TURRI-VIEW: AN AMIGA CLASSIC
Never expected to play Turrican, but its an unavoidable game, just like Doom or OutRun. So, here's the review of this legendary game.
NOTE: This review is based on the Commodore Amiga version played on Turrican Anthology.
Welcome to Turrican. AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Redefining the concept of Run N' Gun into "Maze N' Gun".
At first the game resembles a Run-N-Gun game in the style of Contra, but actually its more like a platformer in the style of the Megaman games as you're limited to only fire left or right with your basic weapon, a rifle. Despite this restriction, you have two switchable weapons: Spread Shot and Laser, being the first one a vulcan shot that will split into 3 and then 5 way fire as it gets powered up and the Laser which is a fully frontal, armor piercing beam. It looks like you don't but you have one more weapon: The Lightning Whip, this is a beam which can rotate 360° pummeling everything in your way, but you have to stay stand in order to fire it. Special Weapons are at your full disposal, starting off with the Lines, which are vertical beams that move from left to right pummeling anything in their way, you have also Grenades which are fast firing bullets that once they hit an enemy will cause tremendous damages and the Mines with Turrican drops on the floor waiting for an enemy to hit them.
A skill inherited from Metroid was the ability to turn into a ball (Buzzsaw in this case) and scroll faster while being able to shoot. However, you can't use it as much as you want since you're limited to a total of three transformations.
As a platformer, this isn't just the hop into platforms in a linear path. No, man. Turrican throws that idea away in favor of a massive landscape of multiple screens tall and wide with treacherous corridors and traps. This is the core gameplay of Turrican: Exploration. Rather than just run and shoot like Contra, here you have to take your time and navigate the entire area in search of the exit. Although you can't fool around for too much since you have a time limit. Today's gamers will call Turrican an early "Metroidvania/Castletroid/Clonetroid/Clone of the Night/Symphony of the Clones", but actually, games like Super Metroid and SOTN are labyrinthic as Turrican if it wasn't for the map, so, we should call the genre "Turritroid", "Metroican" or "Turriclone". With all the fun and exploration, no game is complete if there's not a good dose of enemies, and Turrican throws us that in multiple and sometimes surprising ways, from small enemies to hidden bosses a swarm of darkness trying to put an end to your existence.
That's one hell of a "Hungry Gluttons" indeed.
Some of the boss fights require different and more aggressive attack strategies, breaking with the basic Contra premise of standing and shooting and you'll be requiring to utilize the Grenades and Lines you've picked across the level if you want to minimize the damages and life losses because they have a very random attack pattern and a tendency of trying to smash you throwing through the window any "learn the pattern" strategy. Brute force over brains. Also, you can't low your guard after defeating the fish boss because it explodes into small bouncing balls after dying, requiring to use either the Lightning Whip or the Lines.
Deathtrap!
Mastering the weapons at your disposal is a requirement in this game, especially when you fight that boss that slowly corners you until there's no way to avoid death. This is when having spare bombs and the Lightning Whip are a great combination.
Nice! You've found a Treasure Chamber!
An element borrowed from Metroid and Kid Icarus was the hidden rooms where you can find 1Ups and Diamonds which add an extra life after acquiring 300 of these. In the level 1-3 you can find a hidden optional boss fight. Doing this treasure hunt enhances the exploration-based premise of the game much further and adds a lot of fun to Turrican's action-packed fun factor. It also makes good use of hidden "Item Platforms" as a pattern to jump from one to another, but leaving little room for error because if you destroy one of them, its gone for good. Also, there's a stage that has a "Hop and go up" platform which if you miss it, it won't come back, losing a great chance of picking extra lives, making "Treasure Hunting" a concept of where and when to use a particular weapon. A good way to reduce the chance of screwing up is to have the Laser equipped, since it avoids the Spread Shot's accidental platform destruction due to the multidirectional firing.
That's gonna be a hand-some problem.
One major aspect of some Euro-platformers was the difficulty spikes, where the game is harder than a Japanese or an American developed title, and Turrican is one of them. The most notorious of all is being drained of all energy with no recovery time. Contact with any object whether it is a power up, or a small enemy will drain all your life bar until Turrican dies. This is what I called "Turridamage" (Portmanteau of "Turrican" and "Damage" coined by me). If you want to experience Turridamage firsthanded, this is the game that started it all. Also, there's a lot of "Blind Jump" instances where jumping becomes a guessing game as you don't know if you're gonna land on a platform (with a cannon waiting to hurt you on-contact or not) or fall into a hole and die. But you know what's worse? Instances where you have no choice but to take a hit like the dripping blood Alien stage or the laser turrets on the ceiling. It's like the spinning gears on the NES Batman game, but a bit worse due to the Turridamage.
*In AVGN's voice*
Get the fuck up there, GET UP THERE!
There's also the annoying jump on centered platforms where you'll be falling down more often than going up and to make things worse, there's times where you'll be relying on pixel precise jumps almost as bad as Castlevania: The Adventure. If you have a bad temper, you've better avoid Turrican.
Aside from those flaws, Turrican is a fun, yet challenging game which require a lot of trial and error to get the hang of it and once that happens, it becames a fun, action packed experience which will consume most of your time on the PC.
Oh, no, no, no, I'm a Rocket Maaaaan.
(ROCKET MAAAAAAAAN!!) Rocket Man burning out his fuse up here alone.
And I think it's gonna be a long, long time.
Along with the Run N' Gun and Maze-exploration (Turritroid/Metroican, anyone?), there's two levels that focus more on horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up action, adding even more variety to an already good game. For some reason, the game drops the power level of the Spread Shot to the basic three way shot, but it keeps the Laser power level high. So the best strategy here is to use the Laser for these segments.
Golem 4 Footpad
<< Mage 2? Talk to me, Mage 2! >>
*"Mission Failed" from Ace Combat 7 plays*
Alien Labyrinth is the worst stage of the whole game. Is an exercise of blind jumps, random things that will damage you to death like the spikes on the ceiling which look more like background decorations, pixel perfect jumps and those annoying spiders that will chase you relentlessly on diagonal platforms are extremely annoying, combined with the cow skulls that go around chasing you and blood dripping from the ceilings, this will result in constant loss of lives and even Game Overs. Challenge is one thing, but this goes a little too far on difficulty crossing the border between fun and frustration, a bit of the same can go for the first tower level of the final world, some of the backgrounds can be confusing and you can't tell which is a corridor and which one is a wall, wasting precious time and spare lives. Let me tell ya' kid, if you can complete Turrican without using continues, then you're a great player.
Speaking of frustrations. ¿Got lost? Check this site for a map: https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/turrican#maps That will spare you from fucked up leaps of faith and trial and errors.
The original port of Turrican was, like I said before, the Commodore 64 which broke the limits of the computer, becoming a revolutionary game with its well deserved bunch of ports, but it reached its pinnacle on the Commodore Amiga, which is the game you're reading about right now. The Atari ST port is similar to the Amiga port with good enough accuracy in graphics and sound despite the limitations of the chiptune based ST hardware and tries its best to follow the Amiga's steps, while improving the controls thanks to the ST control, but the graphics are quite inferior in the animation and some of them are missing like the waterfalls. The sound is also slightly inferior since its more "Chiptune" like.
One thing was computing porting which was successful, but console porting got its risks and that's turning Turrican into TurriCRAP. The Genesis version by The Code Monkeys and published by Accolade under the Ballistic label. Graphically is an average to mediocre rendition in the graphic aspect, the sound is horrible, considering the great job the Genesis did with with arcade titles such as After Burner II, Super Hang-On and Vapor Trail: Hyper Offense Formation. But it goes all the way down to hell when it comes to the gameplay. If the Turridamage problem was already annoying on the Commodore 64, the Amiga and Atari ST, now imagine the Turridamage TWICE AS FAST as before. That makes an annoying issue a game-stopper problem. As an added bonus, the game had a free poster of the cover art by Boris Vallejo (Wings of Wor, Ecco The Dolphin, Golden Axe II, Phantasy Star IV) and Julie Bell.
The PC Engine version is what we can call "Turricalamity". To begin with, The Code Monkeys made this version based on the Genesis port and the graphics look squashed, but the worst part are the controls. Imagine you can only jump when you're not moving. For a platformer like Turrican that's fucked up. But an even more fucked up version of Turrican exists and that's the GameBoy version. Like the Genesis and PC Engine, this one was also made by The Code Monkeys and its even worse. The jump problem of the PC Engine port is present and the graphics are so terrible that you can barely see what's going on.
This trip into TurriHell keeps going, and this time is with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum port of Turrican which is a solid definition of "Horrible". To begin with, there's no music (DEATH STAB to one of Turrican's greatest aspects), the controls are stiff, horrible jumping, terrible hit detection, the graphics are just a pain in the eyes and the "clak-claklak-clak" sound is torture for your fucking ears. In contrast, the Amstrad CPC version looks pretty decent, even for its standards with solid gameplay and decent animations, but with still retains the floaty jumps and the lack of music of the Sinclair ZX version. Just play Freedom Call's "Terra Liberty" and give that port a go.
PlayStation 4 and Switch are amigos of the Amiga...
...y Turrican lo aprueba.
The Amiga version was re-released as part of Turrican Flashback by ININ and Turrican Anthology released by both ININ and Ratalaika. The Anthology version carries tools like maps, a Forza Horizon-styled Rewind function, cheats and save states, but unlike GleyLancer and Gynoug, Turrican goes more hardcore by limiting the Trophy unlock by playing the games in "Challenge Mode" where all the gadgets are off, making this game a short room for error. In fact, Ratalaika's Turrican Anthology utlize a variation of the Shinyuden (GleyLancer) main menu retaining the majority of the menu's sound effects and visuals. I don't know why the other console ports weren't included but considering the price tag, it deserved to be there just to justify the 35 bucks this game costs.
Thought Psygnosis were the ones with amazing graphics?
Factor 5 says otherwise.
Turrican was a revolutionaire in the graphic aspect. To begin with, this game had not 100 or 200, but 1200 screens packed with vibrant scenery and solid animation, you can see that when Turrican's sprite moves, rather than the classic 2 or 3 sprites that make a movement sequence, here you can see as if Factor 5 made a lot of sprites to animate Turrican when he walks. The science-fiction theme was a great idea to exploit mass detailing in the game. This is mostly notorious on world two which is the high-tech base as the game goes R-Type/organic on the alien-themed stage. My only problem is the final level; the tower. There's parts that look like solid walls, but you can pass through them 'cos the only way to tell between wall and background is by shooting and hoping the shot passes through showing the way to the exit.
Along with the great graphics, the game has an amazing Euro-Game soundtrack composed by Chris Hulsbeck which became one of the most memorable composers in gaming carrying the Euro-influenced ambient-fantasy that goes damn well with the game. A good example of this is Mountain Madness (Level 1-1) with the electronic fast-yet-calm rhythm that represents order through chaos, something that Turrican is there for. Thunder Plains (1-2) is more rocking with a fast percussion while keeping the style of the previous track. Outpost (1-3) is more relaxed but with the weight of the upcoming tension. Enemy Mine (2-1) and Techno Dungeon (2-2) combine the mystery of the unknown with the techno element of the base you're exploring. The first flying level "Jet Pack Attack" (3-1) has some Darius vibes on it, carrying a little bit of Taito on the game and the second shmup segment "Flightmare" (3-3) is basically a Gradius-styled tune, as if Hulsbeck knew how to make STG music. Alien Labyrinth (Stage 4-1) is a obscure wind-blowing style song with a few deep notes to emulate the terror of an alien infested cave, obviously referring the Alien films which were a hit sensation back then.
I miss the intro speech of the Commodore 64 version. "Hello and welcome to Turrican. Be my Guest! Another day, another try! But Remember: Shoot or Die HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!" was more badass, maniacal and game fitting than the robotic-terrorish "Uuuwwelcome to Turrican AHAHAHAHA!" the Amiga and Atari ST versions play on the attract mode.
TURRI-FACTS (Welcome to Turri-Facts! AHAHAHAHAHA!)
TURROWAR: KINGS OF AMIGA
- YOUR NAME: The name Turrican comes from the italian name Turricano, a surname found in an Düsseldorf phone book.
- HÜLSBECK OR HUELSBECK?: The credits spells Chris last name as "Huelsbeck" instead of Hülsbeck.
- A FAMILIAR ICON: The running man icon on the spare lives indicator is one of the figures of the Rainbow Arts logo.
- SPEED UP: The Commodore 64 demo Hurrican used the song Burning Heat from Gradius II/Vulcan Venture.
- HAIL AND KILL: The title screen art of the Amiga version is a rip-off of the cover of Manowar's album Kings of Metal.
- THE TURRICAN CODE FOR RAGE CRISIS: The depiction of The Machine on the NES Super Turrican is based on the final boss of the PC Engine shmup Aldynes.
- TURRIMUS PRIME - 'TILL ALL ARE ONE: More instances of plagiarism were found in the Commodore 64 version as the game used songs from The Transformers: The Movie "Subsong 2" by Ramiro Vaca was a rendition of "Escape" and the ending theme was a remix of "Death of Optimus Prime".
- TRANSFORMS FROM RIPOFF TO HOMAGE: However, this was "redeemed" when the composer of The Transformers: The Movie Vince DiCola and Chris Hülsbeck released the theme "Transformers Medley 2013".
- TWO STORIES, ONE IS CANON: The computer versions told a story about an alien called Morgul which was defeated and banished by a hero called Devolon eons ago, while the console versions tells us about the world of Alterra was taken over by M.ORG.U.L. (Multiple ORGanism Unit Link) and humanity created a mutant called Turrican to defeat it. The console storyline is the one considered as official cannon.
- TROPHY NAME NODDING: The trophies "Welcome to Turrican", "Be My Guest", "Another day, Another Try", "But Remember, Shoot or Die!" refer the intro speech of the Commodore 64 version.
- JAMES BONDED: "Live and Let Die" and "Diamonds are Forever" are references to the James Bond films of the same names.
- GAME MAG APPROVED: While they're removed on the Anthology version, Turrican got Several awards from game magazines such as C&VG and Zzap on the cover and back.
- OTHERS WILL CARRY YOUR FORGOTTEN NAME: The name of the cancelled Hurrican demo was later used by fans for a fan-made remake.
- HE REALLY HATES YOU, BUT STILL HAS YOUR PORTRAIT: The cover art of the Amiga game appears in a sepia toned portrait on the penultimate stage of Super Turrican 2, but appears slashed, implying The Machine has both hate (as his enemy) and respect (as a formidable opponent) to Turrican.
When Quicksilver and RoboCop made the DBZ Fusion.
- UNUSED ART: The Genesis, PC Engine and Gameboy ports of Turrican would be featuring a different cover art by Julie Bell before being replaced with Vallejo's work.
- IT HAD A NAME? THAT'S UNEXPECTED: The unused art was called "Soldier of Tomorrow".
- STARTED IN THE 90's, DONE IN 96: "Soldier of Tomorrow" was left incomplete due to the art change, but Bell finished it in 1996.
- ALL FOR MUSCLES: According to Julie Bell, the art directors saw it mid-progress and wanted to add “more muscles.” So, she stopped working on it and did the one that they used, then finished it later because I thought it was pretty cool as it was. Julie liked how Turrican's face was coldly dispassionate and robot-like.
- TURRIHAWKS: Vallejo and Bell's depiction of Turrican looks like a SilverHawk. Quite unaccurate, but still made more sense than Megaman with a gun.
- BORROWING STYLES: Jim Power in Mutant Planet and Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3D carry the Run N' Gun and horizontal shmup elements like Turrican, including the idea of the flying man in some of the levels.
- WALL OF TURRI-POWER: The shmup Hydorah/Super Hydorah features a special weapon called "Turriwall", a portmanteau of "Turrican" and "Wall".
- TURRIDAMAGE, TURRIDAMAGE EVERYWHERE: Most games, especially poor developed games suffers from "Turridamage". A good example is LJN's Wolverine game on the NES. "When you get hit, there's no recovery time either. One simple mistake can drain all your life in only a matter of seconds. It's as cheap as it gets". A plethora of indie games suffers from this problem too.
Turrican is among the greatest platformers that you can find on a PC, being of course, the Amiga version the best of all of them. With massive worlds to explore, great graphics and a spectacular soundtrack, this is one of those games you should play before you die.
With no question, it deserves 10 R-9's out of 10 in the R-Scale, Manfred Trenz knew what he was doing!
There's more Turri-Fun yet, kiddies.
See you in the next time here to check the review for Turrican II: The Final Fight and briefly mention its Universal Soldier ill-fate on Genesis, Gameboy and SNES.
