Turok Dinosaur Hunter

🎮 Nintendo 64 ⏳ 10 hours ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)

A Landmark FPS Debut #

The very first Turok entry was a landmark release for the Nintendo 64 and one of the first console first-person shooters to show that the genre could thrive outside of PC. The game was based on a lesser-known comic book series but quickly built its own identity through its mix of prehistoric and sci-fi elements. The MC is called Turok, a time-traveling Native American warrior tasked with stopping the evil Campaigner from using an ancient artifact to control the universe.

Scale, Exploration, Verticality #

What made it so impressive back in the day was its sense of scale and atmosphere. The game featured large, open 3D environments filled with dinosaurs, mutants, and alien creatures, all rendered in a fluid 30 frames per second on hardware that was still new to 3D gaming. Its level design emphasized exploration and verticality, with hidden paths, keys, and portals scattered throughout. This encouraged you to backtrack and master the sprawling stages rather than simply blasting through them. It can even sometimes feel like a Metroidvania, since you need to huntdown key items in order to progress, about the only missing similarity is weapons and equipment which enables new areas.

Iconic Weapons and Flaws #

The arsenal was another highlight, from the trusty bow and arrow to futuristic energy weapons, it offered a variety of tools that felt powerful and satisfying to use. The game’s fast movement, responsive controls, and fluid aiming system helped it stand out among early console shooters, even if the Nintendo 64’s single analog stick made precise aiming a challenge. That said, the game shows its age today, the notorious fog, used to hide the console’s limited draw distance, can make environments feel repetitive, and the platforming sequences are often clumsy. I recommend playing the modern re-releases since they have a lot of QOL improvements to enhance the experience, compared to the OG implementation.

Ambitious, Influential Classic #

Yet despite these flaws, this game remains an ambitious and influential title, it helped pave the way for later shooters on consoles, blending exploration, action, and atmosphere in a way few games of its time could match. Revisiting it today, whether on original hardware or through the remastered PC version, reveals a game that was ahead of its time, primitive in some ways, but bold in design and vision. This is one of the most unique shooters that I’ve ever played, and I don’t rank it higher simply because I played the original version, but the remaster is for sure the best way to experience this, and I would give it five stars if I ever play it.