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The original Turrican was a blimmin' huge shoot-'em-up with giant graphics, squillions of hidden features and the world's second-worst multi-load. To my mind at least, the barking mad loading system ruined the playability of what was a rather fine game. Surely, with the sequel being 128K only an' all, this somewhat distressing prob has been solved?

Weeell... no. Every time you lose your lives, you have to reload the whole level. Aarghh! To add insult to injury, the game isn't particularly enjoyable. Granted, it retains the marvellous sense of freedom within the levels - you can go just about anywhere the fancy takes you - but the game seems to have lost the original's sense of loony fun. The action in Turrican II is more straitlaced and much tougher - it's ridiculously tricky to get around without incurring massive damage from the innumerable baddies.

To be fair, this sequel is overflowing with chunky graphics, and the wobbling enormity of it all is enough to impress the socks off anyone. Personally, though, I found the whole thing rather disappointing. It seems to have snazzed up the original in terms of presentation, but at too high a cost - the game just isn't fun to play.