Turok 2
[1] was a planned action-adventure first-person shooter video game and the intended second installment in Propaganda Games' reboot continuity for the Turok franchise, being a direct sequel to 2008's Turok.
Turok 2 was being developed by Propaganda Games, and was set to be published by Touchstone Interactive, like its predecessor. Development on Turok 2 stalled sometime in late 2008 to early 2009, as it was given lower priority to other projects Propaganda was working on at the time, before eventually being cancelled, as the studio would see many layoffs, and ultimately be shut down in 2011. [2]
Development
According to Tim Lewinson from Propaganda, Turok 2 was just moving out of pre-production and solid work on a vertical slice had begun. Propaganda also had an outsourced trailer for the title completed, which was produced by Plastic Wax Animation. Despite being completed, albeit with likely placeholder audio, this would have no project title attached to it, simply being referred to as an "unannounced video game title" in the video's watermark.
- "Without putting too fine a point on it, we were moving out of pre-production and making significant headway on a vertical slice. In development terms, that refers to a small level that provides a polished core gameplay experience. The expectation is that a tiny portion of the game is brought to as near a ship state as possible to properly demonstrate how new features will work, etc."
- —Tim Lewinson
However, unlike Turok, Turok 2 was never officially announced prior to its cancellation. News of its existence came from news outlets reporting on its possible cancellation near the beginning of 2009. The cancellation was attributed to the economic crisis of 2008, which resulted in the laying off of 70 employees at the Vancouver-based Propaganda Games. This led to a domino effect, with Propaganda's other game, Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, being shuttered after Turok 2. In response to this news, Steve Wadsworth, the Walt Disney Internet Group President, issued the following statement:
- "As you can imagine, given economic conditions, every industry has been impacted on a global scale. In response to this challenging business environment, we have examined ways in which we might be able to work more efficiently. The elimination of existing positions that we communicated today was a necessary step that we had hoped to avoid."
- —Walt Disney Internet Group President Steve Wadsworth[2]
General news of the title ceased for a long while afterwards, given its fate. However, on January 27, 2012, nearly three years after its reported cancellation, and only one year after Propaganda Games' closing, a fourteen-second trailer was released on YouTube. [4]This glimpse of the title depicted a Tyrannosaurus rex storming into what is presumably a Mendel-Gruman Corporation outpost, eating one soldier and scaring the rest, all while taking copious amounts of gunfire, before roaring, with Joseph Turok arriving shortly after.
In the months following, at an undetermined date, the first poster for Turok 2 was revealed.[5] It shows a post-Turok Joseph hunting two Utahraptors with his primal weaponry. The logo was also present in this case, showing a simple Turok 2.
Over the course of the next year or so, various pieces of concept art would be revealed, and on September 16, 2013, a massive amount of concept art, renders, and screenshots was leaked onto the internet. [6]
On June 7, 2015, approximately five to six years after development on the title had ceased, former Turok animator Jeremy Brown released a teaser pitch for Turok 2. It is one minute in length, live-action, and depicts a post-Turok Joseph sharpening an ORO P23 combat knife in his abode, with an abundance of hunting trophies mounted on his wall. [7]While the trailer itself was a pitch thrown around at the time of the sequel's development, it was never fully realized until well after the title's cancellation. [8]
On June 25, 2022, fourteen years after Turok 2's cancellation, a Youtuber by the username of Matt McMuscles was able to get in touch with former Turok concept artist Daryl Mandryk, who shed some more light on Turok 2 in general.
- "The basic idea for Turok 2 was that it took place some time after the events of the first game, on the same planet. But now the human elements had all gone feral and crazy for some reason. It mainly took place in a badlands/desert area environment. I think the team had learned a hard lesson about how difficult it was to pull off a jungle environment on the Xbox 360. So it had a sort of Mad Max meets Jurassic Park feel. The big hook was going to be the return of the cerebral bore, which would allow the players to control dinosaurs and wreak havoc. We had this prototyped and it was awesome! The project was basically put on the back burner when Disney needed a studio to develop the movie tie-in game for the new Tron. I don’t think Turok 2 was officially cancelled, but after Tron: Evolution was shipped the studio was really focused on its other project: Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned. And many people were moved over to work on that. I think Disney felt this was a better financial bet than the Turok sequel. Regardless, within a few more months the studio was shut down and that was that."
- —Daryl Mandryk
Plot
While the plot of Turok 2 has not been revealed, several pieces of concept art, along with statements by Daryl Mandryk have provided a clear, albeit simple outline as to the premise of the ill-fated Turok sequel. The game would've taken place on the terraformed planet from the original Turok, and unlike its predecessor, Turok 2 would've taken place in a predominantly desert-badland environment.
At some point, Joseph Turok would be sent back to the planet, seemingly alone. Mendel-Gruman, previously an organized military faction, would fall apart, with the remaining members on the planet having become feral. Concept art insinuates the faction would abandon their posts, and lose power and communications with their stations. They'd build shantytowns and huts across the planet and incorporate tribal weapons with modern tech. At least one completely new species to the Turok franchise, the Ork, would have appeared. It's unknown how this race would be relevant within the game's plot.
_-_Ork_concept_art_-_00001.jpg "Turok 2 (cancelled) - Ork concept art - 00001.jpg (48 KB)")
Gameplay
No gameplay footage exists of Turok 2, but concept art paints a picture of the game's intended feature set. New weapons such as an assault rifle would have appeared, alongside a weapon known as the Jak. The ability to play as or at the least control dinosaurs was insinuated by images of a menu mock up showcasing the option to configure dinosaur controls, and later confirmed by Daryl Mandryk. Some existing dinosaur species would have had multiple variants, all depending on the environment in which they were found. Known variants with in-game models include jungle, and desert, with a swamp species existing through concept art, all of which were pushed for the Utahraptor. The Tyrannosaurus received a redesigned desert variant, with some concept art showcasing the animal in jungle environments.
Multiplayer
Turok 2 was envisioned as having a multiplayer segment, as seen in multiple mock up screenshots. The user interface looked very similar to Turok's, with only minor changes in terms of function. In appearance, it was overhauled to look more organic. Mockups for Turok 2 include the reveal of dinosaur controls, the potential return of Capture the Flag, and the use of the "Trueskill" system that was present in the original Turok. Said mockups also included a multiplayer tab called "Rank", though it is unknown if this is a global, numerical rank based on game types or if it represents a separate ranking system.
List of appearances
| Characters | Enemies | Bosses | Harmless wildlife | Weapons |
| Items | Locations | Organizations and groups | Vehicles | Miscellanea |
Characters
Enemies
|
Weapons
|
Organizations and groups
|
Videos
Production notes
Erroneously, certain articles detailing the game's cancellation labelled it as Turok 6. [10] Chronologically, the game would've effectively been Turok 7, being the sequel to the 2008 Turok, with the then-untitled, obscure Turok: Resurrection being dubbed Turok 5 in development documents.
Notes and references
- ↑ IGN, Turok Sequel Canned (Retrieved on Jan 30, 2009) [archive]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kotaku, Update: Layoffs Hit Disney Interactive, Turok Sequel Canceled (Retrieved on Jan 29, 2009) [archive]
- ↑ DukeNukem64, Interview with Turok Dev Tim Lewinson (Retrieved on Jun 4, 2015) [archive]
- ↑ Turok 2 Teaser Poster
- ↑ IGN, Canceled Turok 2 Screenshots and Artwork Surface (Retrieved on Sep 16, 2013) [archive]
- ↑ Youtube, Turok (2008) - What Happened? (Retrieved on Jun 25, 2022) [archive]
- ↑ Video Games Blogger, Turok 6 AKA Next-gen Turok 2 canceled before Disney even announced it (Retrieved on Jan 30, 2009) [archive]
| List of Turok Games | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acclaim Entertainment | |||||
| Iguana Entertainment / Acclaim Studios Austin | Turok: Dinosaur Hunter • Turok 2: Seeds of Evil • Turok: Rage Wars • Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion • Turok: Evolution | ||||
| Bit Managers | Turok: Battle of the Bionosaurs • Turok 2: Seeds of Evil • Turok: Rage Wars • Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion | ||||
| RFX Interactive | Turok: Evolution | ||||
| Playmates Electronix | Turok (LCD handheld) | ||||
| Cancelled Titles | Turok: Resurrection • Untitled Turok Game Boy Advance game • Untitled Turok Game.com game | ||||
| Disney Interactive Studios / Touchstone Games | |||||
| Propaganda Games | Turok | ||||
| Living Mobile | Turok | ||||
| Cancelled Titles | Turok 2 | ||||
| Universal Studios Interactive Entertainment | |||||
| Pillow Pig Games | Turok: Escape from Lost Valley | ||||
| Saber Interactive | |||||
| Saber Interactive | Turok: Origins | ||||
| Content of Turok 2 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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