Classic review: Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. The dinosaur hunter returns in this N64 sequel

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil boxart for N64Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is the sequel to the best-selling first-person shooter called Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. Both games are first-person shooters that are well-known not only for their unique and cool weapons, but also for their adventure-like gameplay (that includes platformer elements) with large levels that must be absolutely scoured corner to corner to find everything that is hidden in the various levels. The games were simply well ahead of their time.

The original game actually preceded GoldenEye 007’s release and both it and Turok helped establish the Nintendo 64 as a popular machine for fans of first-person shooters. Not only were there many good FPS’ released on the system, but the ones that came out such as the Turok games also helped the genre shed it’s “Doom Clone” roots with their unique gameplay that went far beyond “run and gun” simplicity.

And Turok 2 did what sequels should do: expanded on the first game ten-fold. Everything about Turok 2 is bigger. The levels are absolutely enormous, the graphics are leagues ahead of what you saw in the first game (and the game requires the N64 expansion pak if you want to play in high-def, the only way to play unless you want your eyes to bleed with blurriness), the enemies and overall AI is much improved, the game is longer with levels that are probably on average of 3 times as big as the ones in the first-game, the soundtrack is even more complex and the game includes spoken dialogue and cut-scenes using in-game graphics.

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil for PCWhen Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was released in December 1998 it was impressive. How could you not be impressed with such high-res graphics that required the new Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak in order for the game to run it’s beautiful visuals? At the time the game also scored very well, and as of today has an average score of nearly 90% on GameRankings (which is higher than the PC version which stands at 72.8%). But it is not 1998, it is the year 2008. So how does Turok 2 fair a whole decade later? Find out in my review of Turok 2: Seeds of Evil for the Nintendo 64.

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil logo-banner-startscreen

System: Nintendo 64 (N64)
Also On: PC, GBC (as a side-scrolling action game). Hopefully it’ll get a release on the Wii VC, Xbox Live & PS Store.
Debut: US December 10th, 1998 – EU December 11th, 1998 – JAP June 18, 1999
Genre: First-Person Shooter (FPS)
Players: 1-4 (Includes a 4-player split-screen multiplayer mode)
Save: N64 version requires a full 90 blocks of space on a Nintendo 64 Controller Pak to save one file. You cannot save without the memory card/controller pak.
Developer: Iguana Entertainment/Acclaim Studios Austin
Publisher: Acclaim (The Turok license is now owned by Buena Vista Studios)
Origin: U.S.
Rating: M for Mature for Animated Blood and Gore & Animated Violence

If I had to describe Turok 2 in one singular conjunction, it would be “massively-hard”. Turok 2 is the type of game that seems to get everything right, but falls apart because they simply went TOO BIG and didn’t get enough of the small details correct.

The levels in the game are so humongous that it’s not unusual to spend over 4 hours trying to beat one stage. And unlike most games nowadays, Turok 2 gives you exactly zero hints as to where to go or what to do.

Storyline:
The game begins with the new Turok, Joshua Fireseed, appearing through a portal to face a blue-skinned woman named Adon. She explains he has been called by the Elders of the Lost Land, the Lazarus Concordance, to defeat a powerful alien entity called the Primagen.

The Primagen is a creature imprisoned long ago in the wreckage of his spacecraft (or “lightship” as they call it) after attempting to conquer the Lost Land, and sealed in the ruined craft with five devices called Energy Totems. Now he has mobilized several races of creatures in an attempt to destroy these objects. Turok’s task is thus clear; he must locate the Energy Totems and destroy all forces mobilized to attack them, and then destroy the Primagen himself to end the threat he poses to the Lost Land once and for all. In the process, he must defeat the Primagen’s armies and acquire ancient magical powers from the Talisman chambers.

In the course of the game, a mysterious entity calling itself ‘Oblivion’ attempts to thwart Turok’s quest by creating false copies of the Talisman chamber portals that lead to areas populated by its servants, the Flesh Eaters. This sets up the plot for the sequel, Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion, in which two new Turoks must take on Oblivion itself.

The levels are separated by a HUB (a place that connects you to all the other levels), although the game starts you directly in the first level, called the Port of Adia. The subsequent levels are basically themed, with the second level being undead, the third a swamp, the fourth an underground cavern, the fifth a bug hive and the sixth containing robotic elements.

Your goal is to make your way through each level, flipping switches to open doors, and fighting the game’s various enemies (who are unique to each stage) that you will encounter around every turn. They are strategically placed (some enemies respawn, but they don’t respawn continuously like in the first game) and are out to stop you from completing your mission objectives and collecting keys that are required to complete the game (all the collectibles are explained below).

Finally you’ll be making your way to the end-level portal that teleports you back to the HUB. But before you enter the portal you’ll want to make sure that you have completed at least the mission objectives. Keys and the other things you can always go back to the level to complete (in fact the Primagen Keys usually can’t be collected on your fast pass through a level), but you can’t exit the stage you are on unless you have completed the Mission Objectives. You then will have to defend the Energy Totem from swarms of enemies. You’ll see two health bars, one for the Totem and one of the Enemy. As you kill enemies the Red bar will deplete, as the totem is attacked the green bar will complete. Deplete their bar first and you’ll save the totem, and be transported back to the Hub. Where you can use the keys you got on that level to unlock others.

Turok 2 Intro Cut-Scene

Every level opens with a pretty cool cut-scene (using in-game graphics) where Adon explains the new threats and enemies you will face on that stage, and then gives you your mission objectives. The early levels give you more objectives to accomplish than the later ones, with the fourth stage having only one set of objectives (Seal 3 Thermal Vents). But in addition to the objectives you need to complete the level, you’ll also find keys (which look the same as they did in the first game) that are required to actually open additional levels in the HUB, warp portals that once activated send you to a sort of arena to face off against the Flesh Eaters (as mentioned above in the story segment), and lead to a piece of the Nuke Weapon. You will also find Talismen’s that grant you special powers (to be used at specific locations only): such as walking on fire or swimming in acid water, and subsequently will be needed to find the Primagen keys that are required to face-off against the Primagen himself in the final battle.

In case you got lost, each level has: Mission Objectives, Level Keys, Sacred Eagle Feathers that are required to get the Talismen, a Nuke Weapon piece and a Primegen key. You will also sometimes come across additional items, door keys or explosives for example, that are required to complete your mission objectives or unlock doors. And most stages have two different warp portals, one for you to submit the Eagle Feathering as an offering to your ancestors, granting you a Talisman, and one that leads to an arena where you face off against the Flesh Eaters. You can view your Mission Objectives as well as your Inventory (Level Keys, Nuke Weapon, Talismen, Eagle Feather, Primagen Key) on the Pause Screen. One of the little problems though is that the smaller items, door keys and explosives as mentioned above, are not kept track of, so you’ll have to keep those in mind as you get them.

Turok 2 screenshot 1

The controls in Turok 2 are the same as they were in the first game. You use the four C Buttons (Up, Down, Right and Left) to move in any direction and the control stick to look. R jumps while Z fires. L is your map. To switch weapons you hold A for one set, B for the other, and press in a direction on the control stick to highlight that weapon (such as hold A/down-left for your shotgun). The controls work well although you can change them to GoldenEye-style controls as well as change other options (such as the way you select weapons, you can make it cycle through like in the first Turok) in the Options/Pause menu.

The controls themselves work fine, but the game lacks a smoothness that you find in modern shooters. It’s not even up to par with other shooters on the N64 such as GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. This makes pinpoint accuracy a real chore. You can adjust the sensitivity of your vertical and horizontal looking, but even that does not seem to do the trick. I can’t quite tell if it is the low-framerate or not, but it really damages the game and makes it even harder than it should be. Because while you are slowly adjusting your crosshair, you’ll get shot or attacked and lose health. This ups the frustration factor significantly.

And frustration is a big part of Turok 2. Do not go into the game if you are faint of heart. All the levels in Turok 2 are absolutely massive. Unlike in a game like Halo, where the levels sprawl and are wide-open, in Turok 2 there are set paths, and room upon room and cranny upon cranny that are tucked away. So much so, that you can go through an entire level, spending hours of your time doing so, and miss ONE little thing, only to find out that you must backtrack through the whole stage again to find it.

This both works to and against Turok 2. It works for it because, in addition to making the game extremely challenging and really long, it also rewards you for exploring. Since there are so many things to collect in Turok 2 on every stage (from multiple objectives to multiple keys) you will almost always find something of use by exploring a specific path, it could even be a new weapon. And even if it’s not something super important, you will always find ammo, health, and life-force pieces (which give you an extra life you collect 100) tucked away in all corners of the game. Thus you are required in Turok 2 to really search every inch of every stage, behind every wall and tucked in every dark corner. Even blowing up every explosive barrel (barrels are everywhere).

This works against Turok 2 though because the levels are SOOO big that it’s not only easy to become lost, but it’s easy to simply NOT FIND a crucial objective. In fact if you can pass the fourth stage, Lair of the Blind Ones, on your first try without using a guide or any cheats, then you are to be commended and hailed as a God of gaming. Much less for the later levels in the game. And I am not exaggerating when I say this. It’s so infuriating that you can easily spend over an hour going through the same sections of the level over and over again and not find where a certain objective or key is.

In fact on the second stage I had done everything in the entire level, but missed one explosive barrel that is tucked away in a dark corner. When I reached the end of The River of Souls, I had to turn back around and backtrack through the entire level. Not knowing that path leading to the only mission objective I missed was due to an explosive barrel that you are supposed to shoot, doing so blows up the wall it’s set against. But the reason I did not blow said barrel up was because I did not need the ammo or health, so I thought I’d save it for my next pass through. Alas, that sole barrel cost me over an hour of wandering around through the same areas over and over again add nauseum. As a result, a lot of people will probably give up on the first stage, which has mission objectives tucked away in small corners that you are guaranteed to miss on your fast play-through if you are not paying ultra attention to small details. You have been warned.

Turok 2 Screenshot 2

But the worst culprit is the fact that Save Points are limited (at least on the N64 version). This is just flat-out evil, as sometimes a save-point can be nearly an hour away, especially if you don’t remember where one is located. Which is just stupid. Save Points also are not pointed out on your map, which is the same overlay that it was in the original game, where outlines of the area are placed over the screen and filled in as you go. The map system works well like it does in the last game, but I still wish there was a more detailed map. You can scroll around by holding the L Button down and using the control pad. But a better map system would be extremely helpful.

The level design though is also to blame for the game’s difficulty. There are some sections that are simply frustrating. Stage 4, which is an underground cavern of endless tunnels, contains an underwater section where you are swimming (although there is one underwater weapon which increases your swimming speed) through said tunnels, having to pop-up every now and then for air. This section is impossible to do without your map. But even then, it’s a difficult section and I remember way back in the day having to draw up a map on paper to help me out. You will also have parts where you can fall into a pitfall to your death. I am extremely glad that these holes of yesteryear have been all but banished in games nowadays. But they are in Turok 2. Although to a thankfully lower degree than in the first game.

You will also find less platforming sections in Turok 2. A lot less. That’s definitely a blessing but that’s not to say that they aren’t there. Thankfully the developers learned not to have you leaping from pillar to pillar where one missed step is a pitfall to your death (except at one point . . . Grrr). So consider that a plus from the first game as well.

Then you have the weapons, which are every bit as big a deal as they were in the first game. There are a ton of them here, twice as much as what you found in the first game, although almost all of them are new. Your most basic weapons are the Talon, which replaces the knife. A green colored flare gun, a pistol, a shotgun, and your bow and arrow. All these weapons can be upgraded and the upgrades always add new abilities. The Bow is upgraded to the Tek Bow, which has explosive arrows and also allows you to snipe. The shotgun is upgraded to the Shredder, which has ricocheting bullets. To switch between types of weapons press Left on the D-Pad, and to switch between ammo press Up. Pressing right will put you into Sniper Mode. Down on the D-Pad also crouches, although that’s never really used (and unlike in the first game by the way you cannot change Turok’s running speed).

Turok 2 Weapons Gameplay (Warning: Weapon Spoilers. Video is in slow-mo)

Most of the weapons from Turok 1 have a version here as well, and you’ll also find some very unique weapons, probably the most popular of which is the Cerebral Bore, which you find on Stage 4. This gun weapon allows you to lock onto the heads of enemies and then send an explosive grenade that trails them and finally stabs into their skull, sucking out their brain juice before exploding. It’s oh-so-sweet to use.

The weapons are one of the coolest parts of the game, so I won’t list any others, but there is an unbalance in my opinion. In fact you can get through using only your original set of weapons, nay, even the basic weapons you start out with (Talon, pistol, Bow and Shotgun). The arrow in fact is one of the most useful weapons in the game and allows you to make easy headshots without wasting ammo, since arrows will stick into walls and enemies and can be picked back up after use.

Likewise, many times you’ll be safer to simply bum-rush an enemy and use your Talon (and it’s upgrade) on them instead of wasting ammo shooting them. Although enemies do have locational damage (and you can sever limbs in addition to heads) it’s almost pointless to shoot an enemy unless you know you are going to get a headshot. And sometimes shots seem to do little damage to an enemy. Although at times it will seem that the upgraded weapons are less effective, they generally are more effective, particularly because they can sever limbs better. But one example of this unbalance is the upgrade to the pistol, which fires three shots at a time, allowing it to sever limbs. The problem is this also drains your ammo like crazy, especially if you don’t hit the limb straight on (at which point it doesn’t sever) and you are usually better off simply aiming for a headshot with the regular single-shot pistol, than try and hit the limbs directly, which is made harder than it should be do to the imprecise aiming issues.

I am also somewhat disappointed that there aren’t any cool effects that come with the weapons, such as was the case with the Alien Weapon from the first game. No weapons in Turok 2 really have cool effects to go along with them. Even The Nuke Weapon is not nearly as cool as the one in the first game, and is also quite useless since you get it so late in the game. Thankfully if you can actually make it through Turok 2, then you will find some very cool weapons later on. Although the game has it’s fair share of duds, at least two weapons probably won’t use at all. One weapon is practically useless, but it’s upgrade is a weapon that once you have it, you can’t imagine what you’d do without it. One funny thing about Turok 2 and it’s weapons is that you don’t have to reload in the game, you simply keep going until you are out of ammo, at which point you can pick up more laying about. There are no reloading animations in the game though. Which seems strange for a FPS.

Turok 2 Screenshot 3

The enemies in Turok 2 are all pretty cool, although you’ll notice that the enemy types kind of repeat in several instances. And there aren’t a whole lot of enemies for that matter, you’ll fight the same few over and over again on any given stage. Also lacking are any real dinosaurs outside of raptors on the first level (stupid looking ones at that). Which is strange when you think about it, since the first game was sub-titled “Dinosaur Hunter” and the new Turok focuses on dinosaurs. Instead you’ll fight a lot of reptilian-type creatures, bugs and other beasts, in both big and small varieties.

The AI Turok 2 isn’t great by any stretch of the imagination, but enemies will walk along certain paths, run from you if you shoot at them (or simply shoot you from afar) as well as dive behind a crate, if there is one. Some enemies will also cloak themselves or self-destruct. But this amounts to absolutely primitive AI by todays standards, and so it doesn’t amount to much in this day and age, even if it was quite good way back in 1998. In fact the lackluster AI makes Turok 2 easier because enemies will forget you are there after discovering you if you are far enough away or if you can run past a certain point away from them, which can work towards your advantage.

Enemy attacks though can be very strong, and it is definitely possible to die if you aren’t careful. Even though health is always around and you will find many rooms or various points that act as sort of recharge centers, since ammo and health in that area will continually respawn once you get them, allowing you to fill up on both health and ammo for all your guns. Actually the Flesh Eater sections are one of the best places to refill on ammo and health, which you can usually do soon after you are in the arena (but not always). In addition to 2+ health pieces you can also find the orange Full Health (which brings your health to 100) and the yellow/gold Ultra Health, which brings your health beyond the normal max of 100, increasing what you have by 100 (so if you collect it with 60 health you’ll get 160). You’ll also find the blue 10+ health which cannot be collected if you are above 100. In addition Save Points allow you to completely refill your health or ammo once per level.

Oops, got a little off track there. As far as fighting enemies are concerned, due to the control issues previously mentioned, a one-on-one confrontation will usually result in a big loss of health to you unless you can quickly take an enemy out. Likewise strafing around them is possible but the framerate makes this more difficult and harder to pull off than it should be (slowdown is a problem in this game as well, which doesn’t have a great framerate to begin with). Enemies are also quick shots, able to usually hit you even if you strife dodge their shots, so it’s not much use to even try (although if you move a bit to the right you can usually dodge an incoming grenade). So your best bet is to snipe from afar and/or try to get a headshot with your first shot as previously mentioned.

As far as bosses go, I am definitely not a fan of the ones in Turok 2. The final boss especially is very weak (not physically) and doesn’t even look cool. On top of that, they are hard as hell. So there’s even more frustration that you can sprinkle on top of the cake. But the worst part is that you won’t even see a single boss until you reach the end of the 4th stage. And unless you are really good at first-person shooters and/or have a guide with you, you likely will have given up on the game before reaching that point. For shame. I also think the first boss is the coolest of the bunch, aren’t they supposed to get better as you go?

Turok 2 Spanish Preview (Contains Spoilers. Note: comic-artwork not actually in game)

Graphically, the game doesn’t look bad but it looks like a good N64 game (haha). Blocky with obvious edges, although to play the game without hi-def will tax your sight. The game becomes super blurry in an immediately obvious way, almost to the point of unplayability (unless you want your eye sockets to bleed). So it is a must to play this game with the Expansion Pak (which the game shipped with back in the day). Thankfully you do have some cool animations, including blood that spurts and forms puddles when a limb is severed.

The soundtrack in Turok 2 is excellent, and the audio is pretty good, although one of the characters that speaks (not Adon who does almost all the speaking in the game) is hard to make out, and the game doesn’t include subtitles for some odd reason. If you want to hear a really cool remix of the theme on the first level, check out this Turok 2 PortofAdia Drummix (click on one of the orange ‘download from’ texts to download it).

As far as replay value goes, Turok 2 is huge so it’ll last you easily over 15 hours just making it through the campaign (if you can) and then there are also various difficulty settings as well as fun cheats that you will unlock as you play (and can access via the Cheat menu on the pause screen). If you want to really avoid frustration I’d suggest that you either use cheats (like most people do) or keep a guide a handy, you WILL need it. I can guarantee. There is also a four-player split-screen multiplayer mode you can play, but in this day and age why bother? It can offer some fun for four people who want to play it, but you probably won’t find any and even then, it’s not as great as the multiplayer mode in Perfect Dark. So you probably won’t even touch it.

Turok 2 Screenshot 4

So Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is a hard game to recommend to anyone but the most hardcore Turok fan or people who have played the game before and know what they are getting into. If you really want to see what the game was like and why it received such high reviews, then give it a shot. But you’ve been warned that much frustration will lie ahead if you do choose to tackle the game. That being said it does have some cool ideas, including lots of exploration and cool weapons, so you may want to give it a look for that reason. And you can always enter “bewareoblivionisathand” in the cheats menu to unlock all the cheats, and this includes the ability to warp to any level or boss.

As of this writing (January 26th, 2008) Turok 2: Seeds of Evil has not been announced for release anywhere. Hopefully the game will come to the Wii Virtual Console in it’s original form, and to Xbox Live and the Playstation Store in UPGRADED form. If this game had upgraded graphics, online play for the multiplayer mode, achievements to get and a smoothed out framerate (and a save anywhere feature) then I think the game would be twice as good as it is. So let’s hope that the resurgence of Turok (the new game is scheduled for release in the U.S. on February 5th, 2008 and in Europe on February 8th) will spur the re-release of all the classic Turok games. I’m also interested to see if a translation to the Wii Virtual Console would solve the control problems of the game and the difficulty of pinpoint accuracy, since you wouldn’t be using the N64 controller anymore but instead either the Wii Remote, GameCube or Classic controllers.

Turok 2 Wallpaper

If a new version of Turok 2 does come out, I’d recommend it over the Nintendo 64 original, which requires the hard-to-find-unless-you-already-own-one Controller Pak (aka N64 Memory Card) to save, as well as the Expansion Pak (unless you want to lose your vision, as mentioned above) for the hi-res graphics, making it cumbersome to get the whole package. Of course, you could always track down the PC version of the game and have a field day. There is also a Game Boy Color version, but it’s nothing like the real game (It’s a side-scrolling action game) and is to be avoided.

So if “I AM TUROK!” gets shouted from Wii’s, Xbox 360’s or PS3’s anytime soon, then I’ll definitely upgrade this review. Now it’s time to grade Turok 2 based on how fun the game is.

FUN FACTOR – 7.5
Is Turok 2 fun? Yes it can be. It’s very sweet to blow the heads off of strong enemies out for your blood. But Turok 2 can also be extremely frustrating. The levels are so big that it’s easy to get lost or have to do extensive backtracking to find what you missed. And save points are so spaced out that you will likely find yourself simply pausing the game and leaving your N64 on than searching one out. So Turok 2 is only recommended to those who like an extreme challenge, are a fan of Turok, a fan of first-person shooters, OR if you are EXTREMELY curious to see the sequel to Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. For all others, stay far, far away. And it’s a shame, because if the design wasn’t so bad, then this game would easily score higher, as the core gameplay itself isn’t bad at all. But the hugeness of the levels combined with control issues add up to make it more aggravating than it’s worth. Besides that the game is almost impossible to beat without cheating and/or looking at a guide. Give yourself a whole freakin’ three dozen brownie points if you do manage to beat it legitimately.

Graphics – 8.0
This game looks good for a Nintendo 64 game, although horrible if you are playing it in low-res. But who would be crazy enough to do that? The blood spurts look particularly good as well as animations for severing the limbs of enemies.

Music & Sound – 8.0
The soundtrack is Turok 2 is very good and the voice work isn’t bad at all. I particularly like Adon’s voice especially the way she says outloud the name of weapons that you collect. Strangely there is no subtitle option.

Ingenuity – 7.5
Turok 2 really is a unique first-person shooter, one whose focus is more on adventuring, that is searching every nook and cranny of every level, than it is on shooting (although you’ll be doing plenty of that). So while I wouldn’t call Turok 2 innovative (even though at the time it was for it’s use of the Expansion Pak for great graphics and effects like blood spurting and polygonal fire) it definitely does it’s own thing.

Presentation – 8.0
The game’s menus are useful and don’t look too bad, giving you both Inventory and Mission Status screens as well as a built-in Cheat Menu and an option to enter in cheats. I love the way Adon says aloud the name of the weapon’s you pick up, and the real-time cut-scenes that open each level are done very well. In addition, the displays on-screen are hugely improved (and much smaller) if you play in hi-def over low-def.

Replay Value – 7.0
In addition to the four-player split-screen multiplayer mode that you probably won’t use, the game has multiple difficulty settings and you will unlock cheats as you play through the campaign, most of which are just for fun. The biggest factor to replay value though is simply how huge the levels are, making the game difficult to beat. So the game should take you between 15-20 hours to beat on your first play through.