Turrican
System: Genesis
Release Date: September 1991
Developer: Rainbow Arts/Code Monkeys Ltd
Publisher: Accolade
Genre: Action
Go up against a rogue AI that is hellbent on destroying everything alive in Turrican! The engineers always think it’s a great idea to make new worlds in their image, but when they entrust the survival of biological organisms to the computer, you know things are going to go awry. The world Alterra is no different and all it took to send the machines haywire was an earthquake. Now the mutant warrior Turrican has been sent to take Alterra back over and make things safe for humanity. There are 12 levels you must conquer to succeed. Will you gut it out?
When I first started, I was startled because you can’t aim your weapon. Pressing up jumps, as well as the B Button, so I got dead a lot of times until I got the hang of it. The A Button fires your weapon. There are capsules that carry a variety of powerups, though they seem to be set in what each one carries. Your gun can upgrade to a spread shot or a laser. The spread shot goes from 3 to 5 bullets, while the laser doesn’t cosmetically change… I think. If you hold the A Button, you activate the lightning whip, which you can rotate around Turrican to attack enemies. This an incredibly important tactic to master, because many enemies can only realistically be destroyed by it. I spent a half hour dying on the first stage before I got comfortable enough with the controls and level layout to move along.
Levels are typical platforming affair. There are a lot of stationary enemies that attack as you hit them, so it’s easy to find yourself in trouble. It doesn’t help that the power bar drains as long as you are in contact with something that hurts you. No invincibility frames present here! Luckily, the game takes pity on you and there are several places where you can stock up on free lives. There are also crystals that you can collect that add to your continues for every 300 you snag. Dripping ceilings were an extremely annoying obstacle. And keep your eye on the clock, because if it runs out, you die.
Every life, you are stocked with three grenades, mines, power lines, and buzzsaws. The grenades and power lines take place of your gun if you press the C Button once or twice. Grenades do big damage to enemies they hit, while the power line extends out from Turrican. You can collect more of these from the power capsules. The mines can be placed by pressing the A Button while crouching. These hit everything on screen. You can turn into a buzzsaw by pressing the B Button while crouching. You’re mostly invulnerable in this state, and I used it to kill the fish boss, but otherwise isn’t safe. You can uncover hidden bricks by shooting the air and these are filled with powerups, which you totally want.
The end of each level hides a boss. These guys can be very tough. Some have patterns, while others will just attack at you relentlessly. I found you can whittle away at them if you have a lot of extra lives in reserve, but you’ll lose your powerups as you die. The first boss taught me that the battlefield can be off a bit, leading to advantages or disadvantages. The final boss, for example, left me a special spot where I could avoid his physical attacks. So I held out the lightning whip and waited as he ran into it until his health was finally drained.
Graphics: 2.0
The graphics are alright, but I sometimes got confused between what I could walk through and what I couldn’t.
Sound: 1.5
The music and sound effects are uninspiring.
Gameplay: 2.0
It took me awhile to get used to the controls and the overall design isn’t polished.
Difficulty: 2.0
There are plenty of 1ups available to help you out, but you’ll go through them.
Fun Factor: 2.0
Despite all this, I enjoyed myself enough to want to finish it.
Overall Rating: 1.9
Turrican earns a C. This isn’t one of the better games on the Genesis, but it’s good enough. Looks like we may see it again on the TurboGrafx in a couple months.