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Turok 2's level design can best be described with one word: uninspired. Don't expect to see any marvel of architecture when you fire up this game. Instead, Turok 2's six episodes consist of repetitive and simple corridors, courtyards, tunnels and rooms garnished with gratuitously tiled textures that are washed out and bland. We couldn't tell you how many times we came across the dreaded 6-sided bush, a cube-shaped polygon with shrubbery like textures. The object and character models also emphasize Turok 2's retro technology. "Low polygon count" is the catch phrase to remember here, however we'll also accept "clipping problems", "tearing" and "sprite overload".
Turok 2's creatures are also severely lacking in the 'ol detail department. Is it just us, or did the original game have more detailed characters? They were certainly animated better, with realistic motion, flinching and spasm sequences. The creatures in this game are a mess of sharp-edged polygons. One thing not lacking, however, is the amount of blood these guys shed. Certain enemies will punch in a self-destruct code into an arm-worn device a la the Predator after taking too much damage, before showering you with a barrage of shrapnel and guts while others will vomit up their blood as they writhe from a fatal attack. Love it or hate it, Turok 2 overflows with gore.
The coup de grace, however, is the return of the fog. What sounds like a seedy 1950's B movie is something that has no business being in a game in 1999, not in this age of insane processing power and graphic accelerators. When seemingly every other 3D game has overcome the necessity to include "fog" to keep frame rates high years ago, we're left baffled by Turok 2's technological ineptitude.
Turok 2 isn't all bad, though. The game capitalizes on the weapon-happy original by more than doubling the amount of arms in Turok's arsenal, even besting Blood 2. Some of the original weapons made it intact, some have been modified and others are simply brand new. However they all have one thing in common: they're about as outrageous as weapons get. What follows is the standard Sharky Extreme Weapons Guide that we include in almost all of our FPS reviews.
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