Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Reviews
The gameplay here is satisfying enough to feel like it was worth your hard-earned cash, although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is looking for a game with all the elements of a modern day game–you will not find that here.
Sometimes you can wonder to yourself, "How on earth did they come up with this stuff?" and to the modern developer the type of unrealistic setting this game has to offer might not be the way to go. We need to remember that games are games, they don't have to be realistic, and the pure escapism that Turok offered all those years ago is, you have to feel, something of a dying art. It's fast paced arcade shooter style is a ton of fun, and considering the types of leaps and bounds it brought to the FPS genre, it's no wonder that it managed to succeed all those years ago.
It’s easy to forgive Turok‘s shortcomings though because it’s still a pretty fun shooter, and its low-fi graphics are much more palatable in portable form. It’s not exactly an essential purchase for all, but as a playable piece of nostalgia, it’s been dragged into the modern era fairly successfully for fans to enjoy without many of its original frustrations and limitations.
While the ten-year-old inside of me would like to pretend that Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is perfect and the best shooter of all time, I have to admit it isn't and this version isn't anything special. If you're looking to relive a retro experience with slightly better draw distance, a solid 60fps framerate, and a far superior control system then by all means pick this up. If you're more accustomed to the modern day FPS, it's best to leave this one buried in the past.
I like Turok; but I like it as an N64 game where I can make excuses for its shortcomings based on its platform—in a vacuum where I can't compare it to other, truly great shooters.
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered is quite literally like finding an old toy you loved as a child, having a nostalgic moment with it when you pick it up, and putting it back down soon after that moment has passed. You're older, you're wiser and you've seen and done more advanced things since the time where that toy meant something to you, so the resonance you feel with it is fleeting at best. Most cherished, hallowed classics of the medium — Megaman, Mario, etc. —are considered as such because they never feel too old, but that isn't the case here. That's where I am with Turok. It's fun for a few hours or so, and going through the levels – especially the speed-run begging tutorial – was like hopping on the old bike and popping wheelies like I was 14 again. It doesn't take long for that feeling to wear off, and due to this, I can only recommend Turok to those who loved the old game so much that they feel compelled to spend money on it again. It's not likely to be worth the twenty-dollar purchase, otherwise. That said, it's still a very fun game and the remastered package is done quite well, so I'm going to grade the game based on the quality of the remastered port, with however bored I became with it notwithstanding.
Turok may have been state-of-the-art in 1997 but today both its graphics and its gameplay feel virtually prehistoric.
The blame should definitely not go to Night Dive Studios. It has, once again, done what it is best at, which is publishing various greats from the past, and with as little alteration as possible. The thing is, though, that Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was never exactly one of those "greats," something that is far more obvious after all these years. Of course, when it comes to personal taste, everything is subjective, right? That's correct, but there's a second problem with this version, even for those who loved the Acclaim's original release, and that is its current £13.39 price tag, which should be forbidden for such an old product, enhanced or not.