I’m not saying I’m swayed by shiny cases, but as the Turok steelcase was on offer for under £10 I couldn’t really say no, despite some of the lacklustre reviews around.

The story introduces a new version of Turok in the form of Joseph Turok, a hardened ex-mercenary turned good guy and out to stop his ex-boss.   Problem is, after following  his previous employer, Kane, to a planet, Turok finds himself in the wreckage of his team’s ship and soon discovers that the planet is roaming with Dinosaurs and giant bugs.

Re-imagining the character hasn’t meant an end to the ideas first brought about by the N64 classic though.  For one, it’s inferred pretty early on that this Turok is actually a descendent of the original Dinosaur Hunter and secondly it’s not long before you pick up a high tech equivalent of Turok’s trademark bow and arrow.  This keeps old fans happy while introducing the character to a new audience.

At it’s core, though, Turok is a modern First Person Shooter with a collection of different weapons, some mercenary enemies to shoot and avoid and the addition of hulking great dinos.  Walking through the first section where you’re taken through your paces, I couldn’t help feeling that I’d seen it all before, and better too.  Even the first sight of a T-Rex feels a bit forced, it simply goes after the enemy then runs away.  It’s not until you get to a few of the bigger dinosaurs together and they start chasing after you before you slash them with a knife that things get interesting.

Even after this, most of the time it’s a case of shooting everything that moves.  At least you have a choice of stealth with the bow and knife, but even this isn’t needed with the poor enemy AI around.  The enemies don’t really see you coming and will even stand around while you blow them up at times.

Graphics aren’t really anything to shout about either.  The dinosaurs are nicely presented and animation, backdrops etc are all average, but the whole feel of the game can be spoilt at times with pop-up or bad textures in the scenery.  It’s worth pointing out, having played both versions, that the PS3 does suffer from graphical issues far more than the 360 version.

Still, for £10 this is pretty entertaining, especially when you start off playing the multi-player side.  My few multi-player games have more often than not ended up with my own demise, there are some good players out there. But the best part of online is that the dinos are thrown into the mix and this means you’re not only watching your back for enemies but also for giant lizards waiting to bite your head off.  The addition of automatically gun emplacements and some great sticky weapons means that Turok is quite fun for a cheap online FPS, despite its flaws.

So while I wouldn’t say this is exactly top of the list, if you can find Turok cheap in the shops it will provide a fun FPS experience for a while, especially if you love big hulking dinosaurs!

7/10