Turok

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Turok Trilogy Bundle along with Turok 2: Seeds of Evil and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered)

Turok, AKA Turok Dinosaur Hunter, is an updated port of a First-Person Shooter that was first released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997. 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 (but not a complete elimination) of the infamous fog the original game was often 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 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, and that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. As far as the gameplay goes, Turok 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).

What’s more, Turok did a few things that were pretty unique for its day, with some wide-open environments in an era of corridor-based FPSes (although to be clear, this isn’t an open-world game by any stretch – I don’t think the term “open world” was even coined at the time this game came out).

And I have to hand it to the game – it’s hard not to hear the precussion-centric soundtrack and not feel a twang of nostalgia. Even now, the game’s sound is unique and memorable, and helps set the tone for the game. What’s more, the way enemies scream when you shoot them, and Turok’s shout of “I… am Turok!” whenever you earn an extra life are so adorably charming in their retro-silliness.

However, the game’s age does show in the gameplay in ways that aren’t to its credit, as well. As open as the levels are, at times it can be unclear exactly where you’re meant to go. 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 this game has – it’s a very platforming-focused FPS, and the platforming in this game is not very good. You are actually literally encouraged to look at your feet when making difficult jumps. As you can imagine, this slows the game down to a crawl, and isn’t at all fun.

Still, despite its flaws, Turok remains an excellent way to bring an old-school classic into the modern era. This is definitely much-improved over the N64 version, 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 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 still-terrible platforming.

Grade: B-

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