Like archaeologists digging for old bones, the Vancouver-based Propaganda Games development house unearthed and swept the dirt off Turok, an action-packed dino-hunting game that's been sitting dormant for the past five years.

Don't let the name fool you, the developers say. While it still bears the same name as the old games and comic books, the new Turok will be a complete "reimagination" of the series. Joseph Turok, a former black ops agent tries to track down his mentor-gone-bad Roland Kane. On the way, he crash-lands – ain't that always the case – in a world with hungry dinosaurs, giant bugs and the Kane's well-trained army, the Mendel-Gruman. Some fans may bristle at Disney tossing away more than 50 years (seriously) of Turok history, but the last game in the series, Turok: Evolution was such a massive flop, it pretty much killed any good will the classic character had left.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Turok heads directly into the verdant jungle to complete his mission. As always, that's not as simple as it sounds. Gun-toting enemies swarm from the trees, along with dinos (and other critters) on the prowl. How will you deal? By the power of choice. "You can approach each situation in a number of ways," Propaganda games' Josh Holmes says.

Those approaches include the traditional gaming favorites such as sheer firepower, using automatic pistols or a submachine gun, among others, to off enemies. Of course, all that running and gunning draws extra attention from the Mendel-Gruman, which makes dispatching them more difficult. Not only will they come after Turok, but they'll also call for backup. So unless you have perfected the headshot, it's good to employ stealth tactics. Draw a knife, sneak up behind an enemy and slit their throats in a move that's both gory and satisfying. Or, employee the crossbow gun and run enemies through with arrows from a safe distance. Don't pull the bow back for too long, though, or it will get exceedingly difficult to aim.

Sneak attacks can also be used against the dinos. Sneak up behind one of the overgrown reptiles, hit the right trigger and then slice him up like a side of beef. When that gets tiresome, Turok can also turn dinos into ground chuck using the stick bomb gun. Shoot the bombs at one of them and when they stick to its skin, activate them and watch the resulting meat 'splosion in awe.

In a brief hands-on demo of the game, we tried out a few of these tactics for ourselves. Our first lesson in hunting dinos while avoiding enemy fire – let the giant beasts do the dirty work for you. In the first part of the demo, would-be attackers come running out of the forest. Instead of sprinting out and spraying them with bullets, we waited for the two dinos roaming in the area eat them for lunch. Eliminating enemies without raising a finger? That's one smart way to win a battle.

We then progressed further into the woods and soon found ourselves with more dinos on our tail. We offed one with the crossbow gun and then tried, unsuccessfully at first, to pull off a timed attack on the other one. After a few tries, we finally found the right way to pull and hold the controller's right-hand trigger, which then let us take out the dino with a satifying stab in the skull.

Even though there's plenty of ways to play death dealer – 12 guns in all, including a minigun that can be set up to run on its own -- don't think it's going to be a walk in the (Jurassic) park. The dinos are fast and fierce and the enemies seem smarter than the average brain-dead computer-controlled characters, ducking fire and calling for help as needed. That interesting combat combined with the lush and seemingly destructible jungle environment just might be enough to bring the Turok series back from extinction when the game hits stores in September.