Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

1998 · First-Person Shooter · Nintendo 64

About Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (1998) is Iguana's Nintendo 64 first-person shooter sequel, a 32 MB cartridge of six huge levels, a skull-drilling Cerebral Bore and an optional high-resolution mode that sold 1.4 million copies in weeks.

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil in Depth

As the new Turok, Joshua Fireseed, the player runs, jumps, climbs, swims and dives through six large levels linked by a hub, carrying an unlimited arsenal from bows to a flamethrower, a grenade launcher and the Cerebral Bore, which fires a homing projectile that latches onto an enemy's head, drills into the skull and explodes. Each level sets several objectives, such as destroying objects, rescuing hostages and killing enemies, before the exit portal leads to defending an energy totem, a boss fight or both. Keys found in levels open the hub's portals, so some levels can be tackled out of order, and an automap helps navigation. Losing all health costs a Life Force point and returns the player to a checkpoint; on the Nintendo 64 the game saves only at special portals.

Each level also hides a Primagen Key, reached with talismans that grant powers such as long jumps or walking on lava, so levels must be revisited to open the way to the final boss. The alien Primagen, trapped in his crashed Lightship, has roused the creatures of the Lost Land to destroy the totems that bind him. A split-screen multiplayer mode for up to four includes Frag Tag, in which one player is turned into a defenceless monkey.

Making Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

Iguana Entertainment began the sequel before Dinosaur Hunter was released, with a team of about 18 that grew over its 21 months of development. An optimised version of the first game's engine allowed more complex geometry and real-time shadows, and early access to 64DD kits with the Expansion Pak led to a 640 × 480 high-resolution mode. Dienstbier said the team learned from Miyamoto to "start things off simple and gradually add to it", drawing on Mario and Zelda for the objectives and exploration. Over 10,000 hours of testing were reportedly done.

Backed by a $9 million marketing budget, with 1.75 million pre-orders from retailers, it slipped from Acclaim's "TurOctober" plans and was released in North America on 10 December 1998. It sold 1.4 million copies by January 1999. GameSpot called it "a landmark shooter and a must-buy" and its shooting game of the year, praising its graphics, deep levels and smart enemies, though critics faulted its uneven frame rate and fog. A Windows port followed in 1999, and Nightdive remastered it in 2017.

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil Trivia

The Cerebral Bore was inspired by the Tall Man's weapons in the 1979 film Phantasm; a proposed Leech gun was rejected.
Players can see five times as far as in the first game, with the remaining fog disguised as atmosphere.
Multiplayer was added, inspired by GoldenEye 007, once falling cartridge prices allowed more memory; the final 32 MB cartridge was the largest for a Nintendo 64 game at the time.
The enemies were not motion-captured because, project manager David Dienstbier said, they would look like a person in a lizard costume.
In Japan it was titled Violence Killer: Turok New Generation.