21st April 2010, 7:53 PM
Quote:A run-and-gun shooter developed by Factor 5 in 1993 and published for the Genesis in 1994 by Data East. The graphics here are the most dated of the four games, unfortunately, although it does have a nice bit of complexity to the backgrounds that ST1 seemingly doesn’t have, but it does feature the massive levels seen in Super Turrican 1 and the grappling hook from Super Turrican 2. It’s not quite as fast-paced as later installments, but it moves quickly enough and the size of the levels makes things more interesting. MT also features, in addition to the main weapon, a freeze ray that can stop enemies in their tracks and make them easier to pick off and, as with all the other Turrican games, a morphball mode where you can access narrow passages and drop mines. Overall, it’s a fun game and more interesting to play than many of the action games that have been reviewed thus far.
Just a quick correction, Mega Turrican doesn't have the freeze ray. It has the "rope", the series' first attempt at a grappling hook. It's a somewhat clumsy item that definitely takes some time to get used to, in my opinion, and I think the Super Turrican 2 grappling hook was a massive improvement. Super Turrican 1 is the one with the freeze ray. Super Turrican 2 has both a ray and a hook. The ray is the traditional Turrican aiming weapon, and was in the series from the first game in various forms. In the older games you use it by holding down the attack button; on the SNES it actually gets its own button. The Genesis one is the only Turrican game with no ray, though in Turricans 1 and 2 the ray is just an attack, not a freezing weapon. The rope replaced the ray for that game, and then in the final Turrican game (Super Turrican 2) they put in both.
Oh, and you say that Mega Turrican has worse graphics than the Super Turrican games, but it's a Genesis game so of course it does. Compared to other Genesis games, though, it looks outstanding... and the music, while again not quite as good as the SNES music, is some of my favorite music in any Genesis games. I, at least, think it deserves a lot of credit, as of course do both Super Turrican games.
Quote:Super Turrican 2
Developed by Factor 5 and released by Ocean Software in 1994. Unlike the other two Turrican games, Super Turrican 2 is a bit more streamlined in that the levels are smaller and it’s more focused on fast-paced action and shooting lots and lots robots and aliens in a short span of time. As with the other games in the series, there’s lot of powerups and other things to be found. The grappling hook makes a return this time around and it means more platforming than ever, with vertical walls to be scaled and horizontal spans to be grappled across, serving to make the game a bit more interesting than it might, but drops the freezeray. It’s also the best looking of the three Turrican games and has some really neat effects like animated backgrounds [the first level shows a ruined city in the distance that shimmers from waves of heat]. ST2 has some pretty big bosses to fight and vehicles to run around in from time to time. The game is a bit on the difficult side, but you can gain new lives by finding gems scattered around the levels. All things considered, I think this one might be my favorite of the three Turrican games.
As I just said, incorrect about the freeze ray. In Super Turrican 2, the freeze ray is on the L button.
Quote:Developed by Rainbow Arts [designed by Turrican's Manfred Trenz] and released by Virgin Interactive in Japan in November 1995. Only 10,00o copies were ever produced and it was only ever released in Japan, making it one of the more rare commercially released SNES games. It plays a lot like Super Turrican 2, in that the levels are fairly small and straight-forward and his a bigger emphasis on quick action. The game is notable for its visuals, which are quite impressive, although it’s a bit stiff since most of the enemies don’t actually animated like they do in the other Turrican games. The game does feature some shmup levels to give it a bit more variety, but overall I just don’t find it to be as fun or engaging as the Turrican series.
You haven't actually played any of Trenz's Turrican games yet, have you... :)
If you ever do, just remember that they're VERY different from the later titles. They've got almost none of the linearity; Super Turrican looks quite straightforward and linear in comparison to either of them. You have a healthbar but no hitflash, so you can be killed very quickly. The graphics are also nowhere near the spectacles of the later games, though the music is still good. Beyond that though, their history.
Trenz made the original Commodore 64 versions of Turricans 1 and 2 himself. Then Factor 5 made the Amiga ports of both games, putting in the unbelievable soundtracks that helped make the series so memorable. Accolade then made the console ports, on Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx-16 (HuCard), and Game Boy for the first game. The Genesis version is by far the best -- the TG16 and Game Boy versions are both missing some of the levels, while the Genesis version is ocmplete. Most Genesis fans seem to hate the game; part of that is that the Amiga/C64 originals are better, but part is just that it's so open and different from waht consoel gamers expect that I think a huge part of the problem is just that it's a PC game designed for PC gamers, while console gamers have different (simpler, more straightforward) expectations.
In addition to C64 (Trenz/Rainbow Arts) and Amiga (Factor 5), the second game was then ported by Accolade to the Genesis, Game Boy, and SNES (though the SNES version was cancelled and never released, a nearly complete rom is out there). Unfortunately, late in development Accolade decided to retitle the game "Universal Soldier" to fit with the movie license they had just bought; the game is still Turrican 2, though, just with some graphical alterations, and the removal of the C64 and Amiga version's shmup levels in favor of several more platformer stages. Universal Soldier is the only Turrican game with a save system, passwords. It is also the only one with infinite continues instead of limited. That doesn't mean it's easy though, it's still 8-bit style Turrican, so it's very difficult...
After this, Factor 5 got control of the main series, and went on to develop Mega Turrican and Super Turrican. Both were developed before either was released, I believe. Mega Turrican was also released on Amiga as Turrican 3. The Amiga version actually came out before the Genesis version, but it was developed on Genesis first. The game just took a while to get released.
Anyway, meanwhile, after Turricans 1 and 2, Manfred Trenz next made Super Turrican for the NES (despite the title, it's nothing like the SNES games). The game was a late NES title and was only released in Europe, so in emulation run it in PAL mode or it will run too fast. It is not really a new game, though; instead, it's a compilation of some levels from each of the first two Turrican games combined onto one cartridge. This game was made 100% by Manfred Trenz alone, he is the only person in the credits. It's kind of cool, though Turrican 2 is probably the best of the early Turricans.
After that I think Trenz started on R2, which I'm pretty sure I've read took years to develop.
Here's a video of the Amiga version of Turrican 2's intro. Incredible music, huh?
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