Review Mazinkaiser 3/5 · Nov 11, 2019
Turrican II: Trying the Hardest It Can
Turrican II feels nearly as janky as its predecessor but pulls out all the stops to make something that feels generally more polished and improved than its predecessor.
This time the player is a soldier of a federation ship, Bren MaGuire. Under attack from evil invaders and the only survivor of his ship, he sets out in a Turrican suit …
Turrican II feels nearly as janky as its predecessor but pulls out all the stops to make something that feels generally more polished and improved than its predecessor.
This time the player is a soldier of a federation ship, Bren MaGuire. Under attack from evil invaders and the only survivor of his ship, he sets out in a Turrican suit for revenge! The elongated anime-ish intro starts out Turrican II's effort to outpace its prequel in every way, shape and form. The environments look fairly gorgeous, even for the Amiga, and the music isn't just some of the best on the system, it's some of the best in video games.
The gameplay system is still fairly janky with bullet sponge enemies that drain health like crazy and a focus on random powerup blocks instead of careful movements, but the game takes its time to improve its mechanics enough to feel slightly less terrible. The wheel attack returns, the variety of weapons from the original has been limited now to a laser wall (believe me, it's more helpful that way) and a screen-clearing bomb has been added to powerups. The laser that that player can move around while holding in place is much better animated and can reach areas the original laser had trouble doing so.
Gone are large scales of vertical platforms, but there are plenty of ways the player can easily get caught in instant death. More often than not the player will be desperately searching for lives and powerups to make up for the health they'll be hemorrhaging. A few standard shmups segments are placed in the middle, but they aren't particularly standout.
Turrican II is very much regarded as a classic, which it seems so on the surface. Even with the jank it refuses to shake, it takes the time to surely try to improve everything else around it, which graduates from a frustrating game to a somewhat OK game.
