The last time I saw the famous Turok, he was lying in the bacteria-plagued springs of mediocrity suckling the teat of despair. His last game, Turok Evolution was an abysmal mess that not only made publisher Acclaim look even more incompetent, but also ruined what was till then a very respected character. But as the old saying goes, time heals all wounds, and after being put on the back burner for several years, Turok is back, this time on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 in his latest adventure, Heart of Darkness. Whether or not unproven developer Propaganda Games can actually breathe new life into this moldy franchise remains to be seen, though if details and screens are anything to go by, there's plenty to be excited about.

Like most games in this series, Heart of Darkness is a first person shooter that contains lots of blood, high-powered weapons, and quite a few rampaging dinosaurs. It also features Turok, the ripped bad ass that refuses to back down from anything that gets in his way, even if it's a fifty foot tall T-Rex.

This time around, Turok joins up with what appears to be a military unit and rockets off into space in the hopes of capturing his former mentor, an evil doer by the name of Joseph Kane. Kane's set up shop on some mysterious planet, a place that contains tons of dangerous creatures, most notably dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes, large bugs, and plenty of evil soldiers. And in typical fashion, Turok's drop ship is gunned down, his "team" is scattered all over the place, and he has to pretty much hunt Kane himself. But thankfully, and being that this is a Turok game, it won't take him long to build an arsenal of weapons, all of which feature primary and secondary functions. Propaganda hasn't released an official list, but based on what I know it's the standard issue group of toys that appear in most first person shooters. A mini gun, combat knife, bow and arrow, flame thrower, rocket launcher, pistol, and a couple different shotguns are but a small sampling of what to expect.

In addition to unloading clips and slicing throats, the dinosaurs can be used to attack enemies. Because these creatures operate off basic instinct and have no allegiances, they'll just attack what or whomever's closest, so in order to turn the tables on your opponents, you can lob a grenade or a flare in their general direction and whatever's pursuing you may turn its attention towards them. There's no guarantee that you'll be successful 100% of the time, but it's better to take the chance than risk being devoured by a pack of famished raptors.

On the multiplayer front, you'll experience the usual modes such as death match and capture the flag. That's not particularly exciting, though the inclusion of those same creatures from the single player campaign will add an interesting dynamic to the gameplay. So, for example, if you're pinned down and in need of a diversion, you can sick a slobbering t-rex on your enemies.

Aside from the aforementioned multiplayer modes, there will also be co-op play, but Propaganda hasn't announced too many details, other than a group of players of some unknown number will be able to tackle a series of missions. Whether or not they'll be anything more than mindless blast fests is unknown, though there are vehicles in the game, so it may be possible for everyone to hop into a jeep and get the hell out of harm's way. I certainly hope the dinosaurs are able to keep up.

To look at screens (and screens lie all the time), Turok is one of the most gorgeous games ever made. The jungle environments are rich with all types of foliage, and the creatures are fantastically detailed. The pictures are very pretty, but they're just that, pictures, and pictures can be photo shopped to hell and back. Furthermore, still images don't tell me anything about the game's frame rate, which could be god awful when Heart of Darkness is released.

Then there's the whole "Turok" stigma. Considering how bad the last game was, Propaganda might as well be resurrecting Bubsy or developing an Army Men sequel (and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry about it). The pressure must be immense, which is why I look forward to chatting with the developers and most importantly, playing the game. After all, just because I haven't heard of Propaganda doesn't mean that it's not composed of experienced employees. For that reason alone, they deserve the benefit of the doubt.