Turok makes a return, and in this one Iguana seemed to have listened to some complaints of the first one and paid some attention to GoldenEye. Some of these changes work and some don’t. Once again, I’m playing the wonderful remaster from Nightdrive.

The first Turok feels like a first person collect-a-thon platformer. Even through controlling yourself mid-air feels a lot more precise, there are very few platforming segments in the game. The keys that were hidden in tiny nooks and crannies are now mostly on the main path of the level.

The level design is also very different. The first felt much more open, while this feels like a series of overly long corridors, with a few confusing mazes here and there. Large chunks of the level also seem to repeat a lot and every level grows tiresome long before you get to the end of it. Turok 2 really needed shorter levels, but more of them.

The levels do feel far more distinct than the first game, each having their own look and style. They just seem to have been made incredibly long just to pad out the game.

To counter the levels feeling like corridors, you also have objectives (such as rescuing some immensely scary children), which go too far in the other direction. If you reach the end of the level without completing these objectives, you’ll be told you’ve failed and be sent back to the start. Thankfully, your progress is kept.

The first level purposefully sets you up to fail. There are three distress beacons you need to power up with fuel cells. The first will be one of the first things you find in the game, but with no power cell. You’ll find the three power cells you need near the end of the level, right next to the other beacons. Other objectives are also extremely well hidden – more so than the majority of secrets in the game. This would be fine in smaller levels, but incredibly tedious in these levels, especially the ones that are a nightmare to navigate backwards in.

One thing Turok 2 has improved upon is the weapons. They were great in the first game, and even better here. Many are fun to use, including a powerful shotgun that shoots bouncing bullets, and one of the final ones in the game is famous for the spectacle it creates: it homes in on brains and drills into them, causing massive amount of blood. It only works on enemies that have some intelligence, though.

The guns do alleviate the tedium of the levels somewhat, with really good enemy variety throughout the levels – although I wish we had some more dinosaurs. Another notable thing in this game is the lack of human enemies.

Turok 2 is a lot of fun to play, but each level gets dull long before it finishes. There’s even a segment where you get to ride a dinosaur with massive guns and it’s great fun for a bit, but you’re just waiting for it to end half way through. It pads things out a bit too much.

Fun

Nope, the truth is, Turok 2 is exceptional. It’s not just a sequel. It’s a whole new game. We would imagine Iguana have used the basic engine from the first game though, to be honest, they could easily have not. It’s that different and that much better. All the problems of the original have been ironed out meaning it’s certainly not just a lazy sequel – it’s not Tomb Raider 2.

Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #21. Review Score: 95%

Remake or remaster?

The Nightdive remaster is a wonderful version of the game.

Official ways to get the game.

The faithful remaster of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is available on GOG, Steam, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation