- PAL release: 4th March 1997
- NA release: 4th March 1997
- JP release: 30th May 1997
- Developer: Iguana
- Publisher: Acclaim
- N64 Magazine Score: 91%
The Nintendo 64’s first first person shooter is in some ways what you would expect from first person shooters in the early N64 days – something along the lines of Doom and Quake, but focusing a bit more on movement. I played this as a child but never got far, even using cheats I never quite understood what I was supposed to be doing. That’s because Turok isn’t just a shooter: it’s a platformer game where you have to find collectables.
The version I’m playing is the remaster of the game – it still has the look and feel of the N64 game, but with a few improvements, the biggest one being fog. Due to the detail of the original game, the render distance was extremely low, so fog was added to hide the lack of level. The PC version moves the fog much further away – it doesn’t remove it completely as the levels were designed with the fog in mind, so you’d just see all the broken geometry the fog was removed completely.
Even with the increased view, navigating the levels isn’t easy. They’re very maze-like and you get warped between different parts, with no reference point to help you get your bearings. It doesn’t help that the levels have little graphical variety within them. You’ll need to scour these levels in order to find keys to unlock later levels, so most of the game will be ambling around, fighting respawning enemies.
The gunplay, at least, it a lot of fun, with a great variety of weapons and lots of different enemies. The story (which you’re not told at all in the game) involves an area of space where things from the past and future exist, so while you start killing tribesmen and dinosaurs, you’ll work up towards aliens, robots and dinosaurs with guns. Enemies to become more bullet sponges as you progress, though, so you need to use more ammo.
Movement is an important part of Turok and it provides a great sense of speed. You run around and jump in a very fluid way. For navigating the main parts of the levels, it’s a lot of fun, but then you reach the many platforming segments of the game, and it all fall down (or you will at least, a lot). The movement feels great when there’s leeway, but it doesn’t feel precise enough for jumping on the many pillars the game requires you to jump on – and with the game’s checkpoint system, some of these jumps can be a good distance away from the last one.
Turok was definitely great when it came out, but I can’t really recommend it now. but it is a game well worth remembering. It has a lot of flaws, but the flaws are also what make the game unique. Turok is very much a product of its time, but is also a piece of gaming history, especially with environments that are much more 3D than previous first person shooters.
Great
It’s the sheer scale of Turok that impresses. From the Braveheart-style size of The Campaigner’s army to the end-of-level bosses, this game will keep you entranced for weeks on end.
Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #1
Remake or Remaster?
The Nightdrive remaster is exactly what Turok needed.
Official ways to get the game.
The faithful remaster of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is available on GOG, Steam, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation
Re-releases
2021: Remaster
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
I AM TUROK!!!
Tried the Steam re-release, and it was a real slog to get through, especially with respawning enemies. I’ll have to finish it at some point, I guess.
Ah Turok, I had the game (wasn’t it 1 of the 3 release games here) and all I remember about it was that it was £70 when the other games where £50.
It was Mario, SotE and Pilotwings at launch with Turok shortly after. I was going to get it too (since everything else was sold out) but no way was I parting with seventy quid of hard saved dough. Put it back in the moneybox for Mario Kart.
Turok is low-key, one of the most important games in the N64’s library (and one of the most important for western developed video games in general).
It was the first ever fully 3D FPS game for a home console (and I believe second only to Quake in general, which launched on the PC about 8 months prior). It also codified the “standard” control scheme for FPS games on the N64 in general (which isn’t actually all that far off the modern FPS dual analog setup, just in reverse owing to the c-buttons being on the right side of the controller).
But perhaps most notably of all? Turok 1 & 2 are the prototypes for Metroid Prime. I mean this in both a figurative and a literal sense. Turok 1 & 2 are not just first person shooters, they are straight up Metroidvania games.
Now, Turok Dinosaur Hunter is not the first First-Person Metroidvania game, that title belongs to 1996’s Powerslave/Exhumed for the SEGA Saturn, but its ties to Metroid are a lot more explicit than you might realise… because the team at Iguana Studios behind the development of Turok 1 & 2 would split off after the completion of Turok 2’s multiplayer spinoff Turok Rage Wars, to found none other than… Retro Studios. Yes, the very same Retro Studios that made the Metroid Prime series. Though half of the staff at the studio would end up getting fired before Metroid Prime 1 really moved into full production (including studio head and founder, Jeff Spangenberg), around half of the people who worked on Metroid Prime 1 had previously worked on Turok 1 & 2 (including the Director, Mark Pachini).
And when you go back and play Turok 1 & 2 after playing Metroid Prime? The influence is immediately obvious. Metroid Prime’s platforming is a direct evolution of what was first done with Turok Dinosaur Hunter; including the iconic downwards head bob that shows you where you’re going to land when you jump. Prime’s basic locomotion gameplay is built directly off of Turok 1 & 2, as are many of its gameplay subsystems; hell, you can even shoot birds out of the sky in Turok, just like in Metroid Prime! The non-linear, exploration focused level design also immediately reminds you of what was later done in Metroid Prime (albeit much more limited, owing to the N64’s hardware and cartridge space limitations).
Without Turok Dinosaur Hunter? There is no Metroid Prime. Not a bad legacy for a game based on a comic book!
Turok was the first console game I ever owned. Got it for Christmas along with a NINTENDO SIXTY-FOUUURRRRR!
I wanted Mario 64 though, got this instead. Never realised it was 70 quid back then.
I was six though. So I could never beat the first level…