As a huge fan of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and even Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, I came into Shadow of Oblivion knowing it likely wouldn't quite live up to those games and I was mostly right but I think it still has a couple surprises. I had never played this on N64 like the first two entries. I'd considered emulating it a few times but it just never happened. Nightdive did incredible work bringing them to modern hardware and I'd hoped they'd finally do this so I could play it, and they did!

First thing is that the game is insanely short. It released 2 years after Half Life, and its influence is all over this game. The first two are relatively loose games structurally, especially the first which is almost all full on run-and-gun. This has more in common with 2, with more structured levels/sections but rather than giving you the area with a couple objectives it is a more linear narrative experience that you simply go end-to-end in. I prefer that structure to 2's, but 2 has a much stronger presence in its settings and its atmosphere and weaponry is unrivaled.

The biggest surprise, which is both good and bad, is the length. My first fully fresh playthrough took about 3 hours on the dot. It is a very brisk game, each section taking about 30-45 minutes. It keeps the game fresh, but all the sudden you realize you're at the end. I don't care at all about the narrative and it's pretty non-existent outside cutscenes anyway. Narrative cutscenes in a Turok game is odd. I like when a game doesn't waste my time, but I was hoping I'd get to see a bit more and this game doesn't show you much more than you've seen from the series before outside its opening section. You straight up revisit the opening level of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

I played Danielle for my first playthrough. She has a more hard-hitting loadout and I had a good time using the rocket launcher, flame shotgun, and grapple. Since it only took me 3 hours in a sitting...I immediately started over as Joseph on Hard difficulty. I think Hard should be the default way to play this game, it's very forgiving. Also, just going as fast as you can. This playthrough took 2 hours and I had a lot more fun this go round. The sniper rifle, possession bore, and napalm launcher are just a lot of fun. The night vision is a gimmick but the effect looks really cool. I think the auto-lock feature is a bit strange, but I know Night Dive typically prefers to keep the game just as you remember it and that feature was certainly needed on N64 but not here anymore.

I waited this long to play what I thought would likely be the last good Turok game I ever play, and I'm glad I mostly enjoyed it even if I'm a bit disappointed it doesn't touch the first two games and if it's so short that it left me hoping for more. The gunplay is just as fantastic, as are the creatures and gore. The bosses are very lackluster though. Very glad they got this one up to 120fps, the first two remasters cap at 60.

Edit: Played through 3 more times and as they added two secret playthroughs after Danielle and Joseph: Joshua and Raptor. Joshua is the ideal way to play, can just have total freedom with all the arsenal. Raptor is a fun gimmick playthrough, although the bosses are not at all made to be fought with melee. That said you move super fast and that playthrough clocked in at just over an hour. Mastered the game, 15 hours total logged. Fun game!