Never been a huge "Damn this game has so many weapons hell yeah" guy, and that's unfortunately so much of what they're trying to sell you here. When you aren't 11 years old, it's more like cerebral BORE am I right.

Still some absolute god-tier songs in the score, of course. Also some fun level design and kineticism for the era. The basic reptoid enemies look a little generic but their many animations are obviously lovingly detailed and super memorable. In spite of the at-times mazey level design, the levels still feel enormous in scope. Importantly, like the original, the levels also have a ton of height and verticality, which is so important for conveying scale.

My ultimate take is that I wouldn't have changed anything about the level design, but I would have killed all of the objectives. They're so arbitrary and obviously phoned in to ape Goldeneye.

Coming off my first playthrough of Turok, I was surprised to find that the gunplay in Turok 2: Seeds of Evil now demands precision from the player, and it rewards them with some of the grossest blood and gore that I've seen in a game. But to facilitate the enhanced combat mechanics, levels now have a plethora of corridors and maze-like segments, ditching the wide-open jungles that dominated the first game. There's also a surprising lack of dinosaurs! It almost makes me regret asserting that Turok lacks a cohesive setting, because this sequel feels more like a run-of-the-mill boomer shooter than its predecessor, albeit with some really gnarly and unique weapons.

Turok is back bigger and (mostly) better than ever. Nightdive’s remaster is stellar as always, giving Turok 2’s uneven but admirable design a nice facelift.

I grew up playing Turok 1 on the N64 and Evolution on the Xbox (and a bit of the reboot for the 360), but haven’t ever really tried the other games. I’m pleased to report that Turok 2 is a refinement of the previous game, with a bonkers arsenal of weapons and tad more gameplay variety.

But this is still one of those games where you get lost and spend half the time backtracking. I’m usually down for a bit of a maze-like key hunt, but a few of these maps are some of the most labyrinthian messes I’ve ever played, with too few landmarks or distinctive sub-areas.

This was a problem in the first game as well, but with all its refinements I’d still give the edge to the sequel.

The remastering of this and the music is the only good things about this I can say.

I really do not get this game. It just feels worst than the first in every way. You move significantly slower. Enemies felt super spongy to the point it wasn't fun shooting, it got to the point where I was just running past enemies ignoring them. The first level was like 50 minutes long, that is not good.
I absolutely loved have blistering fast I could speed through levels shooting enemies in Turok 1, this moves to a fucking snails pace. PLUS they add objectives you have to do. I didn't miss any in the first level but I can just picture myself missing one of them then being lost forever and getting pissed.

After hearing about how good Turok 2 in comparison to the first game, I finally decided to probably play through it after so many years of never playing past the first level.

Turok 2, ironically, helped me appreciate how enjoyable the original Turok is. Turok 2 is mired in backtracking, so, so much of it. And the absolute worst of 90's mazelike level design. (Good like getting past level 4 without a guide...) That being said, there is clear ambition here and I can definitely appreciate how complex this game is for the time it came out, and on the N64 to boot! I will also say needing to 100% a level simply to progress is honestly one of the worst design choices. Playing it now, though? In 2024? It's heavily outdated and there are certainly much better games.

Overall I enjoyed my time with Turok 2, and i'm glad I played it. Will I ever replay it? Doubtful. I'd much rather replay the original Turok.

Well, I beat Turok 2...again. This recent playthrough sort of stripped a bit of the nostalgic veneer from what I've always considered one of my favorite games. Playing this immediately after Turok: Dinosaur Hunter revealed more flaws than I'd remember, but I will say I still think this is a fantastic game.

Now, I finally decided to replay these to get all the achievements. Doing so in the first game was breezy and pleasant, but it was far from that for Turok 2 which requires a completion on "Hardcore Mode." What I will say about this mode is I simply don't recommend it. It turns this game into a serious slowburn. Where before I'd sprint through corridors with the trusty and beautiful double barrel, blasting dinozoid limbs off care-free, I now had to be extra cautious. One minor step around the wrong corner could mean nearly instant death. Enemy fire locked on, some even hitscan and unavoidable, would pelt me from across the map. Each round doing upwards of a quarter of my health or more. It just wasn't fun and boss fights became incredibly tedious. Then there's the way you have to backtrack if you miss even one objective. It can become maddening when you can't find that last little thing to carry on, going through the entire level 3 times before finding it. It's not great, and is often straight up unfair.

What I love so much about Turok 2 is it's atmosphere. Each level with it's own theme, dour midi chords carrying you through. Really impeccable sound design here. Each enemy with it's own death throes and warning roars. The way the mantid soldiers screech as when a leg is blown off or the gurgling of a raptoid whose chest was just blown off. You really feel in it. This is all further elevated by the dreamlike level design. You'll be in places that were perhaps inhabited, but you wonder how anyone could traverse the impossible architecture. Of course the levels were simply created for Joshua Fireseed to run-and-gun through, but their impossibility gives a unique vibe.

In the end, Turok 2 is inextricable from my years with it and how it formed my tastes. I can look on it more critically now than ever, especially after my slightly enjoyable Hardcore run which succeeded in showing me every flaw the game has. It's far from perfect and in some cases is a complete mess, but I love every minute I exist in it.

Despite my terrible sense of direction with navigating these levels I certainly enjoyed my time with this sequel. Pretty much improving on everything that the first game did with better feeling gunplay and honestly couldn’t believe how many weapons they jam packed in here with unique abilities like the cerebral bore which was one of my favorites to use. The ability to warp to certain areas and replenish health and ammo was a great add with improved sound design and great music. AGHHH THE SHADOWS OF OBLIVION!!! BLAAGHHHHH!!!!

Turok 2 Seeds of Evil both improves from the first while also failing in certain aspects that the first game did better.

Graphically the game is great, the new weapons you get are fun as hell. There’s actually a story this time, each level having a bit of history from Adon and having mission objectives and not just finding keys. Each level also has enemies that are in certain levels only, giving each a distinct feel and tone. The many death animations are funny to watch as well. There is even a fast travel system with a warp portal, allowing you to get to certain parts of levels to help get to hidden keys quicker. These warp portals allow Adon to give you full health & ammo if you need it.

Where the game falls short is in some mechanical aspects. Turok moves slower here meaning you’ll be taking more time to finish levels. Said levels, while fun to play, are also unnecessarily long in some parts. That and while most of the weapons are cool, some could’ve been cut. The tranquilizer gun is useless, even more so once you get the Dart Charger which does the same thing but faster. The starting weapons and talon should’ve been replaced once you get the better versions of them. And the flare gun has no purpose.

However, the game overall is just as great as the first. Each have their own ups and downs that constantly makes me go back and forth on which is better. Definitely a great shooter.

I fucking love the look of Turok 2 a lot. The entire concept of the Lost Lands is just sick as hell. The game is very nostalgic. It was perfect for the sleepover multiplayer rotation with GoldenEye and Mario Party.

Each level is uniquely themed with its own unique sets of enemies, the amount of guns that all feel pretty distinct, the music that sets a perfect mood for each stage, the combat shines in a way not quite Quake and not quite the standard console shooter. A fascinating middle ground of old school mixed with newer ideas. There's a lot to love about Turok 2 over the first game.

However, the first game's simplicity is maybe it's bigger edge over the 2nd game in terms of age.

Turok 2 is just way WAY too huge. Level design can get absurdly confusing and almost frustrating when hunting down even just the core objectives for each stage. Some levels are more friendly than others but there's no consistency. The absolute best levels of this game are the first one and the last one. Even with a strategy guide you're guaranteed to get lost. It's like they dropped a plate of spaghetti on the ground and were like "that's a great idea for a level right there!"

That level design is primarily what holds back Turok 2 from being one of the unquestionable greats and it is easily why I don't know anyone who has actually beaten this game.

Everything else is there: the aesthetic, the music, the guns, the enemies. They just got way too ambitious and dropped their spaghetti

As for the remaster, eh it's OK. Not Night Dive's best. I dunno if the PC version fairs better here, but the switch port is pretty glitchy. Lot of small visual glitches but tons of audio glitches. However the remaster is easily the most accessible version of the game with some nice additions like the ledge grab. I didn't care much for the added visual effects. The game looked better with most of them turned off.

I really liked Turok 1, both on the N64 and the remaster, but I never had a chance to play Turok 2 on the N64. Turns out I dodged a bullet.

The game is clearly ambitious in wanting to expand the scope of the first game but it manages to do so in all the worst ways possible. It's a litany of baffling design choices.

For example, they added objectives to the levels. These are mandatory, but often hidden away. If you don't complete them, entering the portal to the energy totem will simply warp you back to the start of the level with a 'Mission Failed'. Other FPS games reward you for exploration with secrets, power-ups, new weapons (and, to be fair, Turok 2 does have secrets too), but Turok 2 tells you you didn't explore hard enough, so try again. It feels punishing, and it's the antithesis of fun.

I feel like the objective system was part of an attempt to inject some overt narrative into the game, like with the Star Wars reject lady who guides you throughout the game. It doesn't really work though. Turok 1 wasn't a game I played because I was deep into the lore. I just wanted to kill dinosaurs.

It doesn't help that the levels themselves are huge, often monotonous, and rely on the same gimmicks over and over and over again. Already by the end of the first level I was sick of hunting a switch to unlock a route to another switch to unlock a route to another switch to actually progress through the level. The levels outstay their welcome and I can only think that they thought bigger would automatically be better. It isn't. Turok 1's levels are far more interesting and enjoyable.

There's a varied selection of weaponry and half of them are ass. For every Cerebral Bore there's a Tranq Rifle. The game really loves its locational damage system too, to the point where even the good guns can feel totally ineffective if you're not headshotting enemies, leading to a lot of frustrating inconsistency. I shudder to think how people dealt with this with an N64 controller, KB/M was bad enough.

Turok 2 could be enjoyable, in parts, but its highs are nowhere near high enough to justify its lows. It's a prime example of taking a solid formula and warping it into something completely inferior to the original. After getting increasingly bored while playing Hive of the Mantids, I just realised any fun had long since stopped, and that's when I did too.

Nice music though, I'll give it that.