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In 1990, a guy named Manfred Trenz, created a game called "Turrican" for the Commodore 64. He introduced us to a new type of game within the platform genre, the jump 'n run/shoot 'em up. The game was an instant success and was immediately converted to the Atari ST and Amiga. In Turrican you were a lone warrior packed in an armor suite on to save the world. The game featured some breath-taking graphics and sound, but most importantly, fast, adrenaline pumping action! So, as always, it wouldn't take long for a sequel to arrive! Only 1 year, to be exactly...

And not just any sequel. "Turrican 2 : The Final Fight" was miles ahead of its predecessor. Featuring even better graphics, sound and gameplay. The story was about the same. Your spaceship has been attacked by "The Machine" and you are the only survivor. Packed in your metallic suite and armed with a laser gun, it's your job to seek vengeance and kill of the bad guys!

Turrican 2 was an immense success! In fact, It was even converted to the Sega Megadrive with a few graphical changes and repacked as "Universal Soldier" in America, to cash in on the film that was in theater at the time. More sequels were created : Super Turrican 1 & 2 for the Super Nintendo, Turrican 3 for the Amiga, PC Turrican...But none of these had the success, nor the quality of the first sequel, the almighty "Turrican 2".

Graphics

Turrican 2 features some amazing graphics. Everything looks perfect. Scrolling is fluently all the time. The warrior itself is very nicely animated. Some cool gravitational effects are implemented, eg. when jumping on certain loose stones or when walking over a bridge. And the wind effect is awesome. Levels are filled with colors and differ a lot from eachother...Even the background looks great. No more solid blues like in the first one, this time we get all shades...And it gets darker as we go deeper underground!

Sound

This game features an amazing tracklist. Every level has got its own background tune. They're all nicely converted from Chris Huelsbeck originals. The in-game sound FX are of the usual shoot and explosion type, nothing special. The sampled intro track is a classic!

Gameplay

The game consists of 5 worlds. First you'll be walking on the rocky surface of the planet, then you'll enter the Caverns. After that you'll have to fight your way through the inner of the spaceship and the factory and finally you'll arrive in the 'Giger' inspired alien world (with its own face huggers!) where you'll meet "The Machine". Each world is divided into 2 or 3 levels and has its own end boss. Most of the time you'll be running and shooting, but there is also a level where you'll have to fly a spaceship. The game will be temporarily transformed in a high quality R-Type clone!

In Turrican 2 you have even more fire power then in the first game. First of, you're armed with your standard laser gun, which can be upgraded by catching the power ups scattered within each level. (eg. trippled fire, bouncing bullets, plasma balls...) You can hold down the fire button for the rotating laser beam to be activated.

When you hold down the stick and press space, Turrican is transformed into a gyroscope (looks a bit like Sonic). Once you're in this mode, you can lay down as many bombs as you like and you're invincible, but your freedom of movement is limited. Finally, your warrior is also equipped with a shield, a limited amount of smart bombs (that kill everything on screen) and the famous "Fire Walls".

And believe me, you're a gonna need all of it. This isn't an easy game at all. The enemy attacks from everywhere...And they are fast! The further you progress, the more ot them you will meet. You'll be finding yourself more than once avoiding them instead of shooting at 'em. The end of level bosses are the cherry on the ice cake!

It is also advisable to take your time and explore. Each level has its own hidden power-ups (one ups, extra fire power...) and secret places. For example, instead of immediately going ahead in the first level, try walking to the left and do some research! Diamonds are placed all over, once you managed to collect 100 of them, you're rewarded with a continue!

Conclusion

Turrican 2 is just awesome! It still is the best game in its genre. 5 worlds might seem a bit on the low side, but if you wander around some, you'll be busy for a while. And so what, I've finished it a million times and still load it up now and then. If you haven't played it, do it now...There are no more excuses! Games don't get any better than this!!