One look at Touchstone's Turok will probably wipe away memories of Acclaim's mildly enjoyable first-person shooters on the Nintendo 64. This new effort for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 introduces an engaging new set of tactics to go along with the blood spilling. We recently had a chance to check out a demo and came away very impressed.

The beginning of the game introduces you to your mission. One of your former Black Ops comrades has become a bad egg and it's up to you to hunt him down. The journey isn't easy, however. Along with running into several of his gun-carrying comrades, you'll also have to contend with plenty of nasty dinosaurs. The demo (now available at GameStop with a pre-reservation of the game) has enough velociraptors to make Jurassic Park look like Romper Room.

You work alongside a fellow soldier, voiced by Ron Perlman (of Hellboy and Halo fame). He constantly barks commands, but only to keep you from dying in the heat of combat. The start of the game sticks you in a dark catacomb with several raptors lurking about. You'll want to distract them with a flare, using the bright light to your advantage so you can sneak around them. (Later in the game, you can also use that to make them go after enemy soldiers.) Soon enough, however, you'll have to deal with them. They can knock you over at first, temporarily blindsiding you and then moving in for the kill. A button-mashing game then kicks in, using a third-person perspective as you pry open the raptor's gaping jaws and push it off you. It then shifts immediately back into first-person as you shoot at it.

As you push further into the jungle, you'll see brighter surroundings. The sunlight pours down on the trees and the other foliage. A few more raptors show up looking for a snack, forcing you to fight them off and blast them to smithereens. Eventually, you'll run across an enemy camp, where you sneak up and stab a few soldiers with your trusty knife. This introduces an element of stealth into the game, one with dire consequences if you give yourself away. It wraps up with a bullet-riddled firefight – one that takes great skill (and ammunition) to survive.

Continue...