46.0 hours played
Written 1 month and 4 days ago
Turok: 2: Seeds of Evil is about as good as the first Turok game, which is to say it's very nearly a masterpiece as far as what it sets out to accomplish. It's just very different from the first game, taking more of a Metroid-type approach to the levels instead of being more of a run and gun arcade game that happens to have keys and exploration.
When I played this game as a kid, I never made it to the first save point. The first time through the game you are just getting used to the controls and it can take over an hour to reach the first save point. This game is highly skill-based and if you're not good at FPS games you would typically just fail and fail some more, but the Nightdive remaster makes the game significantly easier. This is partially because you now have mouse and keyboard controls, but I also think some of the damage values are nerfed and the navigation is way easier (But still very hard.) Part of why I love this game is because of how dense and foreboding it feels. A lot of the levels are huge and seem like they'll never end. There are only six stages (No load screens between areas because it was originally an N64 cart) but each one is like its own world, with its own enemies and lore.
The map in this game is terrible and one of the biggest things wrong with the game. Sometimes it will highlight portals, other times it doesn't. It's best for just memorizing the structure of the area and checking to see if you are entering a new area because the map will draw itself out when you do this. The Nightdive remaster also adds little exclamation marks that highlight key points like keys and switches. While this definitely makes the game much easier, you often can't see what it is you're collecting until you touch it because the exclamation mark will cover what you're looking at. It also just makes the game less intimidating and foreboding because you can just run around the areas looking for exclamation marks to touch, which is disappointing. I will still say, however, that this is better for the average player because most people who picked this game up likely never completed it anyway.
The combat in this game is also way ahead of its time and more tactical and strategic than 90% of FPS games. If you just run in and shoot everywhere you will have a lot of trouble killing enemies at the start. This is because the game starts you with just a bow and arrow and a pistol. Both of these weapons can be deadly, but headshots seem to do ten times more damage than normal shots. The enemies also have really advanced behavior patterns. Some of them take cover and others will hound you. Certain creatures, like the endtrails, have more predictable patterns because you know they are going to run at you so you can get them into a beeline formation and kill them.
Later on you get much stronger weapons and it's actually one of the coolest weapon loadouts in any FPS game. Some weapons are only effective against certain enemies, and some enemies are immune to some weapons. For example, you get a stun taser that works on almost everything except tiny enemies like spiders and mechanical objects like turrets. There's also the cerebral bore, a homing missile that drills into the enemy's brain and instantly kills them. Seems cool, but if you happen to encounter a robot that doesn't have a brain or a spider enemy that is for whatever reason immune, you need to quickly change tactics or you will die. You also get sniper weapons, explosives, a pod that stuns enemies, a tranquilizer dart, a homing rocket launcher, a shotgun that shoots richochet bullets, and more.
I found this game to be a joke on normal, but hardcore difficulty was somewhat challenging. The biggest thing that makes this game easier than the original Turok 2 is the fact that you can save anywhere, even in boss rooms. I still died a ton of times, but it was never really hard since I could just reset and come back. One of the most ridiculous and frustrating things about this game is the fact that if you happen to slip or fall in a pit, or so much as touch acidic water or lava, you will die instantly. On the non-hardcore difficulties there are little gems all over that give extra lives. Hardcore difficulty removes the extra lives and increases the damage values. It's better to play on this difficulty after beating it on a lower setting because you are likely to fall to your death just exploring the maps.
By far the most intimidating level in the game is Lair of the Blind ones. It's an underground cavern with a water channel that you have to pass through and tons of hidden passageways and switches to pull. If you actually make it through to the end it's not so bad, but the first time through it's pretty nightmarish and seems like it's never going to end. Level 5 is also pretty crazy. I suspect Halo ripped this game off because the level here looks a lot like the covenant ships in Halo 1 and 2. This level is fairly linear but it's long and the enemies have tons of health.
Along the way you also have to collect eagle feathers to put in portals to collect powerups that are necessary to finish the game, such as the ability to walk on water. To do this, you have to place the feather in a portal that is hidden somewhere on the map but not before touching a square that opens the door that is hidden somewhere else on the map. There are also "false portals" that look like the powerup portals but actually lead to inescapable rooms full of difficult enemies. If you complete these false portals you get a piece of a nuke weapon. As if that wasn't confusing enough, some levels have their own key system on top of other keys. There are keys that unlock other levels and then there are Primagen Keys that unlock the final boss. To beat the game and get the good ending you must collect all six Primagen keys and destroy five totems that are at the end of the first five levels, but not before completing each level's mission specific objectives. If you think this is confusing, imagine trying to do this back in the 90s as a kid with limited access to the internet. I actually love how ridiculously obtuse and strange this game is because completing it feels like an accomplishment, even though this version makes it all much easier.
Much like Metroid, there are certain areas where you can farm for health and ammo, so if you make it far enough to find them you can get a full refill and continue fighting. It's for this reason I consider this game pretty easy. Enemies respawn in areas after you kill them, but in much lower numbers. I beat this game on hardcore and it took about 20 hours because I kept having to tediously go back to refill my health and ammo, and also there's a glitch in level 4 that softlocks you and permanently stops you from completing the game (It's a good idea to keep a separate save at the end of each level for this reason). I didn't use a guide this time except to find the keys. Even though the visuals are improved, I actually prefer the visuals of the original game. The reason is that these character models don't look that great in high definition, and some of the monsters like the blind creatures in level 4 are way more scary when you can't really get a good look at their pixelated ogre faces in the dark.
Overall this game has great music, atmosphere and cool boss fights and I'm very happy it was remastered because more people should play this game and try to finish it.
