The "Turok" series

WARNING: Videos are about games that contain Blood and Gore. Click the spoilers on your own risk!!!


This is a game series that I really liked, the "Turok" series.
A series of FPS-games, made by the now-deceased ACCLAIM!


The games series is based on a Comic series from the 60s.
About "Turok", a warrior from a parallel world called "The Lost Land", where humans, Demons, Dinosaurs and Aliens live.
It is the duty of Turok to protect the barrier between "Earth" and "The Lost Land" and prevent the beings from the Lost Land to get to Earth.

But in the games (and the comics that followed them) "Turok" is more of a hero-title, that is passed on over generations.
As such, the protagonist of the games is a different one from one game to the next.


Now let me show you the games:
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

The first game of the series. Which was made for the "Nintendo 64" and "PC".
Protagonist of the game is the native american "Tal'Set", who is the Turok of this game.
The villain is "The Campaigner", who plots to reassemble the Chronoscepter and use it to destroy the barrier between Earth and the Lost Land.
So Turok seeks to reassemble the Chronoscepter and stop the Campaigners schemes.

The most notable thing about this game, is that there is NO STORYTELLING in it.
One of the games, where the storytelling is in the game manual only and the game itself doesn't have any.
In fact, except for a short ending, it even has no cutscenes at all.


As for the gameplay, it is a First-Person Shooter with a unique control layout, which is just awesome IMO.
It also offers a variety of weapons, from weapons we all know to exotic weapons like Alien Weapons and Nukes.

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Unfortunately, this game was heavily censored in Europe, where the blood and gore was removed AND the human-enemies were replaced with androids.
Which was just absurd, but okay...



The next game is the series is Turok 2: Seeds of Evil.
The Protagonist is "Joshua Fireseed", who has become the new Turok.
And the villain is an alien-creature called "The Primagen", who was imprisoned in the wreckage of his spaceship, with the power of the Five Energy Totems.
He was awakened, when the Chronoscepter was destroyed in the previous game. And now he mobilized an array of races, in order to destroy those totems.
So Turok has to protect those Energy Totems and defeat the Primagen once and for all.

The game has the same engine, but still has a lot of improvements.
The graphics and such have received an update. New weapons were also introduced.
Including the most sadistic and satisfying weapons in video game history IMO: The CEREBRAL BORE!

Also new was the inclusion of Mission Objectives, that the player has to clear.
If he doesn't and reaches the end of the level, he is teleported back to the beginning of the level and it forced to play it all over again.

The levels were also MUCH longer and bigger than in the previous game.

The game also featured real cutscenes now, but still were very vague.
It had an Intro, a short, vague ending and intro-cutscenes for each of the levels, telling their backstory and what Turok must do there.

Video:

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Weapon Demo:

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Throughout the game, another entity called "Oblivion" is mentioned and its legions of Flesh Eaters are already in the game as enemies.
Foreshadowing the events of the next game...


Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion
In this game "Oblivion" and his Flesh Eater legions return as main villains.
At the beginning, Joshua Fireseed is ambushed by Flesh Eaters at his home.
He fights them off for a time, but is eventually fatally wounded, when he is briefly distracted by Danielle and Joseph, his sister and brother.
While they escape, he blows himself up using a bomb, killing him along with the Flesh Eaters.
On their escape, they are ambushed by a monster, but saved by Adon (who also appeared in the previous game as Joshua's advisor).
She takes them to a council meeting and it is decided that either Danielle or Joseph must become the next Turok, in order to destroy Oblivion.
The player gets the choose...


Gameplay-wise, the two characters have their own characteristics.
Danielle depends more on sheer firepower and has a Grappling Hook as special item, while Joseph is more of a stealth-type and has Night Vision Googles as his special item.

Each character also has his/her own unique weapons, that they collect later.

The biggest change is that the areas no longer seem enclosed and the teleporters are gone.
Which I find very good. Even though, the game-flow is briefly interrupted, whenever a new area is accessed.

The game also has much more storytelling this time, featured a lot more cutscenes.

Video:

Spoiler:

Unfortunately, there is one thing about the game that is really sad. I will cover that later.


The last game of the main series was Turok: Evolution.
Which is a PREQUEL, where once again "Tal'Set" is the main character and explains how he ended up in the Lost Land and how he became Turok.
Tal'Set was on Earth initially, when his tribe was slaughtered by the sadistic warlord "Captain Bruckner".
He surprised Bruckner and cut off his arm, but both are sucked in a worm hole with brought them to the Lost Land.
Tal'Set was nearly killed himself, but was found by villagers, who cured him with the help of the seer Tarkeen.
He is later sent to visit that seer at his home in the mountains and eventually is entangled in a war between humans and humanoid lizard-like enemies, called "Sleg" led by the evil "Lord Tyrannus".
It is later revealed that "Captain Bruckner" is still alive and has become a general of Tyrannus's Sleg troops.
So Tal'Set must fight in the war on the side of the humans and settle things with his old adversary once and for all.


The game was release for Gamecube, XBox, Playstation 2 and PC.
Unfortunately, it had a lot of bugs and it didn't exactly have the most pleasant graphics either.
IMO the weakest entry of Acclaim's Turok series.

It introduced flight-parts on the back is a Petrodactylus. But they were more frustrating than fun.
Due to the bugs and the fact that if you even touch anything, you instantly die... :/

Also, I find it a little frustrating that "Tyrannus" is left completely untouched and is still alive at the end.
I expected a boss battle against him and killing him off, but instead he just appears in some cutscenes, mours his loss at the end and that's it.
Seriously...

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Spoiler:

There were also spin-offs for Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, as well as the spin-off Turok: Rage Wars a multiplayer-based game with no story at all.


There also was "Turok" game released for PS3 and XBox 360.
But apart from the name and the fact that Dinosaurs were in it, it had NOTHING in common with Acclaim's games.
And it was so horrible... Ugh...


The sad thing about the series is that Turok 3 ended in a CLIFFHANGER!
And now, due to Acclaim's demise, hangs there to never be resolved.

Plus, since Turok Evolution was a rather bad entry, it also was an unpleasant good bye.
Too bad, since the N64-Trilogy was IMO the BEST shooter-series ever, rivaling even "Metroid Prime"!

If only the cliffhanger could be resolved and the series brought to a pleasant end.
But I guess it was not to be... So sad...


But either way, it is a great series of games.

Holy cow, aliens vs native Americans can work! (Prey, I'm looking right at you.)

I'm honestly already impressed with this trilogy; I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even know these games existed when I was a kid. HALO CE probably wouldn't have been half as fun back in 2001 had I been exposed to this so much sooner. XD It always surprises me how many deep, competent shooters there are predating more modern ones, and this is one of them. If I ever come across any Turok carts in fleamarkets, I certainly won't pass them up!

It's pretty sad Acclaim dissolved. I actually didn't know they weren't around anymore. Otherwise I'm sure these games would have gotten the ports and Virtual Console titles they deserved, not just a resolution to the end of the trilogy. Might even explain why I've still heard nothing about Turok up until recently. I did read about it on Racketboy.com, I think, (Same place I first heard about Shantae.) but was feeling iffy about the use of dinosaurs. As much as I love dinosaurs, they're rarely handled properly in games, but I could be dead wrong about the Turok universe; I'm feeling bad that I didn't look more into it now.

So yeah, considering me very much interested in this. XD

Yeah. I really would've liked the cliffhanger from the Turok 3 ending to be resolved.
But what can you do?

It is an awesome series and unique too.
I can see why the Dinosaurs put you off. But don't be too scared, it's a solid plot.


Thanks for the comment.

I haven't played Turok as much as I'd like to, Quake was my 3D shooter of choice at the time. I remember playing South Park 64, which was based on the Turok engine. Not the best game, but good for a laugh if you try not to take it too serious. Also rented Turok Evolution. Fairly solid from what I recall, but those loading times can really endanger one's patience.

Turok, Heretic, Hexen... I'd like to try all of them sometime, as I've always had a soft spot for classic shooters. One that's soft enough to bore right through, mwahahaha!