Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 1 (Note: Developer claims online multiplayer will be added later)

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Review:

(Note: This is an outdated review. You can find the updated review here.)

(Note: This game is included in Turok Trilogy Bundle along with Turok and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered)

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is an updated port of a First-Person Shooter that was first released on the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Surprisingly, for a game that was first released over twenty years ago, it’s aged better than you might expect.

Partly, that’s due to the biggest change in this release, the increase in framerate to something actually playable by today’s standards, as well as a reduction of the infamous fog the original game was derided for.

Having said that, the rest of the game’s presentation is largely untouched, meaning you’re going to be seeing a lot of blocky characters, often with muddy textures. To be fair, the textures have been improved in this version too, but they’re still pretty muddy. By today’s standards, this game looks like a bit of a dinosaur (sorry), but I still feel the need to stress how great it is to be playing the game this smoothly on a modern platform, even if this facet of the visuals didn’t also get an upgrade.

The only other noteworthy change to the Switch release is the addition of (completely optional) motion-sensing controls. I personally found they did little to help or hinder my performance, but I’m glad the option is there, regardless.

This aside, the rest of the game is pretty much how it was way back in the day, with one major exception I’ll get to in a moment. And that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. As far as the gameplay goes, Turok 2 was very much a creature of its time, and that meant no-frills action, where there was no such thing as a “reload” button, no “cover mechanics” (aside from the ability to simply duck behind a corner to avoid incoming fire), and just a lot of run-‘n-gun action (if you know what the term “circle-strafing” means, you have an idea).

The soundtrack of Turok 2 isn’t quite as iconic as the first game‘s, but it’s still pretty good, with some good, fast-paced music that fits the action well (although it can get a bit repetitive, since the levels in this game are loooooong).

However, the game’s age does show in the gameplay in ways that aren’t to its credit, as well. Enemies can feel a bit repetitive from time to time, and most of the variety here comes from the game’s environments.

And then there’s the biggest issue the original game had – Thankfully this game isn’t as platforming-focused as the first one (and as such avoids that game’s biggest flaw), but where the first Turok had open levels with a clear beginning, end, and “keys” strewn throughout that were easy enough to run across, the sequel’s level design can be a bit convoluted at times, splitting off, doubling back on itself, and so forth, and this can be frustrating since oftentimes it can be unclear exactly where you’re meant to go, and since the game considers it to be a failure of the level to do anything less than completing all of the mission objectives, as soon as you get to the end of a level you’ll find yourself trodding throughout it again looking for the last few things you missed, without any hint as to where the missing quest objectives are, save for an icon that appears when you’re closeby.

And then, there’s the elephant in the room. It’s hard to call this the definitive version of the game when this version is missing a feature that was in the original – splitscreen four-player support. To their credit, the developers have said they’re working on adding online multiplayer into the game at a later time (and I’ll look at it again when they do), but it’s still disappointing to not have the ability to play the game on the same screen like the original game could.

Still, despite its flaws, Turok 2 remains an excellent way to bring an old-school classic into the modern era. This is definitely much-improved over the N64 version in most respects, and the fast-paced run-‘n-gun gameplay is still surprisingly engaging even all these years later. Fans of FPS games looking for some old-school action would do well to pick this up.

tl;dr – Turok 2 is a port of the old-school N64 FPS that does a good job of cleaning up the game to be playable in the modern day. It still looks blocky and archaic, but the smooth framerates make this a great way to enjoy the fast-paced action, so long as you aren’t frustrated by the backtracking and the loss of split-screen multiplayer.

Grade: B

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2019 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Underrated

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