While not as groundbreaking as the original late 1990s "Turok: Dinosaur Hunter" for the Nintendo 64, the new "Turok" 3-D shooter for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 delivers a fun - and at times, nail-biting - action experience for mature players.

'Turok' stays the course for shooter games, not offering many new features.

"Turok" once again stars a futuristic American Indian soldier, Joseph Turok, who crash lands on a mysterious planet populated by vicious dinosaurs and a malicious military organization.

Along with help provided by his squad mates, who don't trust our Mohawk-sporting hero to begin with, Turok must stay alive long enough to accomplish his mission and get off this dangerous world.

In "Turok," which is played from a first-person perspective, you'll face off against a handful of meat-eating beasts, such as Tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptors.

In one memorable scene about three hours into the game, all seemed clear so Turok climbed a ladder to reach the top of a lookout point when all of a sudden he was yanked to the ground by two raptors. Interestingly, this wasn't a scripted event.

When the scene was played out again, Turok made it to the top alive, only to look down and see the dinosaurs chasing each other a dozen feet away from the base of the ladder.

Fun scenes like this are memorable, as are the bigger boss fights, but the core game play doesn't deviate much from other 3-D shooters: you'll be accomplishing missions, such as gaining entrance into a facility by taking down those who stand in your way.

Game Info

Game: Turok
Score: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Rating: Mature
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Publisher: Touchstone
Price: $59.99

As Turok you'll have access to all kinds of weaponry, such as automatic rifles, shotguns, dual-wielding handguns, sniper rifles, grenades, rocket launchers, a combat knife and bow and arrow (the latter two are ideal for stealthier attacks).

"Turok" also offers a few "context-sensitive" moments, where you must press the correct button repeatedly, according to the on-screen icon. This might be to open heavy doors, preventing a dinosaur from eating you by opening its mouth wide enough to escape, or performing a quiet kill with your combat knife.

The developers at Propaganda Games did a good job creating a lush, green world in which to hide, explore and fight, while the dinosaurs move smoothly and enjoy high-resolution scaly textures.

Along with the single-player campaign, "Turok" also features a number of online-only maps for up to 16 players via Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network. Multiplayer game modes include traditional "Deathmatch" and "Capture-the-Flag" varieties, a mission-based war game (such as "defend your base") and a fun co-op mode where players can form a squad and battle another team of human players.

"Turok" is a very good but not great game. Yes, it delivers some entertaining thrills, yet it doesn't compare to the recent batch of extraordinary 3-D shooters on the market such as "BioShock," "The Orange Box," "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" or "Halo 3." As a result, it might be worth checking out the playable demo first, available as a download on both consoles, before deciding to drop $60 on this disc. E-mail to a friend