While I adored the first game in the series, I have a lot of problems with Turok 2. I think it’s a messy game in terms of its game design. It feels unfocused, like a hodge-podge of ideas barely stirred together, where the flavor has all but separated. The game is just way too big and convoluted for its own good, which throws the pacing off completely and turns it into a slog.

The moment-to-moment gameplay feels alright, even though that’s sort of a minimum requirement here. But I just can’t get over a lot of the backtracking and exploration -- so much of it feels arbitrary and unsatisfying. And you’re pretty much forced into it in order to unlock later parts of the game. The level where you’re on board an alien ship is probably the most atrocious sequence of gameplay I’ve ever played. It’s so ugly, uninspired, and annoying. The rest of the locations you visit is definitely a step up from that, but only marginally.

Meanwhile, abilities you gain to get a better footing in the environments feel throw-away and barely matter, and your arsenal is so big and unwieldy, with so many points of redundancy and niche tools, it’s hard to mentally map what’s available to you.

I don’t know, I really didn’t enjoy Turok 2.

Thumbs down.

Great but the game's levels have been altered (see: dumbed down) from their N64 iterations.

AAA