my favorite pictures, comics covers, and pieces of concept art from every corner of the Turok franchise, and to give you a sense of why I find Turok and the Lost Land to be so damn cool. Enjoy!
Turok Week’s winding down. It’s been fun, but before we part ways with the saquin warrior, let’s look at his first (and only) big screen adventure, Turok: Son of Stone.
What it is: Turok: Son of Stone is an animated movie by Classic Media and the Weinstein brothers, retelling the classic story of the Dell/Gold Key comics series of the same name. The movie centers around Turok (Adam Beach), a nomadic Native American hunter who, along with his nephew Andar (Adam G.), find themselves in an ancient valley after their village is destroyed by a bloodthirsty tribe lead by the ruthless warrior Chichak (Robert Knepper). In the Lost Valley, Turok and Andar face ancient dinosaurs, giant insects, and prehistoric cavemen until eventually finding and joining forces with a tribe of Native American who have been lost in the valley for ages. Turok finds himself once again fighting to protect his friends when Chichak returns, this time with an army of neanderthals, ready to finish the job he started and kill Turok and Andar.
Why I like it: Turok: Son of Stone starts out looking like a Saturday-morning cartoon — colorful animation, stylized characters, some goofy animation, and a musical score that seems to punctuate every action on screen. But after about the first five minutes, it’s clear this is no children’s movie. The blood starts flowing, limbs start falling, and characters start dying. The themes in this movie are surprisingly mature — loss of family, genocide, revenge — and every action has clear motivation. Turok: Son of Stone makes sure to spend enough time developing believable characters, establishing relationships, and building motivation for each character’s desires. Nothing felt unclear, nor over complicated, and the payoff for these motivations is great. The characters grow, and the story arch comes to a full completion. Combine that with some great voice acting (especially from Adam Beach), and you have a great story being told.
The animation in the film is decent, though it could have been much better. My biggest gripe with the film was the style — it looks like a children’s cartoon, and at first blush I was expecting some kind of shallow, action-oriented flick with slapstick humor and dull characters. Thankfully, Turok: Son of Stone delivered the complete opposite experience. Still, the movie could have greatly benefited from a stronger, more mature art style.
The only other issue I have with the film is the ending. It was abrupt, and while one moment in particular tried to create an emotional reaction, it fell flat and felt unnecessary. The ending itself came so suddenly it gave the impression they ran out of time or budget (the movie isn’t long, only 78 minutes). Still, the filmmakers managed to fit an entire narrative in 78 minutes, and see each plot point through to conclusion.
As a Turok fan, I was incredibly pleased with this interpretation of the Son of Stone story. The changes made to Turok’s origins fit the tone of the movie perfectly, and I found the characterization — Turok’s especially — to be spot on. It was great to see use of Turok’s old foe Chichak, and put a new spin on his his own rise to leader of a fearsome clan of barbarians. For fans of the Dell/Gold Key and Valiant comics, Turok: Son of Stone will be the perfect addition to your collection. For fans of the game series, give it a try — it’s got a great story, delivers on the violence and dino-battling, and is a great introduction to the character of Turok and the world of the Lost Land. Even if you’ve never been exposed to Turok in the past, Turok: Son of Stone is still a good enough movie for anyone looking for an entertaining animated flick. But don’t let the appearance fool you — this Lost Valley’s filled with blood and death.
Turok Week continues! Today, we’re taking a more in-depth look at Turok’s videogame history, and speculating on what might come next.
For most people, Turok stirs up old memories of sitting in front of their Nintendo 64, exploring foggy canyons and ancient ruins and armed to the teeth with crazy weapons, ready to take down the newest threat to The Lost Land. I, too, am among the gamers whose first introduction to Turok was through the original Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. I can remember sitting in my friend’s living room, completely blown away that a game like this existed. I had played other first person shooters, but never one in full 3D, and never on a Nintendo console.
But it wasn’t just the the gameplay, it was the setting and atmosphere that really captured my imagination. Best of all, he showed me a comic that came with the game — sparking my interest in the series. Ever since that day, I have been a fan of Turok. [Read more...]
So, as you can probably tell, it’s Turok Week here at Power Cords. Why? Well… because I felt like it, really. I just love the Turok comics, as well as several of the games, and I felt that it was a perfect time to talk about the character, and maybe even get you guys interested in the series as well.
I find it rather surprising that so few fans of the Turok videogames know about the comic book series. It’s arguably the best way to experience Turok, and I’d argue are much more enjoyable than many of the games to have been released. Of course the games are important too, and while I touch on them here I’ll be going much more in-depth with each one later this week. But today, I feel it’s important to introduce Turok in the way he was initially imagined: as a comic book character. [Read more...]
To kick off this week-long celebration of the dinosaur hunting warrior Turok, I figured the best place to start would be with the most recent installment or the series, 2008′s Tuork.
Turok is a 2008 reboot of the classic videogame/comic book series. Turok is no stranger to reboots, but this is probably the biggest departure from original story. Turok follows the story of Joseph Turok, a member of the space marine squad Whiskey Company, on a mission to take down his former unit, Wolf Pack, and its leader Roland Kane. Wolf Pack has seized control of a planet undergoing terraforming, which has drastically increased the evolutionary rate of the planet’s organic life. As a result, all manner of massive prehistoric creatures walk the planet’s surface. As Whiskey Company’s ship nears the planet, it’s shot down, and Whiskey Company is marooned on the surface, struggling to survive against Kane’s mercenaries and the dinosaurs that roam the jungles.
Despite the change in origins, Turok remains true to the sights and sound of the original series: dinosaurs and mutant creatures, giant futuristic factories and military bases juxtaposed against massive jungles, erupting volcanoes, and craggy wastelands. It certainly looks and feels like a prehistoric world, more so even than the previous games in the series.
The setting is by far my favorite aspect of the game, and the graphics, while nothing mind-blowing, are still great looking and some of the animation work is fantastic. The art direction is great, and perfectly melds the familiar sights and sounds of a jungle with an alien atmosphere. Hoofing it across a valley, when suddenly a massive T-rex pops through the tree line t0 munch on some enemy soldiers is an awesome sight to see. The dinosaurs hunt eachother, as well as you and any other humans who happen to be nearby. It creates a surprisingly life-like setting, and makes you think twice about crawling through tall grass unwittingly. But roaming packs of raptors aren’t the only hunters hiding in the shadows.
Not exactly authentic…
Turok puts a heavy emphasis on stealth. Early in the campaign, Turok finds his composite bow, the character’s signature weapon. Arrows are a silent and effective way of taking down unsuspecting enemies from a distance, and watching as a well place shot pins your enemy to a tree trunk is satisfying. Your other stealth weapon is the hunting knife. With the knife equipped, once you are close enough to an enemy an animation and button prompt will signal you to perform a knife kill. These are extremely brutal one-shot kills, and are the perfect way to kill both raptors and human alike. They make you feel like a total badass, and are fun to perform… until you’ve seen the same animations over and over again (no matter how gory-awesome they are).
Unfortunately, these stealth mechanics are poorly implemented into the gameplay. There’s no indication of when you’re hidden or exposed, and enemy soldiers will spot you from seemingly secluded vantage points. The lack of radar or HUD notification of nearby enemies only exacerbates this issue, turning what should be the highlight of the gameplay into a frustrating ordeal, and making stealth playstyles completely impractical in some spots.
But when it works, Turok really nails the feeling of being a hunter.
During the moments when stealth isn’t an option, Turok plays a lot like Halo, but with more dinosaurs and dumber AI. Humans just aren’t fun to fight in Turok, as they’re unfairly good at seeing you and possess perfect accuracy, yet don’t seem to notice when a grenade’s been thrown.
Sure, Turok has its problems — spotty AI, long load times, generic space marine characters, and it definitely is a big departure from the source material — but its a fun game. I’ll pop it in once in a while to play when I need some fun, mindless enjoyment, or I want to run around stabbing dinos in the head for a bit. I’d recommend it as a rental or bargain buy, and to anyone looking for a fun 6-8 hour campaign.
Pros: Fun, albeit generic FPS gameplay; great setting and art direction; kife kills are brutally awesome; when stealth works, it’s a blast; DINOSAURS!
Cons: Poor AI; stealth is not always viable; horrendous load times; massive departure from original Turok comics/games.
Closing Thoughts: I can’t help but get the feeling that Turok could have benefitted from either more time, or a bigger budget. I was really looking forward to the sequel of this reboot to see where the series would go next, but after Propaganda Games laid off over 70 employees a couple years back, the project was cancelled.
That’s a shame, because Turok is too cool a franchise and too cool a character to suffer from being so criminally overlooked and undercooked.
It’s summer, a time of year when I often find myself revisiting old franchises and old games. Since there’s not much on my radar as far as new releases come, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to go back and delve back into in one of my personal favorite franchises, Turok.
Turok has always been overlooked in a lot of ways – be it in games, comics, or even films, and that’s a shame. The premise for the entire franchise — a Native American warrior swept through time and space to a lost land populated by dinosaurs, savage tribes, mutant beasts, advanced technology and mystical beings – seems like the perfect scenario for videogames, comics, and movies alike.
But due to things such as poor marketing, production delays and cancellations, and admittedly even some low-quality entries in the series, Turok has never quite found his place among the pantheon of comic book heroes he so justly deserves.
So, I’ve decided to do what I can to change that, and reach out to the power cords readers, filling you all in what the best comics and games in the series are, and show that Turok really is a great franchise.
You can expect new articles every day highlighting the best moments in the dinosaur hunter’s long life span, and where to start on your own journey to the Lost Land.
Let Turok Week begin!
