Review #605: 64 Memories - Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

 He also hunts tribal men, giant mosquitoes and, in Europe, robots.

Part 1: The Flashback
 I rented the game once, I mean who wouldn't? Look at that epic cover!, and that one time was enough to hate it. That's right, I hated Turok and I hated its controls. I could never figure out why the game received such high praises.
 Not that that would stop me from owning every single Turok game that came afterwards. I just settled for accepting that Turok 1 had bad controls and thus I'd never be able to like it, unlike its successors.
 As a final memory, I think Turok was one of the games that were talked about the most in the magazines I purchased. Cheats, walkthroughs, what have you. Maybe I just hold clearer memories of it since it was a game I didn't like yet... kinda wanted to?

Part 2: The Review
 Turok's blade is not as sharp as it used to be. This was the first first-person shooter released on the Nintendo 64 and despite the technology being so young, managed to be pretty darn good. Sadly, age has caught up with it. Let's start with the controls: You use the analog stick to aim and the C-buttons to move around. It's suboptimal, but you can get used to it and it actually works pretty well.

 Sadly, the problems arise with the game design. Turok followed a trend many other FPS of the era loved: Platforming. It doesn't work very well, and the game is filled with obnoxious jumps. No lie, it's easier to die from falling to your death than to your enemies. Not that they aren't trying, while their AI can be questionable at times, letting you hit them as they stand motionless in front of you, most enemies respawn pretty frequently, sometimes it takes but a few seconds for them to respawn right in front of your nose. Add to this that the game features rather large maze-like levels in which you have to find stuff... and it becomes grating. Having to keep an eye on your constantly dwindling resources due to unlimited enemies as you brave bottomless pits... it can be quite an ordeal.

 The game is a bit more open ended than other FPS of its time, seeing how you can return to any previously visited stage and, depending on how you obtain the keys, even visit stages in different orders. The first stage has five keys to find, three that open up level 2 and two keys for level 3. At the end of the stage you'll happen upon the Portal Hub, a stone circle upon which you can use your keys to open up portals for other levels. While I think you could finish the game without needing to clear every stage, each level has a fourth secret: A piece of the Chronoceptor, the most powerful weapon in the game, so you might be tempted into visiting every stage!

 I can tell how good the game was for its era, I mean, I played up to level 5 in one sitting because of how much fun I was having, but by the second half of the game I was ready to call it quits. Level design is just too obnoxious, searching for all the keys is more of an annoyance than anything else thanks to respawning enemies and unforgiving platforming. Some of the keys are just impossible to find without a guide, as early as level 2 you're expected to fall below a seemingly bottomless pit on order to find a key and, later through the level, another Chronoceptor piece. I'll admit I turned on the invincibility cheat midway through level 5, when I got tired of aimlessly going in circles looking for the way through while endless waves of enemies costed me my ammo.

 It's true, there's a lot of fog in the game, but most of the time it wasn't too bothersome. I think I wasn't bothered by it up until level 5, when I just wanted to go through the goddamn level and would've liked being able to see a few more meters in front of me, as to better traverse the level. There was also an oversight with ammo types, the Shotgun and the bow feature two types each(Arrows and explosive arrows, pellets and explosive pellets) but you are forced to spend the secondary ammo before you can use your normal ammo, which sucks since you'd probably want to save up your explosive ammo for bosses. On the flip side, the game features instant loading, even going from huge level to huge level is seamless.

 If something came out of playing Turok is that now I can understand why it was such a beloved title. The game has all the markings of a great 90s first person shooter, and for a time, I had quite some fun with the game. Sadly, it's aged(And still aging...) design makes it a bit of a chore to play. Casuals be forewarned, this one is for people that are into retro games only.
 4.0 out of 10