by:	March 05, 2005

Tork: Prehistoric Punk is just another addition into the over populated, average adventure game genre that has no hope for a sequel or a big budget. While I’m sure Ubisoft knew they weren’t creating a huge budget game, they seemed to have taken that thought and played on it so much that they made Tork such an average, mediocre adventure title, that it almost makes you mad to play it.

Story
The story is everything short of spectacular. This is what absolutely hurts Tork the most in my opinion. Basically, the story in Tork is repetitive, un-original and flat out boring.
(From the inside cover)
Back in an era no once can remember, when the first men and last dinosaurs shared the surface of the Earth, Tork was an ordinary caveboy living in an ordinary tribal village. He should have had a simple life, and history should have unfolded the way we all learned it, but the evil sorcerer Orgus had other plans (time control and world domination, to be exact). When Tork’s father is kidnapped defending their village, Tork learns that despite his scrawny size, he has a pretty hefty role to play in history.

Travel with Tork and his mystical mentor Yok on a quest through time to save Tork’s father and restore balance to the universe. Summon spirit animals to transform yourself into an almighty Yeti, a tough Armadillo, or the super-swift Flying Squirrel. Wield your bone-busting bolas against dinosaurs, gargoyles, robots, and orcs, and dodge avalanches, earthquakes, and cascades of boiling lava as you fight your way from the Stone Age through to the Age of Fantastical Machines in an adventure to put history back on track.

Better not mess with Tork – you’ll find he’s no ordinary caveboy after all.



Gameplay
Tork has the same simple gameplay that the game suggests it most likely has. There are only 4 basic commands Tork can do in game: Jump, Short Range Attack, Long Range Attack and Transform. Tork wields a nunchuck type bone weapon he swings around that is only effective in close range combat which you will use almost 90% of the entire game. Tork can use his bone weapon as a boomerang type weapon too as he throws it as his long-range weapon. This attack will be used the least because it is not very effective or long for that matter. Simply pressing the button will throw it a very, very short distance not doing much damage. To get the weapon even somewhat far you must hold down the button for a while and release it thus throwing it a little further with a little more damage. This process takes too long and is way too ineffective towards enemies so I would not recommend relying on that attack…ever.

The game basically plays the exact same way all the way through each and every level of the game. You reside in Yok’s hut, which is your base of operations and also the ground that contains portals to the first few levels. You enter one of these portals and the level name is displayed and some minor details about it. Selecting your level brings you the first section of the level, which is normally about 3-4 sections per level. You go from start to finish where a boss awaits you at the very end. In-between, you take a Crash Bandicoot type approach through the level as each level is rather straightforward and is very vertical in design.

Graphics
This is the only real factor of Tork that I can positively comment on. Tork’s graphics are very well done for such a mediocre adventure title. The dominating factor of Tork’s graphic scheme are the colors used in the level’s environments. All the colors are bright and vibrant and very pleasing on the eye. Character models are also very well done but not very creative. Each model including heroes and villains alike are very crisp and colorful. Character movements are rather shaky and unpleasant to watch but for the most part are not too bad. The lip synchs are perfect and completely match the character’s mouth with every syllable.

Sound
Unfortunately the sound within Tork is yet another factor that brings this title to complete mediocrity. The music in menu, in game and in movie is good and bad at the same time. The music throughout the levels fit the environment you are in but just doesn’t sound very good at all. All the music sounds basically the same with a lot of tribal drums and jungle voices that are way too repetitive. The worst sound coming out of Tork are the horrible voice-overs that each character has. I will immediately say that Yok has one of the most annoying voices I have ever heard, it will make you shriek and want to turn the game off it is so aggravating and ignorant sounding. Tork has a rather annoying voice too but only because it’s the sound of a tiny little kid who obviously hasn’t hit puberty and plus Tork only says 3-4 word sentences very quickly so what he says is hard to understand sometimes.

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Tork is definitely a perfect rental game for a boring weekend with nothing to do and no good games to play. However, don’t rent Tork thinking that it’s good because it’s not. It’s not horrible but it is nothing we haven’t seen before. As stated, this is purely a rental only game so I highly suggest that if you must play this game, just rent it, do not give Ubisoft anymore money than they need for this mediocre title. If I had to sum up Tork in just one word, it would be the word I have been using this entire time: mediocre.

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