Nintendo 64 Review: Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
Reviewed by Justin B.
GRAPHICS - 4.8 of 5.0
I now know what it feels like to be motion sick. It has
never happened to me before in my life. I never thought a video
game could do that. I always ignored those little "Caution" signs.
I was amazed at the opening scene. The Acclaim sign came up in
explosions. The Iguana dodging arrows and tomahawks. Turok
shooting a tek arrow at the options menu.
The backgrounds are awesome. The trees, shrubs, and
bushes are done in such detail to look like real vegetation from
rain forests. The structures like temples and huts are done very
well. Cobwebs and vines blow in the breeze. Underwater, you can
see fish swimming and bubbles rising. The cliff edges are done
nicely. They don't just stop and drop straight down. They have
grassy edges, slope slightly, and have a rather jagged drop down.
The bad guy's are very realistic. There are many faces
and other minor details that are different for an enemy of the
same type so it doesn't look like you're killing the same guy
4,502 times. The enemies move the way a normal human or dinosaur
would, leaning into turns and sliding, not just coming to an
abrupt stop. The death scenes are absolutely the best I've ever
seen in any game. If you shoot a bad guy in the neck, blood comes
flowing out of his arteries. Then he falls to the ground, grasping
for air. After he give's up, he just lays there, occasionally
twitching. When you shoot somebody, blood goes everywhere.
Blood goes on the ground, on the walls, and basically on anything
near the dying victim. This is cool, but it's a little overdone.
It's not very realistic to have blood splatter on a wall 100 feet
behind him. Other than that, the blood is very cool.
If you've read the other review's, most of them say that
the fog is a big drawback on the game. I personally like the fog.
I like when Raptors suddenly charge out of the fog at me. If you
could see them from a far distance, there would be no surprise.
The fog seems to keep the suspense high because you have no
idea what's going to happen next. If you have low health, just run
away from your enemy. Once you get far enough into the fog, he
won't chase you.
The weapon effects are awesome. Each gun is done in
such great detail. The explosions are different for each type of ammo.
I just can't describe what happens when you shoot the fusion
cannon. The actual explosions are very realistic. You see flames,
sparks, and smoke come out when you use a grenade or tek arrow.
The lens flare effect is cool. If you stare right at the
sun, It almost blinds you. There are cool reflections off your
gun, the water, and your enemies. The sun shines from only one
direction, like it should. When diving underwater, the deeper
you go, the darker it gets.
I have not found any clipping problem in the game. This
has a very high frame rate. Everything is done in great detail
and is very well shaped.
SOUND - 4.1 of 5.0
The sound it pretty good in Turok. The music isn't terrible. It fit's
your surroundings very well. It changes when you step into a cave
or go underwater. The drums beat the way an ancient tribe would
beat the drums. I don't personally care forjungle music, but it's
not annoying. The music relapses quite a bit but I don't realize it
that much. I'm paying more attention to what I'm seeing and to the
other sounds. You can always turn the Music Volume down so you
can hear the sound effects better.
The sound effects are very well done. Every gun has different
sounds. Different ammunition for the guns have different sounds.
The enemies scream to fit their death scene. Each enemy
has about three different screams and war cries. There are
different sounds depending on where Turok is. If he is walking,
that's what it sounds like, if he is climbing, you hear him
breathe heavier and you hear branches moving. When he is
underwater, you hear him swimming. The closer you get to
waterfalls, the louder it is. When you just enter a cave, you
can hear the wind blow in. Also you hear little drips of water
coming down.
When Turok dies, he says "I am Turok." I think those
are the only words spoken in the entire game. There is one
thing that really bugs me. I keep hearing this tiger or
something growling every 20 seconds throughout the entire game.
Every time I hear it I start spinning around looking for it.
It's been making me paranoid.
CONTROL - 4.5 of 5.0
I think the controller setup for Turok is very good. Every button
on the entire controller is used, but it's not too confusing.
I really like how they used the C Buttons to move forwards
and backwards and to strafe right or left. Using the
control stick to aim was another very good idea. The R button
is used to jump. The fire button is Z. Many people say this is
an awkward place for it, but I think it's in a very good place.
The A and B buttons are used for weapon select. The map is the
L button and is a little out of the way, but I don't hit it too
often. I either keep the map on or off. You can toggle run/walk
with the control pad which is really good. If you want slowly
explore, or if you're trying to do some detailed jumping, put
walk on. If you want to just burn through an open field, or run
from a chaotic enemy, put run on.
You can adjust the analog stick to make it tighter or
looser aiming to you're need. You can put it at anything you
feel comfortable with. I've read in many review's that the
controls were very hard to get used to. I almost didn't buy the
game because of this. Then when I actually tried the game at a
friends house. I found the controls very easy to get used to.
It didn't take me more than 2 minutes to feel comfortable with
the controls. Then another 4 minutes to master them.
GAMEPLAY - 4.6 of 5.0
The game is based on a comic. It is a first person shooter,
but nothing like Doom, Quake, Heretic, or Wolfenstien.
This game has revolutionized shooter games. Nothing can compare.
When you first start of the game, you can choose from a
list of options. There is a basic Start Game and Load Game. If
you are a little weary of the controls, there is a special
Training mode. It teaches you how to maneuver and do all sorts of
necessary stuff in the game. After you feel comfortable with the
controls, you can go to time challenge and try to beat the same
course in under 6 minutes. You can choose skills from easy,
normal, or hard. There also is a Cheat Menu. You can enter the
cheats in. If you save your game, you save all the cheats you've
typed in with it. You can toggle each cheat on or off. This is
useful if you have 10 cheats going at once, and you feel like
being invincible just for a little while, like when you meet a
boss. Also the cheats are so long, you don't want to type them in
too much. You also can go to the Option Screen where you get into
some complicated stuff. Here you can adjust controls, graphics,
and sound. If you don't like the sight of blood, you can make it
green or turn it off completely.
There is a wide variety of weapons. 14 different weapons
with special ammunition for some. You can have explosive shells
instead of just normal shotgun shells, and tek arrows instead of
normal, boring arrows. Some of the weapons are Knife, Auto
Shotgun, Grenade Launcher, Fusion Cannon, and the ever feared
Chronoscepter. It takes you eight levels just to find the thing!
The guys who made this game have to be nuts. No person sound of
the mind would make a hand held version of the atomic bomb.
You can pick up tek armor which takes place of your
health for a while. Backpacks are handy. You can hold lots more
ammo this way. There are also other things you can pick up
hidden in bushes and in hard-to-reach places. Scattered
throughout the levels, there are random warps taking you to a
different part of the level. There also are these blue portals
in certain areas of the level. If you jump into it before it
disappears, it takes you to a bonus stage where you collect life
points. If you collect 100 life points, you get an extra man.
There are keys scattered throughout the levels of the game. You
need to find all the keys to the next level before you enter it.
This may be annoying because if you miss a key, you'll have to
go back and search the entire level to find it. One level can
contain keys to the next three levels so you may have to search
many levels before you advance.
The Map is also a very useful feature. You can use it
when you do some detailed jumping. It's also useful for
navigating you're way through canyons and mazes. The levels are
enormous. There are a few save points throughout each level
where you save you game onto a controller pack. It would be nice
to be able to save a game at any given time. After you die, you
come to life at the last checkpoint you passed. It would be
better if you came back at the place where you died. Sometimes,
you could be 10 minutes away from the last checkpoint so it
becomes annoying.
There are quite a variety of enemies. They range from
Ancient Warriors to Cyborgs to Killer Plants. All of them are
equipped with different weapons. It has a fair level of
difficulty. Most enemies can be killed without any problems.
Occasionally you meet a few hard guys. The further the game
persists, the more hard dudes there are. Also, the further you
are in the game, the wider a variety of enemies there are for
you to blow up. There aren't that many bosses. There isn't a
boss every level so don't feel deprived if you don't meet the
T-Rex at the end of the first level. If an ancient warrior is
a fair distance away from you, he will shoot you with his dart
gun, but if he is close enough, he will beat you with it. In
Doom and other games, after you shoot a guy, the dead body just
lays there. You can shoot it, but nothing happens. In Turok, you
can still shoot the guy after he dies. Blood still flows out of
their new wounds. I have fun still shooting guys after they die,
but I usually use up my ammo too quickly. After a while they melt
away. A few seconds later, a beam of light comes down and they
come back to life. This usually happens three times before they
are truly dead.
REPLAYABILITY - 4.2 of 5.0
At first i thought "8 levels? This is a really short
game!" I was wrong. It took me 2 days to beat Shadows of the
Empire. It took me two days to find all the keys in level 1.
These levels are enormous! It takes you at least an hour to just
go through a level, not including finding keys, chronosceptor
pieces, and all sorts of little secrets. It will take you quite a
long time to beat the game. Almost as long as Mario. Also, after
you beat it, you'll want to go back and beat it again, on a more
difficult level though. If it's too hard for you on easy (which
I doubt it will be) you can put some cheat codes in. The cheats
really add to the lastability. I find it fun playing with codes. I
really like making little enemies with big heads do the disco.
OVERALL - 4.6 of 5.0
Turok is The Best shooter game ever made. Compared to
all other games, it is one of the best. At least in the Top Ten.
If you are having trouble deciding on buying it or not, definitely
buy it. I recommend this game to everyone but people who easily
get motion sick. Turok Is A Must Buy!!!