Previous Next

You just can't keep a good game down. The man in the metal skin is back, and he's more heavily armed than ever before. Our reviewer comes over all gyroscopic and delves into the massive sequel to last year's smash hit game from Rainbow Arts...

Remember Turrican from back in the dim and distant past of last year? Remember what a trouser-rending game it was? Remember the day after your 21st birthday when you got mind-numbingly drunk and threw up all over... [Andy, keep it relevant - Ed]. Turrican 2 is here and proves all the people who said the game couldn't be improved upon wrong. After defeating Morgul in his first adventure, Turrican now receives a plea from the people of the planet Landorin who are under threat from a tyrant calling himself The Machine. Time to don your enhanced battle suit and kick ass.

Allow me to start by telling you a little bit about the levels in Turrican 2, the size in particular. Vast, huge, monstrous, gargantuan: all these would be suitable words to describe each and every level. Not only that but there are twelve of these stonkers to romp through. In fact, some of the levels are so huge you can start off, then ten minutes later you're still ploughing through uncharted territory thinking "Oh my God, if this lark carries on I'll have to hire a portaloo."

That well-known phrase 'big is beautiful' also applies here. Each level is stunning to look at, the graphics are colourful, detailed and technically astounding. Parallax scrolling appears all over the place and even within that the patterned background undulates and swirls in a feast of elaborate visuals [Oh shut up, you wibbling fool - Ed].

Of the twelve levels, two take place on the planet's surface, one dives underwater, and the remainder explore a series of cavernous mazes. There are even horizontally and vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up sections thrown in for good measure, making the game an original progression from Turrican and not just a rehash of an old idea.

The number of different opponents in Turrican 2 must be nearing infinity [a smidgen of exaggeration methinks - Ed]. There are far too many to list but in my usual helpful fashion I will whet your appetites with a taster of the juicier beasts featured. Small black rockets fly at speed above your head and release a lethal payload, jumping spiders leap onto your armour and clamp themselves to you, causing a rapid reduction in energy.

On the planet surface, deadly fish drop down from spectacular waterfalls to the pools below where they try to savage you. And certain levels contain large numbers of tiny black balls which pummel you to death. The only way to find out what the rest are is to buy the game.

Despite the terrifying array of enemy firepower, Turrican is pretty well kitted out himself. Quite apart from his thermal underwear, long johns, woolly hat and scarf and the packed lunch freshly prepared by his silver haired old Mum, he also comes armed with the following: a laser weapon activated by pressing fire, a very powerful repeating laser, a super weapon, and a mega weapon, which has to be seen to be believed. Turrican curls into a little ball while dozens of separate beams and missiles fly about, randomly filling the whole screen with its deadly potential.

Throughout the game, you also have the strange ability to transform into a many-spiked wheel, allowing you to enter narrow tunnels that would otherwise be inaccessible. Sounds like more than enough weaponry, doesn't it? But it doesn't end there, oh no.

You can collect additional armaments along the way by either shooting grey diamond-shaped thingies, or locating an invisible block and destroying it. In doing this, various coloured blocks should appear which when collected embellish you with said objects of doom. There is a laser booster, three-way and five way-firing and finally huge blob lasers and shields which give you temporary immunity from the enemy.

The technical and visual excellence of the game, not to mention the superb playability throughout the whole of this vast title, can't be praised too highly. The variety in each level and the terrifying power and size of each end of level guardian are forever worth looking forward to. Truly 'tis a triumph of programming, everything a sequel should be and more. Turrican 2 is proof positive that you can teach an old C64 new tricks. It only remains for me to say, "It's A Corker!"

1. Just teensy niggles, nothing crucial.

1. Vast (and I mean vast) levels for long term playability.
2. Even more weaponry and collectibles than Turrican
3. Dozens of enemies, traps and wall-based armaments make it more of a challenge than its predecessor.
4. The graphics are stunning.
5. Multi-layer parallax, beautifully defined sprites and excellent animation.
6. Meaty sounds, especially when battling against an end of level guardian.
7. Surface levels, caverns, scrolly shoot-'em-ups, under water scenarios... oh, the list goes on and on