Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion (Nintendo 64)

CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
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Overall score: 7.9 (3.5 stars)
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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Shane Satterfield
• Reviewed on: 08/30/2000
• Released on: 08/30/2000

It's been almost five years since the original Turok: Dinosaur Hunter hit the streets with its fog-filled, dank environments crawling with dinos. While the game isn't revered in the same way it once was, the excitement the original Turok provides was hard to beat back in '96. The second Turok, Seeds of Evil, was the first Nintendo 64 game to use the Expansion Pak for high resolution gameplay, but the fact that save points could take up to three hours to reach ensured that only the most hard-core game player would ever finish the game. Turok: Rage Wars was Acclaim's attempt at a deathmatch-exclusive title in the vein of Quake III Arena that, unfortunately, fell upon deaf ears with consumers despite its ambitious design. For Acclaim's fourth and final foray into the Turok universe on the Nintendo 64, they decided they would attempt to combine all the things players liked about the first three into one cohesive shooting experience. In many ways, the company has accomplished just that, and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion is a fitting way to finish off the Nintendo 64 franchise in style.

Shadow of Oblivion picks up where Turok 2 left off. The game begins with a six-minute real-time cutscene, in which John Fireseed (the current holder of the Turok title) has a nightmare that ends in his death. When he awakens, he finds that his nightmare was actually a premonition, as minions of the creature known as Oblivion are already infiltrating his abode. While he attempts to fend off his attackers, he instructs his sister Danielle and his brother Joseph to flee and protect the "light burden" that lies within both of them. As the two siblings leave Josh behind to die, they are attacked by one of Oblivion's demonic slaves and rescued by Adon of Turok 2 fame. The two then take up the Turok mantle to protect the light burden and destroy Oblivion.

From here, you must choose between playing as either Danielle or Joseph, who both possess their own unique abilities. As Danielle, you may carry more high-powered weapons, jump higher, and use a grappling hook to reach out-of-the-way places. As Joseph, you may crawl into crevices that Danielle can not fit into and use the sniper rifle in conjunction with the night vision goggles for some serious stealth action. The level design is nearly identical for each character, with small sections thrown in here or there that allow them to showcase their respective talents. This system works well, as playing as the other character allows you to discover areas that were previously inaccessible while still keeping the same overlying theme of each level.

It seems as if Acclaim has taken a great deal of the criticism leveled at previous Turok games to heart. Many of the issues from Turok 2 have been either improved upon or eliminated altogether. For starters, you may now save anywhere, which is a big improvement, to be sure. Turok 2 is a quality game, but playing for much longer than you want to in order to save your game is ridiculous. Not only can you save anytime in Turok 3, but specific areas trigger midlevel checkpoints that you return to upon death. This helps greatly in keeping the backtracking to a minimum, and it also aids in avoiding that lost feeling you get when a gameworld is just too big. Similar to Half-Life, Turok 3 is broken up into dozens of small titled chapters that help you remember if you have been to a particular area already or recognize that you're just finding a new way to enter an old area. Finally, a Turok game is something you can pick up and play for short periods of time and actually make some headway. The pacing in Shadow of Oblivion is what makes it so hard to stop playing. Wandering around areas with no enemies is a rarity, and the way to go is often fairly obvious but hidden enough to require some intuition. Just about the time you start to wonder if something exciting is about to happen, it does.

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