8.2	7.9	7.5

Compared: October 11, 2002
Compared by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Acclaim

Developer
Acclaim Studios Austin

Genre: Action
Players: 4
ESRB: Mature

With a simultaneous release across all platforms there is no obvious differences in the content or quality of the software. What few differences that do exist are all rooted in the power of the hardware you are playing this game on.

Round 1: Control

All three versions share an identical control scheme so your preference of controllers will drive your decision for picking a winner for this round. While I almost always prefer the PS2's Dual Shock I was very much surprised to find myself enjoying the Xbox controls much more this time around. The offset stick placement on Xbox controller was much more comfortable than the PS2 where the sticks are in the same linear plane. Controlling Turok on the Xbox brought back fond memories of playing HALO, one of the few console FPS games that I really enjoyed.

The GameCube slips into third place. Even though I was using my beloved MadCatz Cubicon controller, the control just wasn't as nice as the Xbox or the PS2.

Round 2: Visuals

The PS2 brings up the rear in this round with some excellent graphics that suffer from a bit of jaggies and the occasional shimmering. The GameCube cleans up these problems with some good texture filtering and anti-aliasing but there are some framerate issues that keep this game from running smooth during the more intense areas of the game including the treacherous flying segments.

The Xbox really shines delivering a consistently smooth framerate with an excellent draw distance and loads of colors, textures, and details. The Xbox easily wins this round with some of the best visuals of any FPS game this year.

Round 3: Music & Sound

The wonderful music pays homage to the orchestral themes of Jurassic Park. It all cues to the events happening on the screen so when you stumble on giant dinos drinking from a stream the music cues into something equally as majestic.

The sound effects are all excellent and include the ambient sounds of nature like wind, running water, roaring waterfalls, buzzing insects, and of course, roaring dinos. The PS2 and GameCube versions share identical quality while the Xbox rises to the top with an excellent 5.1 Dolby Digital mix that creates a lifelike experience like no other.

Round 4: Other Deciding Factors

Turok offers four-player support on the GameCube and Xbox. Normally I get to bash the PS2 for making you buy a multi-tap to support three or more gamers, but this time the designers didn't even bother to offer more than a two-player mode for the PS2 version. Normally, multiplayer isn't a huge issue on games like these but Turok offers a multiplayer experience that rivals the single player game with more than a dozen game modes for 2-4 players.

The Xbox features some blistering load times. I'm not sure if the hard drive is being used to cache levels or if the sheer power of the Xbox is responsible, but the load bars zip by at least twice as fast as the other systems and the frequent checkpoints during the flying missions are nearly instant.

Bottom Line

Based on the multiplayer aspects of Turok you will definitely want to check this game out on the Xbox or the GameCube if you have one of these systems and two or more friends to play with. The Xbox offers the best version of this game with faster speeds and the best graphics while the PS2 falls into the middle slot with better control than the GameCube provided you don't mind being limited to only two players.