Kotaku: propaganda games

Xbox 360 VS. PS3 Turok Edition

Mark Wilson — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:40:12 MST

Up until now, I couldn't get enough Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3 side-by-sides. But after this direct HDMI feed from Turok, my mind is mush. The opening blacks look far better on the 360, but you lose sight of any contrast difference by the middle of the clip comparisons. Sometimes the PS3 has better textures, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the PS3's full RGB gamut offers colors that pop a bit more, sometimes it doesn't. Bottom line: if you have Turok for either of these next gen systems, you're doing fine. And it seems that publishers are getting far better about their cross-platform quality control.

UPDATE: It would appear that there was no control for the 7.5 IRE black level difference between US and Japanese NTSC standards.

Turok Developer Is Here To Listen

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:00:47 MST

Turok's teammate killing sure pissed people off! Developer Propaganda Games originally thought that it might be humorous to include an Achievement for killing a teammate. But that didn't sit well with Xbox 360 users. So much so that developer Propaganda Games had to issue a patch. Does Propaganda have second thoughts about the whole dealio? Turok Associate Director states:

A lot of folks got uptight about it when the Achievement list was leaked. They were yelling on the forums about how we're awarding anti-social behavior. Won't somebody think of the children and all that nonsense so, you know, to our credit we listened to the fan-base, and we patched the Achievement to remove that team-killing portion, so everything's well in the universe once again. Never let it be said that we won't listen to the fan-base and if there's something that they feel really strongly enough about, we're always willing to go back and take a second look.

So noted!
Turok Achievements [Multiplayer]

Turok The Demo Hunter

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:40:02 MDT

This November, Xbox 360 owners will be waist deep in games to play. But when picking up your copy of Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed or Scene It? Movie Edition at your local Gamestop, don't forget to bring an extra Lincoln with you. If you drop a fiver on a pre-order for the reimagined Turok, you'll walk out with a demo of the game and a Turok t-shirt that will either be too big, too tight or too hideous for public display. IGN says that those unwilling to set foot in a Gamestop can always cool their jets until December, when Best Buy will get its own copies of the Turok demo.

I was quite taken with the game at E3, despite soaking in first-person shooters for half the week. Luke found it quite grassy. You'll obviously have your own opinion and determine if its worth spending sixty bucks on come February.

Turok Blowout [IGN]

Turok Hands-On Impressions

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:20:19 MDT

We were discussing our personal choices for E3 2007's game of the show at breakfast last week when I started in on some diatribe about how the current glut of first-person shooters—this fall being especially saturated—gave me pause about namechecking an FPS as a "best of" standout. All these games are simply following a too-similar formula, deviating from tired gameplay within a 10% variance. Later that day, I played Turok for the Xbox 360 and started to reevaluate my opinion.

Yes, it's another first person shooter. Yes, there are large jungle environments. Yes, it takes place in the future. And yes, it's Turok. While all that should ultimately and logically result in a real snoozer, Turok—also coming to the PLAYSTATION 3 and coming along just swell, I hear—somehow manages to feel refreshing. Maybe it's the fact that one can play the game in a variety of ways, sneaking up on glowing-eyed soldiers (enough already with this) to perform stealthy kills. Maybe it's the varying tactics one can employ, pitting dinosaurs against human enemies to avoid unnecessary confrontation.

I'm thinking it's the tight-as-Crecente's-abs control and the slick-as-Crecente's-hair graphics that somehow managed to hook me. Although Propaganda Games list this as their first game, it's clear this is not the work of a fresh-faced studio. The game oozes polish, despite being a 2008 release. The execution kills with the knife add moments of action breaking goodness. The AI, whether we're talking soldiers working in teams or the savage all-offense attacks of the game's dinos, excels.

The team has made some smart decisions about the interface, making minor but noticeable improvements to the standard console FPS controls scheme. Everything in Turok just seems to work.

After the release of Haze, Halo 3, Blacksite: Area 51, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, BioShock, Medal of Honor: Airborn and Timeshift, you may have a hard time looking forward to Turok, but since the game doesn't ship until February of 2008, hopefully you'll find a brief FPS respite and an opportunity to give the game a shot.