A unique mixture of first person shooting and platform-style gaming.
In 1997 the graphics were phenomenal. Today what still impresses are the death animations of your enemies - really gruesome- , some weapon effects ( the Alien Weapon's plasma explosions, the Chronoscepter's and the Fusion Canon's impressive nuclear blasts etc) and the variety of your enemies ( humans, demon - like creatures, dinosaurs, huge insects, even robots). There are also a few nice touches here and there like the cool looking water effects ( although there are no real time reflections), the beautiful water falls, parts of the environment that can be destroyed ( f.e. you can knock down palm trees with your grenade launcher ). You can also shoot the leapers while they are swimming and see blood stains and their floating corpses or even use against them the grenade launcher ( this weapon creates some very cool effects) and tear them apart into tiny pieces, or just look at the sun and enjoy the nice graphical touch of the developers... Moreover you 'll see monkeys climbing on trees, flocks of birds flying, antelope and boor searching for their food , you can also find fish in the lakes and rivers. Add to the above the nice sound effects ( like the bird calls and the different animal sounds) and the drum-based music (that gets repetitive after a few hours though) and you have a game that is very atmospheric and immersive at times even after all these years. .
However there are a few things that look really ugly even by Goldeneye's and Turok2's standards. First of all the polygonal enemies, despite their impressive animation, look a bit blocky. Combine this with the blurry looking environments and you have a game that seems a bit blunt at places. Moreover most of the levels look very similar since Acclaim re used the same textures again and again. Caves, lakes, jungles and different combinations of them in the first 4 levels. Don't get me wrong, you can find a few temples in level 3 and a few lava covered areas in level 4 but there isn't enough variety until level 5 ( catacombs). There is also a level above ground ( a village built on trees) and a futuristic space ship towards the last stage ( level 8) to spice things up. What's good about the levels is that -with the exception of the first two- they are very large in size and will take many hours for you to explore them. Another thing that i really enjoyed had to do with the level design but more on that later... .
All these animations and cool weapons have as a result a frame rate full of problems. When there are more than 4 enemies on screen at once the frame rate suffers... try to use your alien weapon or -even worse- your fusion canon and the game will become unplayable ( 4-5 fps). So you'll mostly use the fusion canon and the chronoscepter during boss fights and you 'll have to be careful or patient with the other "powerful" ones. This happens often enough to frustrate you, however most of the times the frame rate holds up quite well. .
Acclaim used a few tricks in order to protect the stability of the frame rate. First of all after killing an enemy its body disappears in just 4-5 seconds, in order to have a decrease in the amount of polygons on screen. The problem is that there are many areas in the game, in which the enemies will reappear -after dying- in another location somewhere near you and this ruins the realism factor of the title + makes the game frustrating, since there 'll be times that an opponent will re spawn just behind you. At least there is a sound effect that warns you when this is going to happen. .
Then the designers decided to decrease the draw distance of the game, using a fog-like effect . This looks ok most of the times and adds to the atmosphere. However there are moments when you wish that you could see what's hiding behind this foggy horizon. The game is also about exploring and this effect makes adventuring more difficult than it should be. What's more enemies will hit you sometimes from very far away, since you won't be able to see them in time. On the other hand you can take advantage of this drawback and use a long range weapon ( like the assault rifle) against an opponent which you can barely see ( your enemy won't be able to counter-attack since he can't see you at all). .
Turok has an extra-ordinary arsenal of weapons. You'll find the old-fashioned shotgun and pistol, but there is more variety in here than most of today's shooters thanks to the addition of the alien weaponry. A nice move from the designers is that they "encourage" you to use the knife and the bow in order to gain a Spirit Token, that adds 5 points to your total energy ( combine this tactic with the Spiritual Invincibility power-up). On the other hand the enemy AI is very basic, you can sneak up on them and in case that you will fail then they 'll attack following one or two different patterns ( they'll fire at you or try to come close to you and hit you with their melee weapons). Now you 'll find a few enemies that have specific characteristics, f.e. the leapers can follow you even in the water ( you can only use the knife in these situations), the alien infantry will use special equipment like jet packs or self destruction mechanisms, there are even huge worms that can hide into the ground and emerge right in front of you... there will also be times when different enemies will fight each other ( very funny to watch). Don't expect AI of Goldeneye proportions though. Strafing and shooting is the main strategy for defeating most of Turok's enemies. .
If Turok was all about shooting the game would be fair to mediocre by today's standards. There have been games with much better graphics and effects, more violence and -more importantly- with better and more challenging enemies. The enemy / weapon variety still helps the title a bit. However what makes this game really unique is the exploration factor. You'll have to use not only Turok's weapons but also his abilities in order to survive and progress in your adventure. Jumping ( this needs a lot of practice but it becomes second nature after a while -> use your map, always run -you can make higher and longer jumps- and don't look straight ahead -try to look somewhere between the ground and the place where you have to jump or pay attention to your shadow ), climbing ( just watch out for the vine-covered walls) and swimming ( the underwater motion physics are unbelievable even by today's standards). All these abilities feel very natural and realistic and add to Turok's game play, elements from the platform genre. .
Sometimes jumping in this title can become frustrating since you 'll have to make difficult consecutive jumps from a small platform to the next one and if you miss just one you'll lose a life and you 'll have to start from scratch. This element makes the game hard, however it adds a bit of agony and suspense and makes the title to feel very original even after all these years ( there are a few training sub-missions that can help you to practice these abilities). With all these special moves most of the levels have a completely different structure ( comparing Turok with the majority of the FPS games). It's not just corridor - monsters - room - monsters - corridor - more monsters. Despite the fact that the actual game play is again linear and straight forward ( especially in the last level), at least this time you can climb onto new heights, or dive into the water and find an underwater hidden area. Turok has a more open-ended feel than most of the Doom clones out there. .
What's more the game is full of secrets and hidden areas and rewards the gamer's curiosity, skill, power of observation or even courage. There are fake walls, trees and ordinary-looking walls that you can climb, valuable pick -ups behind foliage and huge rocks, stalactites that you can blow with your grenade launcher and gain access to previously unaccessible areas, underwater tunnels etc. Your map will help you most of the times in order to find these secret places and there are also audio clues, indicating where some of your enemies are hiding ( helping you to discover these new areas). There are also blue portals -they make a distinct noise and appear for a few seconds- that can give you access to bonus levels, which have great pick-ups , however they require excellent reflexes ( many traps that you have to avoid and difficult jumps that you need to make in order to reach the exit). .
There are 8 levels, most of them are large in size and you can gain access to them by finding keys which will "unlock" each level's warp gate. There is also a piece of the Chronoscepter hidden in each stage ( a total of eight pieces). If you find them all you will be able to use this weapon against the final boss ( creates spectacular effects but it isn't as effective as other weapons). The bad news is that if you finish a particular level without finding all the keys, which are required to unlock the next ones, you 'll have to replay it again and that's a poor way of extending the lasting appeal of the title. At least every level is full of secrets and surprises, so you may find a new weapon, or one more backpack that 'll make your campaign much easier in the upcoming stages. The main campaign lasts around 30 hours... Too bad there is no multiplayer though. .
If Turok was all about shooting then the gore, the weapons and the different enemies wouldn't be enough to make this game worth noticing. The immersive atmosphere though, combined with the exploration elements and the platforming sequences create an experience that feels unique and distinguishes this title from the overcrowded FPS genre. So if you are a fan of FPS, you have to give this game a chance. It 's still fun to play even after all these years.