Turrican

Developer: Factor 5	Graphics:
Publisher: Rainbow Arts	Sound:
Year: 1990	Difficulty:
Genre: Action/Platformer	Replay value:
Number of players: 1	My overall rating:	7/10

The classic action/platformer game, which leans more towards a shooter than a platformer actually. This genre is well represented on arcade systems (Xain'd Sleena / Soldier of Light (1986), Psycho-Nics Oscar (1988), Metal Slug (1996)) and consoles (Metroid (1986), Contra (1987), Cybernator (Supernes, 1992)). It is characterized by a very fast and somewhat "boorish" gameplay, large levels to explore with many secret passages and tons of power-ups to boost your weapons. It is not uncommon to see "shoot'em up" phases as they are two cousin genres, the difference is that the hero is flying instead of walking.

On the Amiga, there is no serious challenger to Turrican. It is a very popular game series that leaves me puzzled. For some reason, I get my kicks from playing Mega Man but I get bored immediately with Turrican. That may come from the length of the levels (without password nor save facility) or the lack of weapons (all accessible from the start, making the game less rewarding). The lack of visibility is also questionable, and the level design, a bit too "labyrinthine" for my taste (I stopped at level 4, unable to find the exit). As for the music tunes, they're not bad, but nothing to howl at the moon for either.
Again, I'm no fan of this blue robot. . . .

Places to download:
Amiga Chapter.One
Amiga Island
Amiga World
Planet Emulation
The Game Archives
The Old Computer

Other sites of interest:
Turrican Seta

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