History Videogame / Turok

The first Turok video game, titled ''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'', was released in 1997 for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} console. It followed Tal'Set Tan'Celle'Nyo, the eldest male in his family chosen to become Turok: [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse The protector of the boundary between this dimension and the others]], a series of parallel universes held together by "[[AnotherDimension The Lost Lands]]," a world where "[[PlaceBeyondTime Time Has No Meaning]]." In other words, a place where things like [[MechaMooks robots]], [[{{Cyborg}} cyborgs]] and [[TheGreys ali]][[InsectoidAliens ens]] from the distant future, [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons from the darkest pits of Hell]], and [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Dinosaurs from primeval jungles]] ran rampant, and where various people from different dimensions were at war for its control. The job of the current Turok was to keep balance in this world and close the portals to the other dimensions that were bound to The Lost Lands. ([[RuleOfCool This was also a good excuse]] to give a Native American warrior things like Nuclear Fission Cannons and Radioactive {{Death Ray}}s.)

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The main storyline has to do with the job of an ancient warrior trying to keep [[TheMultiverse The Omniverse]] from collapsing; using his ancient wisdom to survive in a dark, alien land. They could just have easily have come up with some pretty strange creatures for the Lost Lands, but Bio-mechanical Dinosaurs were [[TheArtifact apparently]] better fitting.

* StockDinosaurs: ''Procompsognathus'', ''Triceratops'', ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', ''Velociraptor''... There are some surprisingly obscure ones on occasion, though, like ''Turok 2'' making use of a ''Styracosaurus''.

* BloodierAndGorier: The first game had plenty of bloodshed, but the sequels take things UpToEleven with HighPressureBlood and LudicrousGibs! Even a simple pistol can [[YourHeadAsplode cause enemies' heads to burst like paint-filled balloons]]!

* BottomlessPits: [[UpToEleven Absurdly common]] in the earlier games. The first game's 3rd level ended with a series of jumps on pillars over a giant pit to get to the boss, the beginning of the 6th level required some awkward jumping down ledges, and the 7th level has a lot of jumps on platforms and rocks over an endless expanse; one false move and Turok is dead.

In 2019, 11 years after the release of the 2008 reboot, Pillow Pig Games and Universal Studios Interactive announced ''Turok: Escape from Lost Valley'', a 2D isometric action game with a cutesy, super deformed art style. It released on July 25, 2019 [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078560/Turok_Escape_from_Lost_Valley/ on Steam.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3ltpqzLFLk The trailer can be seen here.]]

** Penultimate weapon: THE MINIGUN IN EVOLUTION. It was able to gib the huge minibosses, ''literally in seconds''. The drawback was that it had very little ammo in store.

* The original version of the first game said Game Over when you beat the game (which is ''technically'' true as the game is over). The remaster removed this, however.

** The series' very favorite thing; ''Turok 2'' and ''3'' are the only ones to not totally ignore the events of every preceding game. ''Seeds of Evil'' didn't bother to pick up on ''Dinosaur Hunter''[='=]s "Campaigner is actually an Android" ending or explain how Joshua became Turok (this is because the Turok in the first game was supposed to be Joshua as per the cover and manual comic, but for some reason was shown as Tal'Set instead). ''Rage Wars'' barely had a plot at all and claimed the first Turok was the bad guy, leading to Acclaim making the insane claim in the ''Extreme G'' strategy guide that Tal'Set had ''never'' been Turok and the Turok in ''Dinosaur Hunter'' was Joshua. ''Evolution'' ignored the entire preceding series, and ''Turok 2008'' ignored that.
** ''Evolution'' was a prequel to the original ''Dinosaur Hunter''; explaining how Tal'Set took about becoming Turok and defending The Lost Lands.

* MrFanservice: Tal'Set Tan'Celle'Nyo, ''big time''! He is basically a {{Walking Shirtless Scene}} '''personified'''.

* CoolVersusAwesome: The games (and the comics they're based on) practically run on this. The framchise features a Native American hero with an arsenal of advanced weaponry fighting dinosaurs, demons, robots and aliens in a chaotic dimension outside of reality.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover of the first game portrays Joshua Fireseed as Turok, when the game itself has Tal'Set as Turok. Apparently, this was due to a mix-up with Acclaim's marketing who assumed that the game would follow the comics made at the time and feature Joshua as the protagonist. Acclaim, not wanting to admit fault, attempted to {{Retcon}} Tal'Set as a ''villain'' and claimed that Joshua had always been Turok. The Night Dive Studios UpdatedRerelease fixes this with a redrawn cover.

* {{Expy}}: A BadassNative [[BadassesWearBandanas who wears a bandana]] and goes running through the jungle with [[TheStraightAndArrowPath a bow and arrow,]] [[MoreDakka machine gun]], and [[KnifeNut massive knife,]] and frequently goes [[ShirtlessScene shirtless]] to show off his HeroicBuild. [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} Definitely an original character.]]

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Joshua Fireseed has dark blue hair in-game, despite all the official artwork depicting him with black hair.
%%** Adon, as she appears in ''Seeds of Evil''.

* FacelessGoons: The [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Mendel-Gruman soldiers]] from the 2008 game. Commentary from the development team in the art booklet states that this was intentional, as they wanted to "de-humanise" the enemy. In a rare variant of this being played straight for the good guys, the Lost Land soldiers have helmets that conceal everything but their mouths in ''Evolution'', and SWAT wear balaclavas in ''Seeds of Evil''.

In 2015, a PC-exclusive UpdatedRerelease of ''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'' was released on Website/GOGDotCom and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} by Creator/NightdiveStudios, who were behind the updated rereleases of ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' and ''{{VideoGame/Strife}}'', boasting features such as redesigned levels, increased draw distance and frame rate, widescreen support, and new graphical effects. A similar remastering of ''Turok 2: Seeds of Evil'' followed in March 2017. Both remasters were eventually released for UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* VideogameSettings:
** ''Dinosaur Hunter'':
*** GreenHillZone: The Hub, as well as the optional tutorial level.
*** UndergroundLevel: Anytime in a cave and parts of The Final Confrontation
*** JungleJapes: The Jungle and much of The Ruins
*** TempleOfDoom / RuinsForRuinsSake: Some parts of The Hub and The Jungle, The Ancient City, parts of The Ruins, and The Catacombs
*** TreeTopTown / DeathMountain: The Treetop Village
*** DeathWorld / LethalLavaLand / EternalEngine: The Lost Land and The Final Confrontation
*** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon / AbsurdlySpaciousSewer / PointOfNoReturn: The Final Confrontation
*** BonusLevel: 2 per level, which you enter and leave via [[CoolGate Warp Portals]].
** ''Seeds of Evil'':
*** PortTown: The Port of Adia
*** BigBoosHaunt / TempleOfDoom: Slaughter by the River of Souls
*** BubblegloopSwamp / SwampsAreEvil: The Death Marshes
*** TheLostWoods / UndergroundLevel / LethalLavaLand: The Lair of the Blind Ones
*** HornetHole: The Hive of the Mantids
*** EternalEngine: Primagen's Lightship (which annoyingly you never see what it looks like from the outside), and the Oblivion Portals
*** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon / BossOnlyLevel: The Primagen's Arena, which is not part of the main Lightship
** ''Shadow of Oblivion'':
*** HubCity: The Breach
*** ElaborateUndergroundBase / AbandonedLaboratory: Military Research Facility
*** TechnoWreckage / DownInTheDumps: Lost Land Junkyard
*** JungleJapes / LethalLavaLand: The Lost Land
*** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: Oblivion's Lair

* VoiceOfTheLegion: Oblivion talks like this.

** The Lost Lands.
** Then you had the GBC version of ''Seeds of Evil''.

** Adon, as she appears in ''Seeds of Evil''.

The third canonical entry to the franchise was ''Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion'' (2000), which took a more story oriented path than the previous games, and more-or-less picked up where ''Seeds of Evil'' left off. TheHero of the previous game [[TheHeroDies dies]], leaving his two remaining family members - younger brother [[MouthyKid Joseph]] and older sister [[DarkActionGirl Danielle]] - to carry on the family tradition of blowing up dinosaurs with [[{{BFG}} big guns]]... And to also stop the [[EldritchAbomination abomination]] known as Oblivion from ''[[OmnicidalManiac devouring all life in the universe]]''. The game was sadly mired by programming errors and annoying bugs, as well as poor voice acting. A common fan criticism is that it didn't have the ''[[InNameOnly feel]]'' of a ''Turok'' game.

[[folder:# - D]]

* ActionGirl / [[spoiler: ActionMom]]: Danielle

[[folder:E - I]]

* FlatCharacter: Both protagonists in ''Dinosaur Hunter'' and ''Seeds of Evil''. The latter gets some CharacterDevelopment in the third game, right before he dies. In ''Evolution'', while Tal'Set is given a reason for his rage, it's never really expanded upon and he only talks in cutscenes between levels - ''if'' there are cutscenes.

** ''Turok 2'' takes it to the extreme with the ability to carry over 20 weapons, but then does a fairly nonsensical subversion by allowing you absurdly little ammo for many of them - the pistols, for instance, are limited to fifty shots; considering the Mag fires three shots at a time, you can only pull the trigger 16 times before you're out.

[[folder:J - M]]

* TheJuggernaut: The fourth game has a Seismosaurus converted into a Land Battleship called "Juggernaut". An entire three levels are spent stopping it from reaching Galyanna.
** The 2008 game has a Giganotosaurus which can't be killed, only run from.

* LargeHam: The Campaigner.
** "''THE UNIVERSE IS'' '''''MIIIIIIIINE!!!'''''"

[[folder:N - R]]

[[folder:S - Z]]

** The GoldenEnding of ''Turok 2: Seeds of Evil'' had Adon congratulate Joshua on killing the Primagen for good - only to express concern about a mysterious and far more deadly evil lingering in the cosmos. One that the Turok lineage had dealt with in the past. Lo and behold, after a multiplayer-focused pit stop with ''Rage Wars'', the very next chronological game in ''Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion'' dealt with continuing this very plot line.

** Holy shit, is it very bad in ''Evolution''. Let's see - The bore. Then you get to the flamethrower, where you could burn them until they ''gibbed''. You had poison arrows, which caused them to puke their guts out until they died. You had the black hole grenades, which stretched the enemies as they were sucked into the hole. You could fire darts or arrows into their throats and watch them choke on their own blood. And so on...

* BigCreepyCrawlies: The first game gives us Giant Beetles, Giant Dragonflies, and the Mantis boss. There's also [[BeeAfraid Swamp Wasps]] and the Mantid beetles from the second game. The 2008 game gives us giant mosquitoes.

* FinalBoss: The Campaigner in ''Dinosaur Hunter'', Primagen in ''Seeds of Evil'', [[spoiler: [[TrueFinalBoss Oblivionated Joshua]]]] in ''Shadow of Oblivion'', [[AnticlimaxBoss Captain/General Tobias Bruckner]] in ''Evolution'', and the TyrannosaurusRex in ''Turok 2008''.

* SuicideAttack: The alien troopers in the first game and the endtrails in the second game sometimes set off a self destruct device as an attempt at TakingYouWithMe. Luckily, it takes several seconds to activate, giving you time to get out of range.

* StuckItems: The knife and bow from the 2008 game.

* TakeThat: The original game featured a cheat code that unlocked "Quack Mode", which made the graphics blocker and lowered the framerate, an obvious jab at ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.
* TheElevatorFromIpanema: See SoundtrackDissonance.

* TheStraightAndArrowPath: Bows are a starter weapon in ''every game''.
* [[ToothyBird Toothy Iguana]]: The Iguana Studios opening animation from ''Seeds of Evil'' shows the namesake animal bearing human teeth as he's about to go GunsAkimbo on those attacking him.

* TurnsRed: [[BigCreepyCrawlies Mantis]] and [[TyrannosaurusRex Thunder]], who both get more frantic and ferocious the lower their health goes.
* TyrannosaurusRex: The second-to-final boss of the first game: Thunder is a genetically engineered {{Cyborg}} [[MixAndMatchCritters composite]] ''T. rex'' with [[BreathWeapon flame breath]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre rocket launchers]], and a [[EnergyWeapon frickin' laser beam attached to its frickin' head]]. [[AndAnotherThing Oh]], and he has a ShockwaveStomp.
** The Endtrails in the second game are ''T. rex'' [[{{Expy}} expies]].
** Appears twice in the fourth game: The first is a one-off encounter, and the second is [[GeneralRipper Bruckner's]] mount.
** RecurringBoss in the 2008 reboot, which you don't actually kill until the end of the game.

* CoolButInefficient: The Cerebral Bore. Despite being the most iconic weapon of the series, and for a [[RuleOfCool damn]] [[{{Gorn}} good]] [[YourHeadAsplode reason]], has an almost non-existent fire rate and limited ammo, and sometimes left the enemy alive after the bore detonated.
* CoolGate: The Warp Portals.

** ''Dinosaur Hunter'': The auto-shotgun, received very early in the game, is your bread and butter throughout the game due to the plenty of ammo scattered for it. The Pulse Rifle replaces the auto-shotgun use in later levels due to enemies carrying pulse rifle cells.

** ''Turok 2'' has respawn points for ammo and 25+ health. Sure, it may take a lot longer, but you will almost never run out of ammo for most of the game. Enemies do not respawn randomly in ''Turok 2'' (they respawn to their original positions when teleporting at any point), making that a plus.

** The Tek Arrows and Explosive Shells can now destroy stalacites. You can now receive the Minigun as early as Level 2.

** The Charged Dart Rifle only stuns enemies instead of killing them, but it has a long duration making them easy pickings for your other guns.

** ''Dinosaur Hunter'': The auto-shotgun, received very early in the game, is your bread and butter throughout the game due to the plenty of ammy scattered for it. The Pulse Rifle replaces the auto-shotgun use in later levels due to enemies carrying pulse rifle cells.
** ''Seeds of Evil'': [[BoomHeadshot Since headshots]] are [[OneHitKill insta-kills]] (except for bosses), the Shredder received early in Stage 3 (which you can enter after Stage 1) can become your most used gun; if you hit the enemy in the chest, there is a high chance that you will kill them due to the ricochet spread bursting to the head. Oh, and there's plenty of ammo.

* BossInMookClothing: The triceratops riders in the first game. They take multiple shots from explosive weapons to bring down, and the rocket launchers they carry do a ton of damage. Attacking

** ''Turok 2'' has health and ammo respawn points. Sure, it may take a lot longer, but you will almost never run out of ammo for most of the game. Enemies do not respawn randomly in ''Turok 2'' (they respawn to their original positions when teleporting at any point), making that a plus.