Played this in Nightdive Studio's 2017 PC remake and the original in Parralel N64 (retroarch) out of the box. Didn't like either. For reals.
I never liked the turok franchise, but had only played the original. Some of the weapons had cool visual effects, and the fog as well. But unlike unreal (which to me the original game seems very spirited upon) the fog was quite annoying and I really didnt like the way this played with lack of a mouse. (which would come to be a recurring theme in my life as the N64 was the last console i owned and pretty much my jump off point to join the PC borg Master Race) I REGRET NOTHING
boom. fast forward to 2017. upon hearing about nightdive studio's re-release/remake/whatever of this game I was strangely curious all of a sudden for a game series i had no interest in exploring never ever! Reason being their SYSTEM SHOCK project that looks pretty cool. I wanted to see what they did with turok 2 (and tbh the fact they did anything made me a little curious about the underlying game itself. i might actually like it.)
now with that all said, i'm going to try and review a game i didnt play for long because it wasnt made for me to begin with. normally i'd just make a short status/note, or private status but few people know about this or maybe even the upcoming system shock remake, so it's worth looking at and talking about. At least i fired up the original to make some decent comparisons (so dont grill me too hard with begbie_objection.gif)
nice main menus. lots of options. includes the original 'enter cheats menu' not sure if these cheats are the same. i didnt change any settings other than WASD to ESDF (yes i'm one of those... definitely in the wrong neighborhood tonight lol)
intro movie (and comparison) looks almost identical. i really couldnt tell the difference. sounds are identical, but sound quality is improved (N64 music is the default, theres an alternative PC soundtrack not sure what it is) i actually did like the way this game sounded overall. maps seem identical. same with secrets. this game is a whole lot better with native mouse support. whats else is different? Scale. in the original the player feels a whole lot smaller and shorter (for some reason) and in the PC you feel like you are normal height. blood effects are similiar however there are textures/decals for them. (In fact these textures are above and beyond for the fact they will splatter on health, ammo and other rotating item 'pickups') i didnt play the original game far enough to know or not... (or rather lacked the skill to do it) but you can get headshots and gibs in the pc release, as well as animations for these kills.
graphics look cleaner and higher rez, but otherwise true to the original. With an nintendo-unsanctioned level of gore added. pretty nice.
Turok 2 (2017) is a mixed bag for me personally. i had low expectations, but found it to be one of the rare games i just outright refuse to try/finish. I can't stand almost any element of the game, and its tough to justify playing it... The remake however is interesting in that it is about as pure as you can get to the source, and it's tastefully done. Remakes are seldom close to source material out of fear that it might be perceived to have 'aged badly' and it's kind of a dangerous card to play (In this case i must debate how worthwhile it is though. Turok HAS aged badly, and in a genre that is notorious for aging badly. its a strange kind of indie fan service i suppose) I played for only about an hour or so, and didnt make it past the first level but i'd give the game a benefit of the doubt for being consistent all the way through.
the original game (above screen) i found very difficult to play, perhaps impossible (again i cant stand FPS on this gen of consoles and i dont like the unholy triad of the Cbutton, joypad, control stick setup beuase it's very clunky and unnatural and takes a lot of time and practice, often from one game to the next) but this remake is actually very playable and easy to control thanks to mouse support. the AI is dramatically tweaked and improved both to reflect this (and because the original had serious AI issues) There really was a lot done here and it's hard to not appreciate no matter how much i dislike turok.
The N64 and early 3d games can be difficult to emulate, or take some time to do it (this one wasnt, just fire up parralel in retroarch. feed it a controller pak and maybe play with that C button+digital+analog fiasco that is an N64 FPS) Thus some of these consoles have an audience of people who long to play these games and relive/relieve themselves the nostalgia but no longer have the hardware to do so, therefore dont have the technical means to do so. So nightdive really does give us something interesting: an independent third party definitive version of a game that really isnt any good to begin with but has fans who liked it. they also did the work.
what i walk away with is that this probably bodes well for anyone interested in the upcoming shock remake, even if it looks really different. though after playing seeds of evil, i can't help but wonder that if thinking shock is cool might be a similar kind of delusion of remembering turok as good. no can't be! :P In any case it would seem nightdive is worth watching if you like playing old stuff
This game though? Well if you liked turok go get it. i'm sure steam cant be wrong. Fans seem to like it. I'm just no fan.
true feelings below, but tldr version in photo above: if you dont know what turok is. it's the sequel to THE WORST SHOOTER EVER!!!! and while Turok 2 ACTUALLY is better, it's not by much :P... you still wander around in confusing level shooting dinosaurs with a bow and arrow like a doofus and yell, "I AM TUROK" when you gain 100 coins as your cheesy reward for enduring the insufferable task of being/playing turok. Gaining an extra life just means I get to play more! Meanwhile I'm really saying, KILL ME PLEASE! (To anyone who likes this, i really must ask. How is this fun? What am i missing? I really tried... I looked for plenty of secrets and found many but i could not find the fun!) Because really being Turok is a rough job despite the fog from Unreal being lifted and you can see more. look around all you want far and wide at this grainy ugly low rez world because guess what? Strategically placed rubbish and wreckage blocks your path and move, and you are too unathletic to you know, just climb over it? Being Turok Is also a lot of work as many ladders are to be climbed, and water is to be swum, and turok is just some regular guy i guess, not some no-scoping navy seal of the modern era FPS or even a freakin ninja of days of yore, so these are activities which both tire one out and disorient easy as the evil dinosaurs snipe at you from towers and throw stink bombs with impunity. So what are you doing, turok? rescuing children locked in cages, turning on some wall switches and other doohickeys, then getting shot in the back when it opens doors behind you for doing it. So why are you doing it? Well the space woman told me so! and my computer cant run Half-life.
If you read that and you liked turok 2 and are offended. you will get a good opportunity to get your revenge on me when the shock remake comes out :)
