#turok: dinosaur hunter

[n64retro]

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Iguana Entertainment / Acclaim Nintendo 64 1997

[nintendometro]

Take Em Down 'Turok: Dinosaur Hunter' Nintendo 64

[coolcomicbookcovers]

[doom-nerdo-666]

A big Turok project for Doom.

[holy-shit-comics]

[mysteamgrids]

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

[sfcrowsnest]

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, a comic-book retrospective (video format).

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, a comic-book retrospective (video format).

Ed and Jim return to bring us a comic-book retrospective of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter which was first released all the way back in 1993. Before Acclaim acquired the Valiant business, Valiant had released 53 issues, some of which include Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #0–47, Original Turok: Son of Stone #1–2, the Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Yearbook in 1994, and the Turok the Hunted miniseries, which consisted of…

[operationrainfall]

Nintendo Direct: New Retro Game Additions to Switch Online

During today’s Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced some exciting additions to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack selection of retro games. I was personally quite excited to see the original Perfect Dark finally added, since that game was actually a huge part of my childhood. Both it and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter it looks like will be added to a new Mature 17+ Nintendo 64 Switch Online app…

[alln64games]

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

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.

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

[spielkritik]

Im Schatten des Vergessens: Turok 3 und eine kurze Geschichte der Turok-Reihe

[n64retro]

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (Iguana Entertainment, Acclaim, 1997)

[nintendometro]

Dino Takedown 'Turok: Dinosaur Hunter' Nintendo 64

[goodtobegeeking]

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, a comic-book retrospective (video format).

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, a comic-book retrospective (video format).

Ed and Jim return to bring us a comic-book retrospective of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter which was first released all the way back in 1993. Before Acclaim acquired the Valiant business, Valiant had released 53 issues, some of which include Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #0–47, Original Turok: Son of Stone #1–2, the Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Yearbook in 1994, and the Turok the Hunted miniseries, which consisted of…

[doom-nerdo-666]

For some reason, i thought of comparing Doom Eternal to the 2 first Turok games.

The platforming and specially stuff like climbing and swimming is an obvious one.

I recall even worm-like enemies and mud predating tentacles and purple goo.

Some weapon mechanisms like how 2's exploding arrows predate the sticky bombs and arbalest.

I think 2 even has a bit of a developed hitbox system.

Alt ammo kinda predates the alt fires/mods.

Just the "hero" vibe both Turok 2 and Eternal go for: You carry the title of Turok/Slayer and travel through different worlds to stop evil and save the universe while characters like Adon and VEGA help you.

The HUB system, specially 2's, being compared to the Fortress of Doom (Though Turok games tend to be more exploration heavy to the point you have to return to previous levels while each portal represents a level; I do would like to see a Doom game taking aspects from Turok 2/Hexen/Metroid).

The Primagen fights were like Proto Slayer Gates and one has picking parts to build a special weapon while the other has keys to unlock a weapon within your own HUB place.

1 has a boss fight with some giant bug like creature and how it shot acid things like the Cybermanc's toxic pools.

There's probably more comparisons to make and stuff to cherrypick.

Honestly, it's interesting because if anything, i like seeing certain concepts (And different types of executions) happening in Doom to expand the series, even if they seem like they're taken from another game.

Specially because it makes Doom feel like it's technically tributing franchises that themselves were influenced by Doom in one way or another.

And Turok in itself started as a very old comic book series, while the games (And i think some comics prior to them, need correction here) technically reboot the series (Mentioning this because of how Eternal wants to be more like a comic book and how 2016 and beyond change the premise of Doom even if you're still the same Doomguy).

But just seeing the areas of platforming, level design, items, weapons, enemies etc build more and think "that's a thing in Doom" even comes to mind with speculating potential new games (Sequels, spin-offs, prequels or even something different entirely for the sake of experimentation) or even crossovers.

[retrocgads]

USA 1997