Turok: Rage Wars

Three issues ago, Quartermann got the exclusive scoop on Acclaim's next game in the mega-popular Turok franchise, Turok: Rage Wars (formerly Turok: Bloodlust). Here are the first screens of it in action.

As Qmann previously reported, Rage Wars (due out this November) will concentrate on the multiplayer side of things. The game will have 17 playable characters, 36 deathmatch maps and loads of new items and weapons. Some of the things you'll find include magnets (which are used to change the trajectory of gunfire) and war hammers with grenades on the ends of them (which explode on contact...almost as deadly as attack dogs that shoot bees out of their mouths when they bark).

The game will also have a bunch of modes including Capture the Flag, team play and an improved Frag Tag, where the monkey is no longer helpless (it can get a power-up that will allow it to grow into a monster).

Rage Wars will have an awards system as well, where you get medals for wins, head shots, kills, etc. You'll be able to unlock secrets (like new character models (i.e., "skins") by earning enough medals.

This all sounds fine and dandy, but if you remember Turok 2, the four-player game left a lot to be desired. "Turok: Rage Wars will be much faster and smoother than the Turok 2 deathmatch game," David Dienstbier, creative director at Acclaim Studios-Austin (formerly Iguana), tells us. "We will be caching entire levels in RAM, making everything run much better than they did in Turok 2." Let's hope so.

And if four-player deathmatch isn't your thing, Rage Wars will have a single-player game (arena-type combat with CPU-controlled bots) and a two-player co-op mode.

Turok is back! The dinosaur hunter, having had a triumphant sequel tucked neatly under his belt, is now returning to the N64 for another swipe at the FPS-crown. No, it's not Turok 3, instead, Acclaim Studios-Austin has set about creating a console-friendly deathmatch-only first-person shooter. Since Quake 3, Unreal Tournament and Team Fortress are likely to be PC only for the foreseeable future, this is the only game in town this holiday season for furious deathmatching.

When asked what led the Austin team to develop a deathmatch-only game, producer Dave Dienstbier said, "We knew of Quake III Arena, and of course we thought it was a good idea, but the idea for Rage Wars started a long ways back, even before we finished Turok 2. Rage Wars was born out of knowing that we couldn't flesh out all our multiplayer ideas in Turok 2 in time for the holiday season. Multiplayer games are what give a game its 'legs' well after gamers have beaten the singleplayer game, so we figured that the time was right for an over-the-top deathmatch Turok experience. Rage Wars is deathmatch from start to finish."

Turok fans who are wondering what sort of features they will find in the game can rest easy. There will be a slew of single and multiplayer options. The game also features 36 maps and a billion weapons, both old and new (some examples include Inflator, Warhammer, Shotgun, Assault Rifle and Scorpion). Most feature a secondary fire function, practically doubling the number of attacks available.

There are some new weapons that can alter the strategies you use in the game, especially during team play. Dienstbier says, "We've gone back and decided that there were a couple of weapons from the original Turok that we liked--so people will get the chance to wield a proper mini-gun against their friends. The cerebral bore is back. There's also the Iron Claw and the napalm gel, which is particularly interesting. With the napalm gel, you can stick it to anything in the game including players and detonate it manually. This can lead to some interesting tactics. Let's say your teammate has very low health, and you know that another shot will do him in. You can cover him with Napalm Gel, send him into a pack of your opponents, and detonate him right in their midst. All kinds of confusion will take over!"

Other weapons like the Turret will offer even more strategic possibilities for players. For example, if you are interested in guarding a hallway, you can throw down the Turret (which automatically fires on any approaching enemies) and use it to watch your back while you wait for any oncoming visitors. You can mount the Turret on either the floors or walls, making it a particularly useful weapon.

There are a number of features that make Rage Wars interesting. To begin with, you can play with or against three other friends, while adding a certain number of computer-controlled 'bots to the frenzy. With 36 different deathmatch levels to choose from (which are dependent on how many gamers are playing for optimum balance, i.e., fewer players have a smaller arena so no one goes for too long without seeing an opponent), there are more than enough levels to play without seeing the same ones over and over again. In the event that no one is home (or you simply don't have any friends) you can play in any of the deathmatch levels with CPU-bots only. In addition to that, there is an extensive one-player "mission mode" that rewards the player for making progress. Spread out over a large series of personal challenges designed to inaugurate the novice player, the difficulty soon leap-frogs to levels that will have hard-core veterans crying for their mama. Based on your success and performance in the mission mode (i.e., number of frags, hit percentage, etc.) you will be rewarded with various secrets, such as extra character skins or weapons. Adding to the customization, you are prompted to select your own specific weapon library before gameplay even starts, allowing players to become comfortable with their favorite weapons. Here's what Dienstbier had to say: "Each character can hold five weapons from the 16 that are available.

This way, gamers who like heavy-duty firepower can pick those kinds of weapons, while gamers who prefer stealthy tactics can pick sniper weapons and such. The awards system also builds over time with the character. Depending on your accuracy, or total victories, etc., you can unlock new character skins, game modes and weapons. You can save your customized characters and bring them to a friend's house, and see whose character is better. Weapons are very cool, since each one has a duality, just like they did in Turok 2. Personally I like the shotgun's duality. In its second form, it'll pump four times and let out a continuous blast of shotgun ammo. It's very awesome. Even the warhammer has a powerful duality, adding rocket-propulsion to its headcrushing power."

As of this writing the game is nearly complete and going through rigorous bug-testing. The game speed has been increased (which is important in the age of Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament), and things like the particle effects and other subtle features have been optimized to ensure smooth gameplay, even in the frantic four-player split-screen mode.

With Perfect Dark out of the running this holiday season, Turok: Rage Wars may literally be the only game in town when it comes to first-person shooters. Even if it weren't, it remains a compelling game that shooter fans should definitely investigate when it arrives on store shelves this November.

Sequels. Love them, hate them or remain indifferent, they are an integral part of today's media. Imagine where we'd be without them. We'd never know that old asthma chops was Luke's daddy, we'd never know how Goldeneye could possibly be bettered, but more importantly than that, we'd never have as much fun. Turok: Rage Wars isn't a sequel though, it's something far more interesting than that. It's as if the best bits of Turok 2: Seeds of Evil have been lovingly pruned, dipped in industrial strength rooting powder and allowed to grow into some enormous carnivorous monster. This is the pure essence of gameplay.

Cerebral Bore

Initially Turok: Rage Wars appears to be nothing other than frag tags and deathmatches bundled onto a cart for those four-player fanatics who sadly lack the comfort of human contact. If you were really sly, you could suggest that it was a shameless cash in. Simply throw together the old game, aim it towards those of an antisocial disposition with fewer friends than Mr Bean, remind them that they can enjoy a four-player deathmatch on their own, and hey presto, you have cold hard cash being delivered straight to your door.

To some extent it is. The deathmatches are all there, but they have been lovingly improved upon. Firstly, the game engine has been cranked up until you could almost imagine a dodgy Scottish accent shouting, "She cannae take it, Captain!" somewhere in the distance. The speed of play is notably smoother than Turok 2, with the cameras literally pirouetting around corners. The speed of opponents is frighteningly fast too, with raptors and guardians lunging towards you at an almost skin-shuddering velocity and it soon becomes a test of nerve whether you are able to handle the pressure.

The single-player option in Rage Wars wasn't a totally necessary touch, but it adds a further depth to the game and even allows you to experience some kind of storyline, which is a bonus! We ask for blood, guts and guns and we get blood, guts, guns and storylines. Why, thank you! Choosing from one of four characters from Turok 2 to start with, you then enter a quest of destruction.

Slaughtering your way through varying scenarios, the single-player mode allows you to hone those all-important skills of butchery and barbarism which come in extremely handy later on. They aren't what make this game, though. Admittedly, it is fun knowing you have only one life and have to fight your way out of a raptor pit, but where Turok: Rage Wars bursts into fruition is the multiplayer modes. These, ladies and gentlemen, are stunning.

Scorpion Launcher

First, the two-player modes. Imagine what you would like to be able to do during two-player games. Go on, think about it. What would you really like to happen? Would you like to stalk each other through a silent trap-filled maze? Would you like to go co-op and frantically try to fend off hordes of compies, mutants and deformed insectoid maniacs? Yes? Well, your wish is Turok's command. It goes one better though, delivering some truly innovative surprises and in doing so it also proves itself to be much more than a shoddy cash-in on Turok 2's success. You can go raptor hunting, where you desperately try to escape through a waterlogged facility while the dastardly dinosaurs swim after you a la Alien Resurrection. You can enter an arena almost unarmed and strategically place sentry guns everywhere in the hope your foe ambles past looking for you. You name it, and you can probably do it. Not even in the two-player mode does Rage Wars fully come to life though – it is when you can sit down with three other buddies... and blast the living crap out of each other.

Four Way Missile

There are four modes of play with four players, but this doesn't just limit you to four rigid set scenarios. In these separate sections you are able to alter almost every aspect of play to suit your needs. You can dictate which players side with you or would rather take your brains out with a warhammer, you can alter their skill and aggression meaning you could always have the upper hand if you're a softy, but best of all, you can do it without the normally prerequisite three mates. Selecting a single-player/multiplayer game (now there's a paradox!), you can define exactly what you want to encounter. The virtual enemies are known as 'bots' and can be as stupid or as Einstein-like as you want. The AI is tremendous, especially as you crank up the difficulty. They will backtrack down alleys or disappear around a bend, only to ambush you or release a volley of unstoppable shots just at that crucial moment. If you thought single-player deathmatches were going to be a breeze then think again – this can get as hard as any gathering of thumb-fatigued Goldeneye veterans.

Plasma Rifle

As far as criticism goes, there can only be one major grudge, but even then it holds no bearing on the four-player action. The single-player Quest mode is slightly too steep when it comes to a learning curve (imaging trying to push a Morris Minor up a cliff and you'll have some idea). The first boss, of which there are many, is coated in invincibility goo. Nice idea, but he's a swine to kill. However, persevere at it and you soon begin to realise that the game is allowing you to learn.

You quickly become deft at reading situations and learning what the game can throw at you, and before long you begin to memorise structures and arenas which you will later traverse in frag tags and deathmatches. In fact, the whole single-player option acts as one big training ground for the true meat. After all, the primary reason for Rage Wars to exist is its ability to give the lone player that multiplayer feel, and it does that in abundance.

Graphically, nothing much has changed from Turok's last incarnation. The drones and fireborns are all just as we fondly remember them, and they still have that vacant 'please shoot me in the head with your Tek Bow' expression. Wonderful! Thankfully, the arenas have been designed in such a way that the hindrance of Turok 2, the fog, has been eliminated entirely. You can see for miles around a killing field and pop people off even before they know what has hit them. Again, this adds to the urgency and frenetic action of play that just keeps on building. It all looks blisteringly good in hi-res with the help of an Expansion Pak, and although still maintaining the fuzzy, slightly out of focus look of almost every N64 game you'd be hard pushed to find such a satisfying killing spree this side of Goldeneye. That isn't to say it is the new Goldeneye, though. It still lacks that certain quality that set the Bond bonanza so far ahead of its contemporaries. The perfect, crisp arenas, the almost architectural layout with which the playing areas were designed all elude Rage Wars to some extent, but it makes up for any shortcomings with its sheer assault on the senses. The pick 'n' mix variety and combination of weapons, the vast labyrinth of arenas, the multitude of bots that can be maimed for your enjoyment... all these aspects give Turok: Rage Wars a distinctly different feeling from Seeds Of Evil. This isn't a cash-in, this is a bloodbath of major proportions!

Sunfire Pod

If you already own a gore-dripping copy of Turok 2, then you should already be familiar with the death-bringing expected of you. You can rest assured that with Rage Wars comes an even greater chance to unleash that anger. It doesn't pretend to hold a Shakespearean plot, nor does it pretend to be the next big thing in gaming. All it does, plain and simply, is entertain. It gives you blood, unadulterated slaughter and a rollicking good time to boot and for that it should be praised. Expect nothing like an alternative to Goldeneye and don't expect a serious contender to Perfect Dark's imminent succession to the throne, but do expect the best thing in between. This, guys and gals, is the perfect stopgap to keep those bloodthirsty embers burning. What a corker!