After 2 missions, I can’t wait to play more

In a hands-on demo at Summer Game Fest, I blasted my way through two totally proudly goofy missions filled with meatbags to slay. I’m not going to pretend that Saber Interactive’s latest take on the dinosaur-shooting series is an elevated reinvention that brings Turok into a new era, but I will tell you that it’s the kind of silly fun I can totally get behind in the right dosage. Turok: Origins might just have that concoction down to a stupid science, and I will inject whatever it’s got into my veins. What can I say? I’m a simple man sometimes.

Turok: Origins is a co-op shooter that can be played with up to three players. Teammates squad up to set out on linear missions full of dinosaurs and aliens. The demo I played had three character classes to choose from: the tanky Bison, the DPS-focused Cougar, and the archer Raven. Each class comes with its own set of weapons and abilities. The Raven, for instance, comes equipped with a bow, a laser beam, a rocket launcher, and an ability that spits fireballs at enemies. It’s almost set up like a hero shooter, but that oversells the Xbox 360-era ambitions a little. Pick a class, shoot some guns. No need to overcomplicate it.

In my first mission, I went with Cougar, giving me access to a shotgun and a ground-slamming special attack. Perfect. You can bet your ass that I played like an idiot as raptors came rushing out of the grass as my squad moved towards our objective. The shooting has a very casual arcade feel, with each gun firing a chunky shot with a heavy impact. I got to test that out plenty during the mission, as waves of aliens spawned in while the squad and I were tasked with blowing up some kind of structures. Who cares about the specifics? Stuff blew up and I said “hell yeah.”

It all ended in a boss fight against a goddamn T-rex, because of course it did. One of my teammates drew its attention, laying down orbs that slowed its movement and dropping shield barriers to safely shoot behind. Cool, but I just ran up to the thing and shot it in the face with a shotgun. Efficient and cool!

Image: Saber Interactive

The second mission was only slightly more involved. Here, my squad and I needed to do a bit of platforming, using moving waterwheels as platforms. As a helpful touch, Origins allows you to swap between first and third-person view with the tap of a button, which I took advantage of a lot during my demo. When I needed to hop around? Third. When it was time to shoot pterodactyls in the head with my arrows? First all the way. That mission ultimately ended with another big boss, who I shot in the face with rockets this time. Still cool.

What’s the story behind all this killing? Don’t ask me that, because I have no idea. I don’t even know that Saber does. Just read this gloriously hollow Steam description: “Play as the legendary Turok warriors to face off against ferocious dinosaurs and a terrifying alien threat that seeks to destroy all human life across the galaxy.” Say no more, because I promise you I will not retain much more than this anyway.

If all of this sounds a little vague and simplistic, that’s because it is — though I truly do mean it as a compliment, as backhanded as it may sound. This is the kind of casual action game I crave from time to time that’s not bogged down by deep RPG systems or giant skill trees. The most modern thing about it is that you can ping things for your squadmates. It’s a junk food game filled with quick, structured missions that are easy to jump into with some pals. Turok doesn’t need to be much more elevated than that. Put a gun in my hand and let me shoot a dinosaur in the head at point blank. Does Origins do that? It sure as hell does, boss.