Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
Encyclopedia
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is a first-person shooter
video game developed by Iguana Entertainment
and published by Acclaim
for the Nintendo 64
console and personal computer
platforms. It was released in 1997
in North America and Europe. Turok is an adaptation of the Acclaim Comics
comic book series of the same name
. The player controls a Native American warrior, Turok, who must stop the evil Campaigner from conquering the universe with an ancient and powerful weapon.
As Acclaim's first exclusive title for the Nintendo 64, Turok was part of a strategy to develop games internally and license merchandise; Acclaim acquired the rights to Turok when it purchased Acclaim Comics (né Valiant) in 1994. Suffering from cash flow problems and falling sales, Turok became Acclaim's best hope for a financial turnaround. Iguana pushed the Nintendo 64's graphics capabilities to its limits, and were forced to compress or cut elements to fit the game on its 8 megabyte cartridge. Bugs delayed the game's release from holiday 1996 to 1997.
Critical reception of Turok was highly positive. Becoming one of the most popular games for the console on release, Turok won praise for its graphics and evolution of the genre. Complaints centered on graphical slowdowns caused by multiple enemies appearing onscreen and occasionally awkward controls. The game sold 1.5 million copies and boosted sales of the Nintendo 64. Turok spawned a video game franchise that currently includes six sequels.
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is a shooter game
in which gameplay takes place from a first-person perspective
. The three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics
and style of play combine elements of the run-and-gun computer game Doom with exploration mechanics of Tomb Raider
. Players begin the game in a central hub level
, which contains portals to seven other stages. The player must find keys scattered across the stages. When enough keys have been inserted into the lock mechanisms of a hub portal, that level is unlocked. Players explore the large, typically jungle-based levels by jumping, swimming, climbing, crawling, and running.
The player's main objective is to find pieces of a relic known as the Chronoscepter; there is one piece on each level. In exploring the levels the player must fight various enemies such as poachers, gunmen, indigenous warriors, dinosaurs, demons, and insects. Turok features 13 weapons plus the Chronoscepter, ranging from a knife and bow to high tech weaponry. All weapons except the knife require ammunition, which is dropped by dead enemies or picked up in the levels. Enemies and boss characters have multiple death animations depending on what body region the player shot. Because items dropped by fallen enemies rapidly disappear, players must engage foes from close range.
The player character's health is shown as a number at the bottom of the screen. When the player is at full health, the meter reads 100, while dropping to 0 subtracts one life. Gathering "spiritual points" scattered across the levels increases the player's life count by one for every 100 points accumulated. Players restore their health by picking up powerups
, which can increase their health above full. Players may also gain health points by shooting deer or non-threatening wildlife.
originally appeared in comics from Western Publishing
and Dell Comics
in December 1954. Valiant Comics
revived the series and published the first issue of their Turok series in 1993. Video game publisher Acclaim Entertainment
bought Valiant for $65 million in 1994 and acquired developer Iguana Entertainment
for $5 million plus stock a year later, part of a strategy to develop games in-house and make money licensing characters in different entertainment media. Turok was announced in August 1994 as an exclusive title for Nintendo's planned "Ultra 64" console, eventually called the Nintendo 64
.
Development of Turok commenced in 1995. While loosely based on the comic book, Iguana made the game more action-oriented. In early discussions about the project the developers decided that the typical side-scrolling
game presentation had become tired. Iguana considered a third-person perspective similar to Super Mario 64
and Tomb Raider, but decided to make the game a first-person shooter instead. According to project manager David Dienstbier, the first-person perspective was a natural way to showcase the 3D power of the Nintendo 64. While the development team benefited from Acclaim's clout as a longtime Nintendo supporter, getting earlier feedback from the publisher and more face-to-face time during production, most of the developers at Iguana were new and inexperienced; Turok was Dienstbier's first title.
The Nintendo 64 platform had superior processing capabilities compared to most personal computers available at the time, but also came with challenges. "The [Nintendo 64] is capable of doing a lot of stuff," Dienstbier said. "If you want to handle fancy particle lighting, and transparency effects, and you want to throw around huge amounts of math [...] or geometry onscreen, it's got the processing power to do that, and yes it's a fantastic machine. However, calling it a developer's dream kinda gives you the impression that it's easy to crank out a game like Turok, and it's definitely not." While Nintendo was supportive, Iguana had to produce all its game development tools internally. Fitting the game on its 8 MB
cartridge was difficult; ultimately, Iguana had to compress everything and reduce the quality of the music to meet size requirements. Despite system constraints the developers were interested in producing the best-looking video game for the system: the game used real-time lighting effects and particle system
s for added realism. Iguana was able to use Acclaim's state-of-the-art motion capture
studio, allowing humanoid characters to move smoothly and in a convincing manner.
At the time, Acclaim Entertainment was in financial jeopardy. The company's sales suffered as it was slow to migrate from older game systems like the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System
to next-generation platforms. The company lost $222 million in the 1996 fiscal year due to sales falling to $162 million compared to $567 million the previous year; in the first quarter of fiscal 1997, the company lost a further $19 million. The company laid off 100 of its 950 workers since March 1996 and its stock had dropped from a high of $13.875 a share to as low as $3. Turok, Acclaim's first Nintendo 64 title, became the company's best hope of a turnaround, as there were only ten Nintendo 64 games on the market, and Turok was the only shooter. Alex. Brown Inc
analysts figured that selling one million copies of Turok could bring Acclaim as much as $45 million. Due to cash flow issues, much of the money planned for marketing Turok was contingent on strong sales of Magic: The Gathering: BattleMage. Endangering Turoks sales was its high price—$79.99 in the US, £70 in the UK, and $129.95 in Australia—and Entertainment Software Rating Board
's "mature" rating, which suggested lower sales as parents would not buy the game for their children.
Originally slated for a September 30, 1996 release in North America, the game was initially delayed to January 1997. Acclaim explained that the game had not reached the desired quality level; Nintendo maintained that the delay was to "add more depth to the gameplay". According to The New York Times
, the delay stemmed from computer bugs in the program. Acclaim heavily marketed Turok on the covers of video-gaming magazines and in television commercials for the Nintendo 64. Acclaim gave media outlets such as The Mirror customized Turok-branded game consoles to give away in sweepstakes. Responding to positive pre-orders and advance sales of Turok, Acclaim announced on January 2, 1997 that a sequel, tentatively titled Turok: Dinosaur Hunter 2
, would be released in late 1997. Acclaim dubbed the March 4 release date of the game "Turok Tuesday", reporting that pre-sales at Toys "R" Us had exceeded expectations. Acclaim stock increased in anticipation before the game's release, up $0.62 to $5.94.
and Game Rankings
, the console version of Turok has an 85% and 86.6% rating, respectively, each figure based on scores from thirteen contemporary and recent reviews. The PC port was less positively received.
Turok was often called a "Doom clone" for its similarity to the id Software
title. Douglass Perry of the multimedia website IGN
compared Turok favorably to Doom, saying that the title distinguished itself from other clones by allowing a level of 3D movement not possible in its predecessor. The Australian
s Steve Polak wrote that while Turok was highly derivative, the game was evidence of the evolution of the genre, offering more graphics and gameplay options. Video game magazine Edge said that Turok contradicted the prevailing notion at the time that only Nintendo could create superior games for the console. In contrast, William Burrill of The Toronto Star wrote that Turok offered nothing new if players had tried a "first-person action blaster" before, and Next Generation Magazine
said that the game its similar gameplay essentially made the game "a very pretty Duke Nukem". Steve Bauman of Computer Games Magazine
reviewed the PC version and said that while it was an excellent port, the game itself was inferior to other shooters such as Quake. Speaking to Shacknews
in 2007, Propaganda Games
's Josh Holmes said that while GoldenEye 007 is commonly considered the standard-setting console shooter, Turok pioneered the console shooter first by offering open environments and deviating from the "corridor crawler Doom [clones]" that were the standard until then.
Reviewers found that Turoks controls generally worked well. Perry noted that while many players would not initially like using the Nintendo 64's analog stick
for weapon movement, they would become adept at the control scheme. Polak wrote that the joystick let players aim with a remarkable amount of precision. George Mannes of The Daily News found the controls to be easy to learn and simple to keep track of in comparison to PC shooters, but said the joystick control could be disorienting: "the only problem is when you look up in the air and make the slightest twitch to the left or the right, you can end up like a tourist staring up at the Empire State Building and whirling like a dervish
," he wrote. Reviewers found that the game's included tutorial helped players adapt to the controls.
Critics lauded Turoks graphics; while giving the rest of the game a tepid review, Burrill rated the visuals highly. Polak said that the game proved the supremacy of the Nintendo 64's graphics in the console market. Translucent water, destructible trees and lens flares were among the graphical details praised by reviewers. The Washington Post
s Tom Ham said that "equally impressive" as the environmental detail were the "true-to-life" animations: "Blow away a baddie and he'll grab his throat, blood splatting, and then fall to the ground, still convulsing," Ham wrote. "How can you put a price on that?" The level of gore and blood in the game lead reviewers such as The Timess Tim Wapshott and The Washington Times
s Joseph Szadkowski to caution against letting children play the game. GameSpot
's Jeff Gerstmann
noted that the graphics came at a price; if more than a few enemies appeared on screen at the same time, the game's frame rate
would slow down. Gerstmann wrote that the distance fog
used to reduce the slowdown was a "neat effect" as enemies would appear out of the mist "fangs first", although it masked the console's limitations. Perry commented that the inability to look into the distance forced players to rely on the game map.
Worldwide sales of Dinosaur Hunter surpassed $60 million in late June 1997. The game also held the top spot for video game rentals for seven weeks consecutively. Acclaim re-issued the game for the 1997 holiday season due to its sales potential for the increased console player base. Turok was later named a Nintendo "Player's Choice
" title in 1998—the only third-party Nintendo 64 game to be featured at the time, and ultimately sold about 1.5 million units.
NGC Magazine
wrote that Turok changed perceptions of a Nintendo console: "On a machine from a company that had long specialised in primary colours and family fun, the last thing anyone anticipated was the kind of cutting-edge first-person shooter that was previously the sole preserve of expensive gaming PCs." Not only did Turok change this, but it established a "system-selling franchise" that persisted even after the N64 was replaced. In addition to Turok, the Turok franchise includes five other games: Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
(1998), Turok: Rage Wars
(1999), Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion
(2000), Turok: Evolution
(2002), and Turok (2008).
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
video game developed by Iguana Entertainment
Iguana Entertainment
Iguana Entertainment, renamed Acclaim Studios Austin after 1999, was a video game developer operating from 1991 to 2004 in Santa Clara, California, Sunnyvale, California, and Austin, Texas in the USA, and Teesside, England...
and published by Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
for the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
console and personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
platforms. It was released in 1997
1997 in video gaming
-Events:*October 4 — Gunpei Yokoi dies after a double car accident.*November – Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association launched.*3rd annual E3...
in North America and Europe. Turok is an adaptation of the Acclaim Comics
Valiant Comics
Valiant Comics is a comic book imprint published by various publishers since its inception with Voyager Communications, Inc. in 1989, later Acclaim Comics, Inc. Its assets were purchased from the bankruptcy of the Acclaim Entertaintment by Valiant Entertainment, Inc. in 2007.-Voyager...
comic book series of the same name
Turok
Turok is a fictional American comic book character initially in comics from Western Publishing published through licensee Dell Comics. He first appeared in Four Color Comics #596 , then graduated to his own title, Turok, Son of Stone...
. The player controls a Native American warrior, Turok, who must stop the evil Campaigner from conquering the universe with an ancient and powerful weapon.
As Acclaim's first exclusive title for the Nintendo 64, Turok was part of a strategy to develop games internally and license merchandise; Acclaim acquired the rights to Turok when it purchased Acclaim Comics (né Valiant) in 1994. Suffering from cash flow problems and falling sales, Turok became Acclaim's best hope for a financial turnaround. Iguana pushed the Nintendo 64's graphics capabilities to its limits, and were forced to compress or cut elements to fit the game on its 8 megabyte cartridge. Bugs delayed the game's release from holiday 1996 to 1997.
Critical reception of Turok was highly positive. Becoming one of the most popular games for the console on release, Turok won praise for its graphics and evolution of the genre. Complaints centered on graphical slowdowns caused by multiple enemies appearing onscreen and occasionally awkward controls. The game sold 1.5 million copies and boosted sales of the Nintendo 64. Turok spawned a video game franchise that currently includes six sequels.
Gameplay
Shooter game
Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
in which gameplay takes place from a first-person perspective
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
. The three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
and style of play combine elements of the run-and-gun computer game Doom with exploration mechanics of Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn, with MS-DOS and PlayStation versions following shortly thereafter...
. Players begin the game in a central hub level
Level (computer and video games)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
, which contains portals to seven other stages. The player must find keys scattered across the stages. When enough keys have been inserted into the lock mechanisms of a hub portal, that level is unlocked. Players explore the large, typically jungle-based levels by jumping, swimming, climbing, crawling, and running.
The player's main objective is to find pieces of a relic known as the Chronoscepter; there is one piece on each level. In exploring the levels the player must fight various enemies such as poachers, gunmen, indigenous warriors, dinosaurs, demons, and insects. Turok features 13 weapons plus the Chronoscepter, ranging from a knife and bow to high tech weaponry. All weapons except the knife require ammunition, which is dropped by dead enemies or picked up in the levels. Enemies and boss characters have multiple death animations depending on what body region the player shot. Because items dropped by fallen enemies rapidly disappear, players must engage foes from close range.
The player character's health is shown as a number at the bottom of the screen. When the player is at full health, the meter reads 100, while dropping to 0 subtracts one life. Gathering "spiritual points" scattered across the levels increases the player's life count by one for every 100 points accumulated. Players restore their health by picking up powerups
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
, which can increase their health above full. Players may also gain health points by shooting deer or non-threatening wildlife.
Plot
The player assumes control of Tal'Set (Turok), a Native American time-traveling warrior. The mantle of Turok is passed down every generation to the eldest male. Each Turok is charged with protecting the barrier between Earth and the Lost Land, a primitive world where time has no meaning. The Lost Land is inhabited by a variety of creatures, from dinosaurs to aliens. An evil overlord known as the Campaigner seeks an ancient artifact known as the Chronoscepter, a weapon so powerful that it was broken into pieces to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. The Campaigner plans on using a focusing array to magnify the Chronoscepter's power, destroying the barriers that separate the ages of time and rule the universe. Turok vows to find the Chronoscepter's eight pieces and prevent the Campaigner's schemes.Development
TurokTurok
Turok is a fictional American comic book character initially in comics from Western Publishing published through licensee Dell Comics. He first appeared in Four Color Comics #596 , then graduated to his own title, Turok, Son of Stone...
originally appeared in comics from Western Publishing
Western Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company was a Racine, Wisconsin firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Western Publishing also produced children's books and family-related entertainment products as Golden Books Family Entertainment...
and Dell Comics
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
in December 1954. Valiant Comics
Valiant Comics
Valiant Comics is a comic book imprint published by various publishers since its inception with Voyager Communications, Inc. in 1989, later Acclaim Comics, Inc. Its assets were purchased from the bankruptcy of the Acclaim Entertaintment by Valiant Entertainment, Inc. in 2007.-Voyager...
revived the series and published the first issue of their Turok series in 1993. Video game publisher Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
bought Valiant for $65 million in 1994 and acquired developer Iguana Entertainment
Iguana Entertainment
Iguana Entertainment, renamed Acclaim Studios Austin after 1999, was a video game developer operating from 1991 to 2004 in Santa Clara, California, Sunnyvale, California, and Austin, Texas in the USA, and Teesside, England...
for $5 million plus stock a year later, part of a strategy to develop games in-house and make money licensing characters in different entertainment media. Turok was announced in August 1994 as an exclusive title for Nintendo's planned "Ultra 64" console, eventually called the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
.
Development of Turok commenced in 1995. While loosely based on the comic book, Iguana made the game more action-oriented. In early discussions about the project the developers decided that the typical side-scrolling
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
game presentation had become tired. Iguana considered a third-person perspective similar to Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64
is a platform game, published by Nintendo and developed by its EAD division, for the Nintendo 64. Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the console. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, and later in North America, Europe, and Australia. Super Mario 64 has sold over...
and Tomb Raider, but decided to make the game a first-person shooter instead. According to project manager David Dienstbier, the first-person perspective was a natural way to showcase the 3D power of the Nintendo 64. While the development team benefited from Acclaim's clout as a longtime Nintendo supporter, getting earlier feedback from the publisher and more face-to-face time during production, most of the developers at Iguana were new and inexperienced; Turok was Dienstbier's first title.
The Nintendo 64 platform had superior processing capabilities compared to most personal computers available at the time, but also came with challenges. "The [Nintendo 64] is capable of doing a lot of stuff," Dienstbier said. "If you want to handle fancy particle lighting, and transparency effects, and you want to throw around huge amounts of math [...] or geometry onscreen, it's got the processing power to do that, and yes it's a fantastic machine. However, calling it a developer's dream kinda gives you the impression that it's easy to crank out a game like Turok, and it's definitely not." While Nintendo was supportive, Iguana had to produce all its game development tools internally. Fitting the game on its 8 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
cartridge was difficult; ultimately, Iguana had to compress everything and reduce the quality of the music to meet size requirements. Despite system constraints the developers were interested in producing the best-looking video game for the system: the game used real-time lighting effects and particle system
Particle system
The term particle system refers to a computer graphics technique to simulate certain fuzzy phenomena, which are otherwise very hard to reproduce with conventional rendering techniques...
s for added realism. Iguana was able to use Acclaim's state-of-the-art motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
studio, allowing humanoid characters to move smoothly and in a convincing manner.
At the time, Acclaim Entertainment was in financial jeopardy. The company's sales suffered as it was slow to migrate from older game systems like the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
to next-generation platforms. The company lost $222 million in the 1996 fiscal year due to sales falling to $162 million compared to $567 million the previous year; in the first quarter of fiscal 1997, the company lost a further $19 million. The company laid off 100 of its 950 workers since March 1996 and its stock had dropped from a high of $13.875 a share to as low as $3. Turok, Acclaim's first Nintendo 64 title, became the company's best hope of a turnaround, as there were only ten Nintendo 64 games on the market, and Turok was the only shooter. Alex. Brown Inc
Alex. Brown & Sons
Alex. Brown & Sons was the first investment bank in the United States, founded by Alexander Brown in 1800 and based in Baltimore, Maryland. The firm was acquired by Bankers Trust in 1997 to form BT Alex...
analysts figured that selling one million copies of Turok could bring Acclaim as much as $45 million. Due to cash flow issues, much of the money planned for marketing Turok was contingent on strong sales of Magic: The Gathering: BattleMage. Endangering Turoks sales was its high price—$79.99 in the US, £70 in the UK, and $129.95 in Australia—and Entertainment Software Rating Board
Entertainment Software Rating Board
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...
's "mature" rating, which suggested lower sales as parents would not buy the game for their children.
Originally slated for a September 30, 1996 release in North America, the game was initially delayed to January 1997. Acclaim explained that the game had not reached the desired quality level; Nintendo maintained that the delay was to "add more depth to the gameplay". According to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, the delay stemmed from computer bugs in the program. Acclaim heavily marketed Turok on the covers of video-gaming magazines and in television commercials for the Nintendo 64. Acclaim gave media outlets such as The Mirror customized Turok-branded game consoles to give away in sweepstakes. Responding to positive pre-orders and advance sales of Turok, Acclaim announced on January 2, 1997 that a sequel, tentatively titled Turok: Dinosaur Hunter 2
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is a first-person shooter video game originally released for the Nintendo 64 in late 1998. A port was released for Windows OS shortly afterwards, in 1999. It is the sequel to the successful Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and was followed by the 2000 entry in the series, Turok 3:...
, would be released in late 1997. Acclaim dubbed the March 4 release date of the game "Turok Tuesday", reporting that pre-sales at Toys "R" Us had exceeded expectations. Acclaim stock increased in anticipation before the game's release, up $0.62 to $5.94.
Reception and legacy
Turok was a critical and commercial success, earning rave reviews from gaming magazines and becoming the most popular title for the Nintendo 64 in the months following its release. It was judged one of the best console shooters on the platform. On the aggregate review web sites MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
, the console version of Turok has an 85% and 86.6% rating, respectively, each figure based on scores from thirteen contemporary and recent reviews. The PC port was less positively received.
Turok was often called a "Doom clone" for its similarity to the id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
title. Douglass Perry of the multimedia website IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
compared Turok favorably to Doom, saying that the title distinguished itself from other clones by allowing a level of 3D movement not possible in its predecessor. The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
s Steve Polak wrote that while Turok was highly derivative, the game was evidence of the evolution of the genre, offering more graphics and gameplay options. Video game magazine Edge said that Turok contradicted the prevailing notion at the time that only Nintendo could create superior games for the console. In contrast, William Burrill of The Toronto Star wrote that Turok offered nothing new if players had tried a "first-person action blaster" before, and Next Generation Magazine
Next Generation Magazine
Next Generation Magazine was a video game magazine that was made by Imagine Media publishing company . It was affiliated to and shared editorial with the UK's Edge magazine. Next Generation ran from January 1995 until January 2002. It was published by Jonathan Simpson-Bint and edited by Neil West...
said that the game its similar gameplay essentially made the game "a very pretty Duke Nukem". Steve Bauman of Computer Games Magazine
Computer Games Magazine
Computer Games Magazine was a computer gaming print magazine. It was formerly Computer Games Strategy Plus, and before that, Strategy Plus, which had been founded as Games International in the UK in 1988. While its initial focus was on strategy games, it covered a wide range of game genres...
reviewed the PC version and said that while it was an excellent port, the game itself was inferior to other shooters such as Quake. Speaking to Shacknews
Shacknews
Shacknews, commonly referred to as "The Shack", is a website offering news, features, editorial content, and forums relating to computer games and console games. Shacknews and its sister site, FileShack, are currently owned by GameFly...
in 2007, Propaganda Games
Propaganda Games
Propaganda Games was a video game development studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which was formed in 2005. Owned by Disney Interactive Studios, the interactive division of Buena Vista, the studio was formed by former employees of EA Canada, including Josh Holmes, Howard Donaldson,...
's Josh Holmes said that while GoldenEye 007 is commonly considered the standard-setting console shooter, Turok pioneered the console shooter first by offering open environments and deviating from the "corridor crawler Doom [clones]" that were the standard until then.
Reviewers found that Turoks controls generally worked well. Perry noted that while many players would not initially like using the Nintendo 64's analog stick
Analog stick
An analog stick, sometimes called a control stick or thumbstick, is an input device for a controller that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joystick, consisting of a protrusion from the controller; input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation...
for weapon movement, they would become adept at the control scheme. Polak wrote that the joystick let players aim with a remarkable amount of precision. George Mannes of The Daily News found the controls to be easy to learn and simple to keep track of in comparison to PC shooters, but said the joystick control could be disorienting: "the only problem is when you look up in the air and make the slightest twitch to the left or the right, you can end up like a tourist staring up at the Empire State Building and whirling like a dervish
Dervish
A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.-Etymology:The Persian word darvīsh is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian...
," he wrote. Reviewers found that the game's included tutorial helped players adapt to the controls.
Critics lauded Turoks graphics; while giving the rest of the game a tepid review, Burrill rated the visuals highly. Polak said that the game proved the supremacy of the Nintendo 64's graphics in the console market. Translucent water, destructible trees and lens flares were among the graphical details praised by reviewers. The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
s Tom Ham said that "equally impressive" as the environmental detail were the "true-to-life" animations: "Blow away a baddie and he'll grab his throat, blood splatting, and then fall to the ground, still convulsing," Ham wrote. "How can you put a price on that?" The level of gore and blood in the game lead reviewers such as The Timess Tim Wapshott and The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
s Joseph Szadkowski to caution against letting children play the game. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's Jeff Gerstmann
Jeff Gerstmann
Jeff Gerstmann is an American video game journalist and former editorial director of the gaming website GameSpot and the founder of the gaming website Giant Bomb. He began working at GameSpot in the fall of 1996, around the launch of VideoGameSpot when GameSpot separated PC and console games into...
noted that the graphics came at a price; if more than a few enemies appeared on screen at the same time, the game's frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
would slow down. Gerstmann wrote that the distance fog
Distance fog
Distance fog is a technique used in 3D computer graphics to enhance the perception of distance by simulating fog.Because many of the shapes in graphical environments are relatively simple, and complex shadows are difficult to render, many graphics engines employ a "fog" gradient so objects further...
used to reduce the slowdown was a "neat effect" as enemies would appear out of the mist "fangs first", although it masked the console's limitations. Perry commented that the inability to look into the distance forced players to rely on the game map.
Worldwide sales of Dinosaur Hunter surpassed $60 million in late June 1997. The game also held the top spot for video game rentals for seven weeks consecutively. Acclaim re-issued the game for the 1997 holiday season due to its sales potential for the increased console player base. Turok was later named a Nintendo "Player's Choice
Player's Choice
Nintendo Selects is a marketing label used by Nintendo to promote video games on Nintendo game consoles which have sold well; Nintendo Selects titles are sold at a lower price point than other games...
" title in 1998—the only third-party Nintendo 64 game to be featured at the time, and ultimately sold about 1.5 million units.
NGC Magazine
NGC Magazine
NGC Magazine was a British magazine specialising in Nintendo created consoles; which was first printed in 1997 and ran until 2006. N64 Magazine was the successor to Super Play magazine after it ended in 1996 as it retained many of the staff and the style of that publication...
wrote that Turok changed perceptions of a Nintendo console: "On a machine from a company that had long specialised in primary colours and family fun, the last thing anyone anticipated was the kind of cutting-edge first-person shooter that was previously the sole preserve of expensive gaming PCs." Not only did Turok change this, but it established a "system-selling franchise" that persisted even after the N64 was replaced. In addition to Turok, the Turok franchise includes five other games: Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is a first-person shooter video game originally released for the Nintendo 64 in late 1998. A port was released for Windows OS shortly afterwards, in 1999. It is the sequel to the successful Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and was followed by the 2000 entry in the series, Turok 3:...
(1998), Turok: Rage Wars
Turok: Rage Wars
Turok: Rage Wars is a first-person shooter video game for the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color consoles, that was released at a similar time to other major multiplayer-focused first-person titles...
(1999), Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion
Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion
Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion is a Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color video game released in August 2000. It is a sequel to Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, and is itself followed by the 2002 entry in the Turok video games series, Turok: Evolution.-Gameplay:...
(2000), Turok: Evolution
Turok: Evolution
Turok: EvoIution is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Acclaim Entertainment, released for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance in 2002. A port for Microsoft Windows was released in 2003 for the European market...
(2002), and Turok (2008).