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I love dinosaurs. Always have. And I would love to see dinosaurs in more games. There’s actually quite a few games out there with dinosaurs in today’s world but nothing quite like Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. At least not that I’ve played. Turok is a first-person shooter based on a comic book series and it released for the 64 and PC. When I think about dinosaurs in video games, Turok always comes to mind. That and Dino Crisis but they are very different types of games. Turok was actually one of the more popular games for the 64. It’s a sci-fi shooter with dinosaurs, aliens, and even robots. In my opinion, those are the ingredients for something awesome. Developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was released for Nintendo 64 and PC in 1997. A remastered version of the game by Nightdive Studios was released for PC in 2015, Xbox One in 2018, Switch in 2019, and PlayStation 4 in 2021. For this review, I played the PC version of the remaster.
I’ll be honest, I’ve never read the comics and without doing any research, I would have no idea what the plot and lore is from anything I saw during my time with the game. I do have the original 64 game but I don’t have the box or manual so I had to rely on the internet for most plot information. You can easily determine the protagonist is Native American and that there’s going to be dinosaurs just based on the title and what you see upon launching the game but the story here is pretty minimal. As soon as you start playing, you’re told to find the hub ruins and to use keys to open portals to different levels and are then thrown into the gameplay. There’s no NPCs to guide you, no expositions, no inner monologues, and nothing to really inform you of what’s going on in the narrative. But the game is pretty straightforward. You go from level to level looking for keys to unlock new levels and blow away enemies and bosses along the way. What is the protagonist’s backstory? I don’t know. Why are the enemies trying to kill him? I don’t know. What’s their goals and motives? I don’t know. But I do know there are raptors with plasma cannons and Triceratops’ with grenade launchers and miniguns and that’s awesome.
So I did the research and the story goes that a Native American warrior, Tal’Set (also known as Turok), is tasked with protecting the barrier between Earth and the Lost Land, a world inhabited by a variety of creatures. The Campaigner, an evil warlord, seeks a powerful ancient weapon known as the Chronoscepter which was broken into pieces to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. If the Campaigner gets his hands on it, he could destroy barriers and rule the universe so Turok sets out to stop him. I feel the game does convey a unique kind of atmosphere and I enjoyed how things progressed. Every level feels different, you’ll face new enemies and get your hands on new weapons as you progress, and things get more and more sci-fi as you go on.
Turok is a 90s shooter and the remaster certainly doesn’t hide that fact and its got several hallmarks of shooters of the time. A varied arsenal of weapons, plenty of baddies to shoot, some platforming, key hunting, and secrets to find. However, the levels aren’t maze-like. Not most of them, anyway. There’s only two levels where I found it easy to get lost or confused. Most are pretty linear and any branching paths typically lead you to keys, pickups, and secrets. Keys are only for unlocking portals to levels. Hidden in each level is a Chronoscepter piece and you need all eight pieces to assemble and use the weapon. Unfortunately, you’ll only get to use it in the final level and once you enter the final level, you can’t visit any previous levels. It’s one of my few gripes with the game. Unless you cheat, you need to find the first seven Chronoscepter pieces before entering the final level.
I would classify Turok as a run and gun shooter. You run through levels blasting away foes. You start with a knife and acquire more weapons as you progress. I do think the arsenal is really cool. It comes with a bow, shotguns, pulse rifle, and a quad rocket launcher, among others. Many weapons are traditional but there is a decent amount of more exotic stuff. Every weapon feels unique and I would say most are best used against certain threats. Ammo is scattered throughout the levels and enemies will often drop ammo when killed. Some weapons can fire multiple ammo types and, unfortunately, you cannot switch between the types. Once you acquire special or more powerful ammo, you’ll have to drain through it before you can use the standard ammo again.
The first level doubles as the hub area with portals to every other level in the game. With the exception of the final level, once you reach the end of a level, you enter a portal which takes you back to the hub area. Your goal is to navigate through the levels and find the keys and Chronoscepter pieces. The levels, themselves, are actually pretty large and all are populated with many enemies. There is a good variety including humans, dinosaurs, cyborgs, aliens, and even robots and foes will respawn over time. Secret areas are hidden about and there is what I’m calling treasure littered all over and collecting enough does increase your life count. Checkpoints and save points are frequent enough that dying never set me back too far and I can’t say I died too often on the Normal difficulty. Ammo and weapons can be found in the environments and you’ll often come across portals that that take you to hazardous areas filled with pickups like treasure, ammo, health, and armor.
I can’t say the presentation has aged all that gracefully. The remastered version does look a little better but the game still looks very much like a product of its time. The short draw distance is probably the most noticeable eyesore in today’s world, at least in my opinion. There is a good amount of environmental variety and the levels showcase some neat details for the most part but some areas definitely look a little bland. I found some of the enemy death animations to be dramatic and humorous and watching blood gush out of foes is always awesome. Much of the game’s unique atmosphere comes from the audiovisual presentation. In fact, the music plays a big role in that, with a solid soundtrack consisting of tunes that that perfectly fit the theme of the game. On the technical side, I encountered no issues.
I had a fun time with Turok. I feel it’s a pretty straightforward shooter, especially playing it nowadays, but I do think the atmosphere, dinosaurs, and sci-fi elements make it stand out, even today. It’s a fun game with a cool arsenal, cool enemies, and plenty of action. Most levels are linear so getting lost should rarely become a problem and the keys, secrets, and Chronoscepter pieces are the incentives to explore and exploration is rewarding. You run from A to B and find what you need and shoot all the enemies in between. Then you go to the next level and do it again. It’s always fun trying out new weapons and despite the “Dinosaur Hunter” part of the title, dinosaurs are only a small part of the game. Aliens, robots, and cyborgs make up a good chunk of the enemies and new levels always seem to introduce new threats. Basically, every level pretty much throws something new at you so I can’t say things ever become boring. The gunplay is good, the action is fun and can be fast-paced, and the atmosphere is unique. It’s a solid shooter through and through.
I absolutely recommend Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. If you like shooting shit, dinosaurs, and sci-fi, Turok sounds like the game for you. Playing it now, it may not offer too many things we haven’t seen before but it was pretty great for its time and still holds up rather well. I also think the remaster is an excellent way to experience the game. Its got it’s own unique brand of sci-fi going on and I think the atmosphere makes it stand out. Also, it’s got dinosaurs with weapons and that’s awesome. Definitely check it out.