Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (N64) impressions

[A Black Falcon]

D.) The sequel actually improved on everything and should be on everyone's must play list. Its only lacking feature: The feeling of being lost and alone in a surreal world isn't as prevalent, but in exchange you are getting a much better game overall. You get jungles there too, dont worry. And a frisbee of death... and a gun that shoots brain-bores and a flame thrower and well, real time lighting, actual 'flinching' of the models (hit their shoulder, it causes their arm to move) and nearly perfect hit detection... on a game that is like 60 years old. It needs to be on Virtual Console, but until then it needs a true gamer's attention on a N64.

I got Turok 2 (and Rage Wars) several years ago. I thought Turok 2 was pretty good, except the difficulty level was ridiculous because of how insanely far apart the save points are, and that the saves save your health, lives, etc... I got to a point where I had no lives left and very low health, so progress was pretty much impossible. There's no easy way to heal. And with each save taking up an utterly ridiculous 90 blocks of memory card space, you can't just save to multiple files like you can with Turoks 1 or 3, each of which have saves under 20 blocks.

I know that Turok 1 also has very far apart save points, limited lives, etc., but it's just not quite as hard as Turok 2, and the save points, as far apart as they are, aren't quite as far apart... and the levels are a little easier to navigate, too. Turok 1's levels are great, huge expanses to explore. Turok 2 just upped everything in scale, added more puzzles, more side areas, and more, which is fantastic, I love that stuff... it's just that the results are so punishingly hard that the game becomes too much of a chore to keep playing. Or at least that was what I thought.

As for Turok 3, as I said there I like the game, and I really like that finally it's a Turok game where dying doesn't have a good chance of setting you back a half hour or more, but it is much more linear-ish. You explore in each area, but each area is clearly separated from the last, and you go from each to the next as you complete each set piece. Good game, but I don't know if it's better than the first two or not... easier to play, but is the less ambitious scope a negative, even though it makes the game so much less frustrating? I haven't gotten that far in Turok 3 either though, I only got it either last year or early this year.

Turok 1 though, I really am impressed. The graphics are good, the atmosphere is fantastic, the level designs are great, there are lots of things to find, and more. The exploration is really the best thing about the game, the shooting's about average (and as always I hate having to aim with console gamepads...). For an FPS it's really good.

A.) The A.I. of the 'Leapers' still gets me to this day. They act differently in the dark, only attacking when they hear noise or are able to smell you. They can climb most surfaces, create traps for you, lead you in to monsters and attack in packs. Not to mention that if you dive in the water, they will simply swim after you. Their dynamic A.I. still impresses me. This is also the first game I witnessed creatures fighting other creatures on their own accord and trying to CAUSE a fight can be tactically beneficial. The A.I. is shown off even more with things like the epic boss fights and that beautiful old school feeling of "I KICKED ITS ASS" which has all but been erased from today's gaming is here in spades.

That is pretty impressive. I don't know if I noticed, but the caves definitely are creepy, not knowing which way they are coming at you from...

B.) The epic scope. The creatures in the game, there are many times even to this day the robots and dinosaurs you face have a feeling of being large and threatening even with the immense downgrade in physics and graphics compared to today's behemoths, their scale is perfect and the combat they create is memorable - learning how to take them down and when to run. The 'feel' of attacking certain enemies is tactile, it feels like you're shooting them, or its just spraying off their armor. The areas are varied and immense.

Oh absolutely, the epic scope of the levels, the world, and the enemies is definitely one of the best things about the game. And, of course, it's 100% loading-free, and the levels are immense and seamless.

Retro Studios was founded by an ex-member of Acclaim and a couple of people who worked on the N64 Turok games did work on Metroid Prime, so perhaps some elements of it continued there...