Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Iguana Entertainment
Publisher: Acclaim

Turok doesn't have the raw texture resolution or fidelity of PC-side games like "Quake II" running on a Voodoo graphics card-- but it does have both transparent water and comparable geometry sophistication, with its lush jungle scenery sporting cliffs, rivers, lakes, and palm trees. The motion captured animation is better than in its contemporaries, as it's super smooth, and fun to see how the enemies react when getting killed. There are many nice little touches like the blood from enemies floating on the water when they are killed there. The game's various portals use the platform's vertex capabilities to undulate and wobble in an impressive fashion.

A fellow named Darren Mitchell supplies the music. It's primarily basic jungle bongo drum beats-- but what makes it impressive is that it's fully dynamic! Enemies will leap into the scene, and instruments will add or subtract themselves from the song. Or the player will enter a cave, and suddenly a fresh note progression seamlessly begins. Diving underwater not only creates a cool graphical effect, but the sound the submersion makes, and the subsequent muffling of all sounds, is extraordinarily persuasive. The game's various gun shots and other sound effects are also crystal clear. None of it is genius-level, but it's altogether an effective aural package.

Turok features massive levels, each of which takes a significant amount of time to fully explore. The analog stick free looks, while the C buttons move the player. Looking with the left thumb and moving with the right is literally backwards from modern genre conventions, and it takes some getting used to. The trigger button shoots. Jumping is performed right the right shoulder button, while the left shoulder button toggles the map. Lots of the maps have platforming sections, but they actually work because the player can look down while running and leaping.

Turok has all the personality of an all-time classic: the cool dynamic music, the corny voice acting plus death animations, the "Jurassic Park"-like setting, the incredible water and swimming effects-- it all comes together as a super memorable experience. But there are a few things letting the game down, starting with the lack of variety. There are small, hidden bonus maps, and these will often have lava or cool colored lighting. Yet the main levels are essentially nothing but jungle. The respawning enemies are also somewhat of a drag, but at least a distinctive sound effect and nice stereo sound feedback gives the player a heads up that a baddie has re-appeared.