Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
Nintendo 64
Nostalgia Factor:
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is one of the very first games I ever played for the Nintendo 64. I didn't have a lot of money to go out and buy games, so I did a lot of renting. I remember renting Turok very early on in the life cycle of the system. I didn't have an N64 memory card - as I didn't realize you needed one for some games. Turok was one such game. Since I didn't have a memory card, if I wanted to beat it, I'd have to beat it in one single playthrough.
This is a tough game. There are giant maps. At this time I wasn't familiar with exploring big 3D maps and simple concepts like finding keys to unlock other levels. I was 100% lost and confused playing this game the weekend I rented it. I liked the game, but I just kept getting stuck and lost in the game's huge levels. Not being able to save the game was a giant inconvenience as well.
I'd end up renting the game a second time later on down the road. I had pulled some cheat codes out of a video game magazine for unlimited health and ammo, and I thought I'd be able to steamroll through this game with a little added help. It didn't work out too well for me. I had to leave my N64 on for about 3 straight nights because I kept getting lost and stuck. I think I was eventually able to beat the game, but it was at great, great peril to my poor overheated system. This must have been about 25 years ago (fun fact: I still have that same N64 console and it works perfectly). Every time I think back on Turok, I think of the frustrating time I had with it. That's one of the reasons I haven't returned to give this game another shot.
Well, the time for Turok's redemption has come. I played this game from start to finish here in 2023, and being a much more seasoned and experienced gamer (with the ability to save!) I have to say I loved every second of it. Read on for my full thoughts.
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Story:
This must be a game where the majority of its story is told in its instruction manual. I don't have the manual, so I didn't get much out of what the game was telling me. Which was essentially nothing at all.
You play as Turok, a man who looks like a shirtless Native American chief wearing a headband with a feather in it. He's armed to the teeth with a bunch of high powered weapons and tech. He is fighting against dinosaurs, humans, and strange alien looking creatures with guns. This is very much a sci-fi heavy game. I hear it is based on a comic book series. I'm sorry to say I've never read it before.
What the purpose of the game is, why you are there, what you are doing: nothing is explained in the game. That's okay. I put the story aside and focused on the gameplay, which is really the only important thing here.
Gameplay:
The control scheme on the N64 controller is very off-putting. It's the worst thing about this game. It's so awkward. Using those yellow C-buttons to move around is a terrible idea. Whoever came up with this control scheme was tripping.
Luckily I was able to play the game using *cough* modern hardware. The game controls like a dream on a standard double analog stick controller. My review will be a little bit biased in this regard. I really enjoyed this game, but if I had been forced to play through it on the standard N64 controller, I may be singing a different tune right now.
This is a fairly standard first person shooter at least as far as gameplay goes. You run, you jump, you shoot enemies. If you've played Quake or Half-Life or anything like that, you'll be right at home here. The main thing you have to learn about this game is how to advance through its levels. After the introductory segment, there is a main hub where you can access each level in the game. The later levels are locked. You have to play through the early levels and collect the keys hidden within them in order to lock the later levels - and eventually the end of the game.
At first this was a very daunting thing for me. This game's stages are absurdly long. This isn't Doom or anything like that where you can finish a stage in 5 to 10 minutes. Some of these stages are literally hours long. The thought of having to comb through these stages to collect missing keys was anxiety inducing for me. Luckily, this isn't as daunting as it seems. The stage map comes in great handy and shows you where you have been and where you haven't. These keys are also not too cleverly hidden. I missed some keys towards the beginning of my playthrough and had to replay some stages. But as the game went on, I made dang sure to scour every corner and collect everything in sight. And I don't think I missed any more of them.
The game can be difficult if you don't know what you are doing. There are some platform intensive areas where falling can result in instant death. These areas require precision jumping, where one mistake can set you back ten minutes. In addition to the tough platforming. Enemies can really do some major damage to you in short periods of time, before you even know what is going on. The bosses are no slouches either. I remember getting wrecked by the guy and the cars the first time I faced off against them.
And as I said, the levels are freaking huge. This is one of those games where you can explore the same area for 3 hours, not realizing you're missing a switch or something obvious that opens up a new area. Combine this with the difficulty and you've got a game that can be very intimidating for new players to pick up. I think that was my problem with Turok back in the 1990s. I was intimidated by it. I wasn't ready for it yet. I'd like to think I was ready now.
From the second I first picked this game up, I was having fun. Visiting these old stages was like a trip down memory lane. I'm not sure I even thought I'd come back and play Turok again due to my negative feelings toward it. But I had a blast. It wasn't too hard. I knew what I was doing. I understood how to read the map, and how to identify areas where keys might be hidden. I played Turok the way it was meant to be played.
I ended up putting about 10 hours or so into the game before beating it. I'm glad to say my thoughts on the game have flip flopped completely. If you'd asked me two weeks ago what I thought of Turok, I would have shrugged my shoulders and given a blasé answer. Ask me now, and I say it is a freaking awesome game. It reminded me of some of the best things I've seen in other shooters. I severely underrated this when I was a kid. I won't call it a masterpiece or anything like that, but this is certainly one of the better shooters I've played in my life.
Graphics:
There are things about the graphics that haven't aged well. The fog, the blur, some of the textures. Turok definitely has the feel of an early-era Nintendo 64 title. That said, a lot about it holds up surprisingly well. I love the atmospheric feel of the game. You really feel like you're in a jungle or a cave, wherever you happen to be in the game. Some of the buildings and structures look really cool. The dinosaurs are fun to look at. The stage design is surprisingly intricate and large in scope, which is a bit of a surprise for a game of this era.
Sound:
This game has some great atmospheric music. It complements the tone and the look of the game perfectly. There is a particularly catchy tune that stood out to me each time I'd hear it.
Sound effects are good, too. No complaints from me. It is always really satisfying to pick up an item or one of those little triangles because of the sound it makes. I also love the snippets of voice acting. "I am Turok!"
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Overall:
What a difference a few decades make. The leap from forgettable and frustrating to one of my favorite first person shooters ever made is a thing of beauty.
There is just so much to like here. The environment. The combat. The challenge. The exploration. The puzzle solving. The thrill of discovery. The fun places you go. The music. The action. I just really had a fun time playing this on my most recent playthrough. I'm not saying this is without flaws, especially on the original hardware. The control scheme sucks, and the fact that you need a memory card to save was a major kick in the nuts to me when I was a kid.
If you have the means to revisit Turok, you need to do so, especially with the improved versions that are out there today. I'm curious if there is anyone out there that changed their mind on it like I did. Didn't really like it as a kid. Didn't play it for 25 years. Loved it as an adult. Truly a game ahead of its time, and one I didn't think I was quite ready for back in the late 90s.
THE GRADE:
A-
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