The year was 1997. First person shooters were slowly proving their dominance as they took over the PC gaming scene. However consoles were often considered a poor platform for the genre, as they were generally underpowered compared to PCs, and the control options were definitely ill-suited for the gameplay. That all changed with the Nintendo 64 and its bizarrely shaped analog controller. The first successful FPS game on console would be Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, made by Iguana Entertainment and licensed from the Valiant comic book series Turok: Son of Stone. The N64 had the hardware OOMPH to render the lush 3D worlds of Turok, and proper analog control to boot. Turok walked on the N64 so that Goldeneye and further titles could run, and pave the way for modern console FPS titles for years to come. Turok soon had its first sequel in 1998’s Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, which also did quite well.
However that brings us to the current topic, Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion. Turok 3 directly continues the series story, following the Fireseed family’s quest to protect the world from evil. Released close to the end of the N64s life in the year 2000, Turok 3 was by far the most advanced in the original N64 incarnation of the series, with a gameplay and storytelling structure almost reminiscent of PC FPS classics such as Half-Life. It absolutely pushed the system's hardware to its limits, and was certainly a high note for the series to end on. Until this day however it’s never seen a re-release, but that has changed with Nightdive Studio’s Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered.
Released on the PC and all major consoles, they've taken Turok 3 in all it's glory and done their usual refinements such as improved visuals and controls, and they've also restored a shedload of cut content as well. All the usual care that Nightdive puts into their remasters is on full display here, and they've brought Shadow of Oblivion fully into the year 2023. With the reworked cutscenes, remastered soundtrack, and general improvement on the environment design with all the little details and greebles they've added, not to mention going back to the source on the textures for a full rebuild, it really makes Turok 3 feel brand new again. The Switch version as well has some amazing gyro controls, and makes that version quite fun to play.
The only thing really missing from this remaster is the multiplayer from the original game, which is certainly a sad omission to see. However it's certainly understandable considering how much time it would have taken to get everything working. The sheer amount of work they put into the campaign makes the package well worth it IMO. It's nice to have closure to the trilogy, and to be able to play them all on the go with the Switch now is a great experience. I would definitely recommend this remaster to all Turok fans new and old. Here's hoping they decide to follow this one up with a remaster of Turok Rage Wars!
