Developed and Published By: Night Dive Studios
Date of Release: March 18, 2019
Price: $19.99
In the year 1997, the Nintendo 64 was just starting to take hold in the market, with a solid library of cartridge based games. The analog stick in the center of the controller afforded a new standard of precision control for consoles. And so the N64 was a perfect place for Acclaim to debut their new FPS title, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. The first game in the genre on the N64, it was a breakout success for it's lush (at the time) graphics, smooth analog aiming, and sprawling levels. And now 22 years after it's smashing debut, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter has been reborn a full 4 console generations later on the Nintendo Switch.
The original game on Nintendo 64 was released early in the console's life, so it lacked support for the famous Rumble Pak. However the Switch version of Turok has HD rumble support, and has everything from the expected weapon firing effects, all the way down to subtle thumping of dinosaur footsteps that increase in intensity as they get closer. Another welcome addition are the modern dual-stick controls that FPS games have been enjoying for quite some time now on consoles, a far cry from the Nintendo 64's limited, albeit revolutionary at the time single analog. This makes the various precision platforming sections much easier to handle, thanks to having precise control over your movements, as the original game relied on using digital buttons to move around.
The sprawling levels that make up the world of Turok are all connected by a central hub, and to progress between levels you need to collect the keys to open the portals that link the worlds, which can lead to a fair amount of backtracking. it's nothing that gets overly tedious, however. If I had to make one complaint though, it would be the save system, using checkpoints and savepoints. It would have been nice if the option to save anytime, anywhere had been added, but it's certainly not a dealbreaker. This port is extremely faithful to the original game, and it's clear that a lot of time and effort went into replicating the original look and feel on the KEX engine. All in all Turok for the Switch is an excellent port, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who loves retro FPS games. Here's hoping we'll see Turok 2 soon!
