marty1982's Full Review: Turok 2: Seeds of Evil for Nintendo 64
The original Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was a very unique FPS for many reasons. One was its environment (a dino-infested jungle rather than the usual dungeons and castles of most FPS's). Another was its impressive arsenal of weapons and downright shocking display of gore and violence. But third and most important was the way it not only encouraged exploration, but made it an integral part of the game. Whereas many First Person Shooters followed a fairly linear/straightfoward style of play, Turok allowed the player to freely roam the environment, completing tasks any way he/she liked and whenever he/she liked.
Unfortunately, there were quite a few problems that prevented Turok from really becoming an N64 Must-Have. One was the frustrating save feature, which only let you save at certain spots. Another was the way the non-linear level structuring made it so easy for the player to get lost and lose track of what he/she was doing. Lastly, the lack of any sort of multiplayer mode kept Turok from really having the replay value of the later Goldeneye 007.
Still, the original Turok was an excellent game, and Acclaim needed to either produce a sequel or be sent hundreds of angry letters from hungry N64 owners demanding a second Turok. They did just that with Turok 2: The Seeds Of Evil. While not perfect, the game improves upon the original Turok in every way, and stands as not only one of the N64's best FPS's, but also one of the system's best games.
Much like the original Turok, Turok 2 is a first person shooter in the vein of titles like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark. Unlike those two games, however, Turok 2's emphasis is on exploration rather than simply blasting everyone in sight. The player (as Turok, or "Joshua Fireseed" as he is called in the game) is required to explore literally every nook and cranny of the game's six levels, while blasting hordes of "Dinosoids" and other nasty creatures. Unlike in the original Turok, where all the player really did was collect keys and find the pieces to a weapon Turok threw into a volcano at the end, Turok 2's worlds require the player to perform such tasks as rescue children and destroy certain weapons/creatures. This makes the levels not only seem more interesting, but also appear to have more of a purpose to them.
Turok 2's levels are also much more varied than Turok 1's. Rather than simply taking place in a misty jungle, Turok 2 generally takes place in a series of Aztec/Mayan styled environments (as well as a few alien-like environments in the end). This helps to make the game much more varied than the original Turok, as well as more of a true sequel than just a sterile rehash.
Turok 2's multiplayer mode is IMO just as good, if not better, than Goldeneye's. Not only do you get a strong selection of characters and weapons, but also adjustable environments (you can choose not only the environments themselves but also their wall-texturing), a fairly interesting set of gameplay modes (such as "Monkey Tag" where one player is a monkey and the target for the other players), and a fairly smooth framerate (as opposed to Goldeneye's). Unfortunately, there is no music during multiplayer matches.
Unfortunately, even with all its strengths, Turok 2 still suffers from a few shortcomings. First and most importantly, those who didn't like all the exploration in Turok 1 may still dislike it in Turok 2. Although decidedly more linear, Turok 2's environments are still very big, making it very easy to get lost and overlook something important. It's a pain to have found the energy totem in the first level (The Port Of Adia), just about ready to complete it, but then find that you missed one of the four children you were supposed to rescue (you must complete EVERY mission objective to successfully complete each level). To make things worse, the game still doesn't allow you to save anywhere at any time. Instead you are given a series of "Save Portals" scattered throughout each level. Unfortunately, they are often too far apart and in some rather inconvenient locations. It's always a pain to have accomplished so much since your last save, and then die and be forced to start all over from where you last saved.
Secondly, compared to that of Turok 1, Turok 2's framerate (in the single player mode) is atrocious. Usually when at least two dinosoids are on screen at a time, the framerate tends to sometimes drop from 30 Frames per second, to roughly 4 or 5. This is especially annoying when trying to aim your gun at an enemy since rather than moving smoothly to him, it will simply "teleport" (for lack of a better term) from one area of the screen to the next, usually missing the target.
Lastly (and this is a minor quibble), the game could have used just a little bit of improvement in terms of presentation. After seeing the hilarious Iguana logo cutscene (which I won't spoil for those who haven't played the game), it's a little depressing to just see the words Turok 2 fade in and the go straight to the menu screen, rather than seeing a good introductory cinema for the game. Also, when you lose all your lives, rather than a captivating game-over cinema, you just see "Game Over" plastered on the screen in gold. And then the game cuts back to the beginning.
Fortunately these problems are fairly minor compared to the game's many strengths, but are worth noting nonetheless.
The graphics in Turok 2 were at the time, and still are, the best of any FPS on the N64 (even surpassing many PC FPSs!). The level of detail in each environment is astounding, as is the creature and weapon design. Explosions are crisp and beautiful, realtime lighting effects are virtually everywhere, and the animation for each and every creature is superb (check out those death animations to see what I mean). What's most impressive is that this is all done on the N64 rather than a graphically accelerated PC (and even on that the game would look amazing). Unfortunately, there's still quite a bit of fogging (though not as bad as Turok 1's. Rather than seeing ten feet in front of you you can see roughly 18). Still, you'll probably want to rent this game just to check out what the N64's admittedly dated graphical processor could really do.
The sound in Turok 2 is also downright impressive. There is tons of speech and spoken dialogue courtesy of some excellent voice compression, the weapons sound fantastic, and the motion picture-esque musical score sets the game's mood perfectly.
Despite its flaws, Turok 2 is an excellent game. Considering the low price Acclaim is asking for it, there is no reason not to pick up this gem. It still stands as one of the finest First person shooters on the N64, and one no fan of the genre nor N64 owner should be without.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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