Turok - video and hands-on preview

Gameplay-wise, your character is quite slow-moving, which certainly can't be said for the dinosaurs. The enemy we encountered most often was the 'Lurker', a raptor-like foe that has red markings over its body. We got attacked from behind without warning by these guys, which was annoying, especially considering the way most of the time you'll be able to see what's up ahead quite easily as there's little else going on around you and the path is linear.

The speed of aiming can't be altered at present and it's set to a rather twitchy default, so getting the crosshairs over your intended target can be difficult. This makes time-sensitive situations like aiming at a sniper before he gets in a headshot that much more difficult.

One thing that did strike us as particularly odd was the way the dinos seem to have been programmed to give up once they've got you. Once you have their attention, they'll make a beeline for your neck, then pounce on your chewy-looking body. But then, once they're at your throat, they'll run away again. Why? It's probably the only way thegame could be balanced tocounteract their super-fast attacks, but it seems unrealistic. The experience would be more compelling if you had to be careful to keep dinosaurs at a distance because if they get you, that's it. Imagine the fear of finding yourself in a clearing with three raptors, with only a shotgun for a companion. How cool would that be? Making the game play more like Halo is fine, but the 'Dinosaur Hunter' experience could have been so much more.

Above: This shot came in almost exactly a year ago, but is exactly how it looks today

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.