Cast Down The Heretic

#46 - Turok 3: Shadows Of Oblivion

Oh lookee here, another first person shooter. But unlike the last one, this isn't one that changed gaming or anything. It's simply the sequel to the sequel to one that helped make first person shooters look playable on consoles. Turok 1 was about an Indian who had to save Earth from the Campaigner. Turok 2 was about that Indian's descendant who needs to stop the Primagen from destroying the world. Turok 3 is about Turok 2's protagonist's brother or sister having to destroy the forces of Oblivion after they kill Turok 2's protagonist.

None of them are Shakespeare in any shape or form, but they're all fun games. Folks would say that Turok 2 was the best, but obviously, I disagree, and will tell you that Turok 3 is much better. I actually like the linearity of the level designs more because they just felt a lot tighter than the open world designs. Sure, 1 and 2 technically had decent designs, but *bleep*, was getting lost a touch too easy for its own good. In fact, Turok 3 just feels like a much more refined experience. The weapons were bigger, louder and better. The levels were intriguing. The enemies were ferocious... and shit, the atmosphere was damn tense for the time (which is why you'll never hear me praise Doom 3 much for it's atmosphere - Turok 3 beat it to the punch by a good 4 years). It was no System Shock 2, but Turok 3 was quite a tense game at the best of times. The enemies were well placed and very well designed for such moments.

I just loved this game back in the day, and even now, I enjoy it a lot. I wish the series ended on this note... but nope, we got two more games. Evolution was a piece of shit and Turok 09 just didn't compare to this game.

Summary - A darker side of a series that was essentially about hunting dinosaurs and aliens in an effort to save the world.
Rating - 8/10