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Title Turrican 2
Game Type Shoot-em-up
Publisher Rainbow Arts
Players 1
Compatibility All
HD Installable Patch Available
Submission Nikos Andreou

Review
As the name of this game suggests this is the sequel to one of the most
fascinating platform shoot-em-ups on the Amiga. If you think that
Turrican 1 was a brilliant game, wait until you see this! It is miles
ahead of its predecessor in any respect: Graphics, sound, playability.
The story of the game is similar to Turrican and Turrican 3; You must
save the world from the evil force. Not that it matters, I just mention
it so that you will have the whole picture of the game.

The graphics in Turrican 2 are absolutely amazing. There are a lot of
frames dedicated to the animation of your character and the enemy
sprites. In many levels there is a nice copper effect on the background,
but what is really good is the selection of the colors. You will never
feel confused even when the screen is full of sprites. The sprite
collision is perfect and you will never start complaining for losing a
life because the enemy sprite had a "telepathic contact" with you! In
just one word the game is very SOLID concerning graphics. Even in later
levels, when you control a spacehsip in a left-to-right shoot-em-up
section, the scrolling is very smooth and the game compares to some of
the best shoot-em-ups of this genre like Project X.

The in-game music is also fantastic. There is a great variety of tracks
and this makes me wonder how the Rainbow Arts programmers put everything
on not even two, but just one floppy! Each level has its own track, and
please don't ask me how many levels the game has because I Iost count! My
estimation would be TOO MANY. In general I can say that the music is not
just quality music, it is also that it is made for this game. It helps the
andrenaline going up in crucial points and is relaxing(!) in some others.
It is a clear example of how well a game can be designed.

Finally, the playability "ties" together the other two elements
(graphics and sound) in the most appropriate way and makes sure that nobody
will dislike the game. There are more weapons than the first Turrican to
make sure that everybody will find his/her favourite weapon, the law of
gravity is implemented perfectly (walk over a bridge and you will
understand what I mean), there are brilliant effects like the resistance
you get from the wind, and other similar things that simply add to
perfection. Each level differs a lot from the others, and there are some
big bosses at the end of each one that make things more difficult for
you. The difficulty curve is brilliant and in each level you must make
sure that you will search every corner to find extra lives and bonuses.

I played this game for the first time back in 1992 and I thought it was
one of my favourite games. Today, 7 years later, it is still one of my
favourite games. I don't mind that I finished it many times. I like to
play it quite often just to remember that perfection is not utopia
thanks to a brilliant company called Rainbow Arts. Thank you. Overall :
98%.

"The best in 2d side scrolling platformers"

Turrican 2, in my opinion the best in the series, is an Amiga classic with fans around the world. It’s a classic late 80’s side scrolling platformer, in a sci-fi setting. The opening story, with parallels to the hilarious zero-wing ‘story’ but with good syntax, sets up your mission. You have to don the turrican suit, get down onto the platformed landscape and blast the weird aliens away!

A simple plot, a brilliant game on many levels.

The graphics are superb for their time, and still outshine most hobbyist and many shareware efforts today. Its not the resolution or the amount of colors but the clarity of the artwork, the tiling and the smooth movement of the player that stands out.

The music and sound effects both work well. The music track in particular is an outstanding composition that has stood the test of time as a mod in the computer music scene too. The sound effects fit the game well and are not intrusive, it all blends well.

It’s game play that matters and Turrican 2 has great game play. The movement, keyboard or joystick, is intuitive and responsive enabling you to perform quite exact jumps onto ledges – an important part of the game. Weapons and power ups are plentiful making for variety. Each power up has its strengths and weaknesses. The bouncing balls are good for tunnels and caves, but a little weak. The laser, at maximum power, is really impressive and the directional flamethrower is really good, despite the slight delay in getting it fire up.

End of level baddies are pretty tough, there is a technique for each that usually involves using a power upped flamethrower and standing in the right spots. End of level fights are the weakest part of the game, but with a game this good that’s not so much of a drawback.

Each level is large, with lots of optional areas to explore and goodies to collect. Invisible floating ‘rocks’ contain heaps of power ups and part of the satisfaction in this game is finding them. The detailing and theme of each level is different with good use of colors and features such as underwater areas. The game progression is well balanced, a first time player can get far enough to enjoy the game and you can get good enough to get very far. It does get difficult after a while though and end of level baddies can be frustrating until you learn the technique to defeat them. During the game you can lose energy fast so planning helps in making sure you get to power ups at opportune moments.

Turrican did the rounds for other systems – the PC, 16 bit consoles and the the Atari ST but the Amiga versions remains the richest gaming experience.



Reviewer's Score: 9/10 | Originally Posted: 04/27/01, Updated 04/27/01

"If not for this game I probably wouldn't be playing games today!"

Fond memories!

When I was a young lad of eight years old, my brother bought an Amiga. He put the disk in the drive, waited for it to load, then the screen opened and I was flooded with graphics I'd never seen in a game beforeand music the like of which I couldn't have imagined. Now of I have played many games, and these days with much better graphics, and yet I still find myself thinking fondly of turrican 2, and still quite able to enjoy playing it, so what is it about Turrican 2 that lets it stand the test of time?

The story so far.

Most platformers of the early 90's have comparatively litle plot, some evil villain is attacking the universe, or has kidnapped something or someone, and it's your job to fix things. Strangely however, Turrican 2 features more of a plot that one would expect, explained both in the instruction manual and in the surprisingly long comic style intro the game.

You play as Bren Mcguire, a member of the Federation of Planets Freedome forces, who is aboard the Avalon 1 starship as it begins it's mission to penetrate the galaxy's edge and explore the space beyond. However, soon after crossing the edge of the galaxy, the ship is attacked by a battleship, who's crew of mutants murder all aboard the Avalon on the orders of The Machine a half cyborg emperor. After Loosing consciousness Bren awakens to find himself on the battered hulk, and donshis Turrican assault to travel to the planet Landorin and exact revenge.
Sadly after this great beginning the plot simply stops until the ending, from the stand point of 15 years ago this was okay, but looking back now it would have been nice to see some sequences betwene each level which kept the story moving.

The shiny planet of multi-coloured sky.

At the time the graphics to this game were stunning, bright and vibrant with detailed backgrounds and animated sprites. While the graphics now do seem to have aged, it's still worth noting that the art style is extremely absorbing.

the alien sounds.

the sound effects to this game seembarely minimal now, but at the time showed extreme detail. the sounds for each weapon and level of weapon, the sound certain enemies make like the squeak when you jump on the robotic walker enemies, all added to the detail of the game. Of course the Amiga's sound palet was generally limited, but turrican 2 used what sounds were possible extremely effectively. finally, the sounds featured voice samples whenever you picked up a weapon or item, a fact I loved about this game and I would like to see more games such as Metroid adopt.

Tunes!

the music in this game is quite simply amazing. The amiga's music making capability was limited to only about 20 different synthesisor sounds, and while more detailed than the Nes, it could still only play three or four of these at a time. Yet despite these limitations Turrican 2 features some of the most memmerable music I have ever heard in a game. A range of time signatures are used, and a range of feelings evoked all of which ffit the games mood, from the light airy level 1 theme, to the floating water melody it's all executed brilliantly. the cord sequences are a treet to the ear. I recently obtained the sound track to this game, and I find myself totally addicted.

All very nice but how does it play?

As a game Turrican 2 is fast and furious. there is no knockback or invinsability when hit, so even minor enemies can be dangerus. The platforming is often tricky, but more as a matter of cunning design than bad control. Speaking of the controls themselves, it is quite hard now to play a game where up caused your charactor to jump, rather than a jump button. If turrican 2 is ever re-released, we can be assured this is one aspect of the game that will be changed.

This game features quite an array of weapons for you to use. your basic gun can be upgraded with a multiple shot which covers a huge area but is generally week, a lazer which fires powerfull bullets but needs to be accurately aimed, and a bounce weapon which rebounds off walls. all the weapons can be upgraded to be more powerfull, and each time you lose a life you lose an upgrade. Through out the game you will hidden bonuses in block which are invisible until you shoot them, and this huge amounts of upgrades means you can change your weapon virtually whenever you wish, allowing for a vast amount of stratogy, such as choosing laser before you fight a boss.

As well as upgradable weapons you have an invinsible wheel which rols through enemies, bombs, a line of laser which covers the hole screen and a multi firing system, all of which add stratogy. Your most famous weapon is the suround laser which you can whip around yourself 360 deegrees or point in one direction to cause mega damage. This is one of the most varied weapons I've ever seen in a game, and one of turrican's unique features.

the game is multi-scrolling and the levels and huge. there are extra lives and power ups hidden all over the place and frequent exploration is usually rewardeing. One slight problem is with the vast amount of power ups avaliable there is litle reason to go off exploring once you know where the level exit is. It would have been nice to see unique weeapons or other items hidden in each level which the player needed to find, thus providing an insentive to explore.

The bosses, while generally following a predictable pattern are very large and imposing and fighting them can often be an uplifting experience, especially with the tense music pumping away in the background. While the bosses could certainly have been made more interesting as opponents, this doesn't really detract from the game.

the atmosphere.

One thing many games lack is atmosphere. the ability to drawer the player into the game's world and take hold of the player's emotions. Even though turrican 2 lacks an on going story, the unique graphics, the strategic weaponry system and the simply amazing music serve to make this game a completely absorbing experience.

Summation.

this game is a classic.. Despite the issues with the bosses and the lack of a jump button, the games atmosphere, music and level design more than make up for any other lack. I would love to see a re-release of this game, though I fear what a remake would to it's original charm. I would however urge all people to play this game if they can.


Reviewer's Score: 9/10 | Originally Posted: 05/25/05