Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered Review

Over the past decade, Nightdive Studios have become synonymous with remasters, and for good reason. They've developed a reputation for taking beloved classics and striking a perfect balance between technical updates and faithfulness to original design. Remastering games is an art form, and Nightdive Studios are the Caravaggio of their trade.

Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion is an interesting case, both from a personal perspective and from the broader perspective of Nightdive's catalogue and remasters in general. From a broader perspective, Turok 3 is a strange choice for a remaster. Of the original Nintendo 64 trilogy, Turok 3 was the most poorly received, and I suspect that it received the remaster treatment so that it wasn't the only title from the original trilogy that missed out.

From a personal perspective, Turok 3 is interesting because I have never played it. My only experience with Turok was the original Turok: Dinosaur Hunter on the Nintendo 64 (a game I immensely enjoyed), but during the late 1990s, I was primarily engaged with other PC-based shooters of the era - Half-Life, Unreal, Sin, and Quake.

Background

Of the original Nintendo 64 trilogy, Turok 3 was the most poorly received, and I suspect that it received the remaster treatment so that it wasn't the only title from the original trilogy that missed out.

It would be remiss of me to dive into Turok 3 without learning some background, so before diving into this one, I took a bit of time to refresh myself on the plot of the series. The story of the original Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was threadbare at best, and I get the impression that it was an afterthought for a developer who simply wanted to see a Native American warrior battling dinosaurs with modern weapons. The warrior in question was Tal'Set, whose actions in the first game against the Campaigner awaken Primagen, the villain whom the new protagonist of Turok 2, Joshua Fireseed, must defeat. Throughout Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, it becomes apparent that there is an even greater threat lurking in the shadows, and though Primagen is defeated, strife soon returns to the world. This sets up the opening cutscenes of Turok 3, where we witness Joshua Fireseed being killed by the forces of Oblivion. The mantle of "Turok" now falls to his siblings, Danielle and Joseph.

It's not exactly riveting stuff, but truly engaging story-telling in first-person shooters was still in its infancy at that time. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was released in 1997 when FPS plots didn't get much more complex than what Quake brought to the table. By the time Turok 2 was released in 1998, narrative shooters were exploding on PC - Unreal, SiN, and of course the mighty Half-Life. Turok 3 was released in 2000, and it is abundantly clear that, despite the extremely limited hardware of the aging Nintendo 64, Acclaim did its best to adopt the new standard of FPS story-telling.

How the Remaster Looks

With consideration given to its origins, Turok 3 Remastered looks great. Side-by-side comparison of the original and remaster shows that Nightdive has once again nailed the difficult task of modernising a game without betraying the aesthetic that defines it. I played the remaster for a while first before looking at clips of the original Nintendo 64 release, and couldn't quite believe that this game was ever able to run on the N64's extremely limited hardware (by 2000 standards). Looking back at clips of the original, I can see why - the original release suffered from incredibly poor framerates at times, as well as that iconic Turok fog limiting the field of view. Turok 3 Remastered is buttery smooth by comparison.

It's not all good, however. Nightdive has updated textures with higher resolutions across the board, and it leads to some jarring contrasts in detail. One of the most notable examples of this is early in the game's first level, with a high-resolution texture of a window looking oddly out of place alongside the blocky level geometry. It's not going to bother everyone, but I would have liked the option to turn off these high-detail textures for a more authentic classic feel.

By the time Turok 2 was released in 1998, narrative shooters were exploding on PC - Unreal, SiN, and of course the mighty Half-Life.

One area that Nightdive has truly excelled at is the use of shadows and lighting. Characters cast shadows based on the location of nearby light sources, and the silhouettes dancing across the walls amid flashes of gunfire give firefights a real cinematic quality. There were also more than a few moments where I almost jumped out of my seat as a long shadow revealed a monster approaching from behind.

Turok 3 features some very subtle motion blurring, but don't let that turn you off. I personally dislike motion blurring in games, usually finding it far too excessively implemented. Turok 3 is an exception, as while the motion blur is there, I barely noticed it until I was reviewing my screenshots. Other developers take note - this is how you do motion blur.

Overall, despite some aesthetic clashes that arise from the texture work, Turok 3 Remastered looks great, without compromising the sense that you're playing a classic late '90s shooter. I was broadly satisfied with the application of modern rendering technologies here, and I can imagine that fans of the original will appreciate the delicate approach that Nightdive has taken, as well as the vastly improved framerate.

Overall, despite some aesthetic clashes that arise from the texture work, Turok 3 Remastered looks great, without compromising the sense that you're playing a classic late 90s shooter.

How the Remaster Feels

Something that I loved about Turok on the Nintendo 64 was how the game felt to play. Many shooters at the time felt like you were simply a camera with a gun gliding through levels. Occasionally developers would implement a degree of weapon sway to give the illusion of walking. Turok, on the other hand, really committed to those minor details, with slightly more accentuated camera sway. The player character also has a small amount of inertia, and when climbing ladders or vines, the movement rate is staggered to give the feel of climbing.

It might not seem like a big deal, but once you've played a game that gets these details right, it sticks with you. Turok 3 Remastered maintains that feel of movement that I remember the series for, and it's highly satisfying to play.

This tangibility of experience is carried to the weapons as well - animations and sound effects are perfectly executed to give each weapon a memorable feel, and the Firestorm Cannon in particular delivers a very satisfying, meaty punch. The weapon handling is complemented by the Turok series' infamous gore, and the satisfying boom of your shotgun will more often than not result in fountains of blood and dismemberment.

It might not seem like a big deal, but once you've played a game that gets these details right, it sticks with you. Turok 3 Remastered maintains that feel of movement that I remember the series for, and it's highly satisfying to play.

Game Design

I couldn't help but notice the influence of Turok 3's contemporaries on its design. Compared with the Lost Lands setting of the first game, Turok 3 has a lot of sci-fi and industrial tunnels reminiscent of games like Half-Life. Level design is mostly linear, but with multiple paths and some backtracking giving the illusion of open level design. The backtracking and focus on "hub" areas reminded me a lot of Quake 2 (another game Nightdive has recently remastered). The expansiveness of the levels, even when broken up by seamless level transitions, makes it even more impressive that Acclaim was able to achieve this sort of thing on the Nintendo 64.

Unfortunately, while Turok 3 gets a lot of things right, there are two main areas where it fails to deliver. First, Nightdive has chosen to remove multiplayer from the game entirely. I can understand why - Turok 3 was one of the Nintendo 64's dying gasps, and I can imagine that the performance limitations of the console were a barrier to enjoying split-screen deathmatch. However, the remaster isn't constrained by those limitations, and I feel like this is one area where Nightdive could have really given the game a breath of fresh air, perhaps with some new game modes or expanded player limits.

The lack of multiplayer only accentuates the game's other major flaw - the length. Turok 3 is incredibly short - seriously, you'll be able to blitz through the entire game in one afternoon. Even though the two main characters offer some different paths through the game and different mechanics, you'll still be able to complete the game twice (once with each character) in about six or seven hours. Admittedly, this isn't Nightdive's fault - rather, it is a limitation of the original game. However, I would really have liked to see Nightdive take some liberties here with new game modes or perhaps some additional levels (optional ones, so as not to offend the purists). Given the price tag for this new-release game, it's hard to claim you're getting good value for money.

The lack of multiplayer only accentuates the game's other major flaw - the length. Turok 3 is incredibly short - seriously, you'll be able to blitz through the entire game in one afternoon.

Verdict

As a Turok 3 newcomer with fairly low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun I had. Turok 3 might have been the lowest-scoring game in the original trilogy, but I feel that if Acclaim had better hardware to work with, they could have produced something spectacular back in 2000. The game feels wonderful to play, but, unfortunately, there's not much on offer for the current price tag. Beyond challenging yourself on the higher difficulty levels, there's little in the way of replayability, nor is there any multiplayer to increase the enjoyment of what is an otherwise excellent game to play.

If you're a die-hard Turok fan, then I suspect you're already looking to pick this up, and in that respect, Nightdive has done a great job in wrapping up their remasters of a classic Nintendo 64 FPS trilogy. But if you're sitting on the fence, I'd hold off for a bit. Turok 3 Remastered is definitely worth playing, but you're better off waiting for a bundle deal so you can pick up the full trilogy in one go.