LogFAQs > #973242907

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (Steam)

This one's been a long time coming. I loved Turok 2 on N64 but I sure as hell could not figure it out. Even with cheats to give myself the best weapons early, infinite ammo, and level select, I don't think I ever beat a single level, or even managed to make much progress. Finally, 20+ years older and with bunch of features like hints, maps, and quick saves (I forget how many of these were in N64 version -- I know the hints weren't) I've beaten it. I saw someone post on the Steam forums about how some of the changes made it feel like easy mode, but that they took that as a sign to finally just beat the damn game and put it behind them. I think I concur.

I ended up feeling pretty conflicted on it in a lot of ways. It's actually way more linear than I remembered. The levels are certainly confusing but mostly because it's easy to miss things and get turned around, not because you have a bunch of options of where to go. And while I wouldn't call the game super easy it's not nearly as tough as I remember. My memory is that the Sisters of Despair minibosses, for instance, felt virtually impossible to kill. But they actually go down in 3 shotgun shots. Regular enemies sometimes take more than that!

I'm also conflicted on if I like this game or not. The levels are really cool and atmospheric and also poorly designed and very repetitive. The guns are extremely fun and unique and half of them are useless (pistol, shotgun, and plasma rifle were my go-tos for the nearly the entire game, until the pistol fell off in Hive of the Mantids and I started using the Cerebral Bore instead). There's a little bit of Metroidvania-ness where you get permanent upgrades and have to revisit previous levels (I've always considered Turok 2 to be very Metroid Prime-adjacent, or maybe vice versa -- they both even have a late-game key hunt) but the upgrades you get are pretty unimpressive.

As I was wrapping up the game's final level, it occurred to me what game it had been reminding me of all through this current playthrough: Halo 1. The cool but tedious and repetitive levels, the cool but oft-useless guns, the general lack of polish, the pistol that OHKs almost everything. I definitely like it more than Halo 1 though, not to mention Turok 1! But I don't think I'll be coming back to it.

Slaughter by the River of Souls > Port of Adia > Primagen's Lightship > Lair of the Blind Ones > Death Marshes > Hive of the Mantids