Despite its unimpressive technical limitations (namely, checkpoints and a clipped sightline), Turok was pretty fun...
Years passed, and I played through – and thoroughly enjoyed – my turn as Joshua Fireseed in Turok’s sequel, which did reflect more than a mere copy-and-paste effort by whomever ported its code to the PC by including a “hard save” option. Long story short, I backtracked a bit and spent some time in Tal’Set’s moccasins. To tell the truth, I didn’t have as many problems with the checkpoint system as I expected; thankfully, save stations are available just before most of the game’s more difficult leaps and skirmishes. Although Turok’s level design and character animation is as blocky as one might expect in a late-90s title, I really appreciated such minor details as the histrionic death throes of certain enemies (a shot to the jugular is painful to watch, with copious jets of blood and lots of choking, gasping, and flailing about) and, especially, the selection of deadly hardware that Tal’Set eventually gathers. Explosions and environmental textures are imbued with bright, shiny colors that reflect Turok’s illustrated pulp origins very well. The selection of adversaries in the game isn’t limited to bionic variants of Jurassic-era reptiles, either; humans, aliens, and some fairly creative boss monsters are scattered liberally enough throughout the different regions that there was always something interesting and new to see upon arriving at each new level.
As for Turok’s negative elements, I still count its checkpoint system among them – if only on general principal – even though I didn’t have to retrace my steps very often. However, one of the worst instances of lost progress occurred when I simply fell through the floorboards in the Treetop Village due to a clipping glitch. Also, there is no such thing as a horizon in Turok; a thick, framerate-saving fog surrounds the player up to only a few dozen feet away at all times. I understand that the Nintendo 64 needed the limited view distance, but even the flat, bitmapped vistas of the Quake engine are attainable on a PC.
I can see why Turok was very highly regarded by N64 owners, but its shine was diminished somewhat by a lot of unrecognized potential in the PC port. Players who aren’t familiar with the marked simplicity of pre-Half-Life shooters might not enjoy a visit to the timeless Lost Land, but completists who already own a copy of Seeds of Evil can probably find a ripped edition of Turok on some of the finer abandonware sites on the Internet.