Crash
1st July 1991
Publisher: Rainbow Arts
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K
Published in Crash #90
Turrican II: The Final Fight
After defeating hordes of alien scum in his first conflict, Turrican settled down for a well-earned holiday. Sipping pinacoladas on some Mediterranean beach soon became boring for our hero (well it would, wouldn't it?) and he longed to be blasting again.
Just then, the broadcast of Greek folk music he was listening to was interrupted for a special report. The planet of Landorin was under threat again, from another evil being. Named The Machine, it was stronger and more cunning than anything Turrican had come across before.
Not being one to walk away from a challenge. Turrican set off to Landorin armed with an all-new powersuit. This time, his suit has been given a mega 360 degree laser, useful for wiping out everything in sight. Smart bombs are used instead of grenades and a variety of other weapons can be collected by shooting special aliens and rocks. To help Turrican out of small gaps, he can transform into a small gyroscope wheel, which can place mines on the ground.
There are five worlds of arcade action in Turrican II. Four have two levels and the other has three, to make a total of eleven levels to play. Each new world is as addictive and colourful as the last, graphics and game style changing all the time.You start off on the planets surface, where the landscape scrolls in all eight directions. Backgrounds and sprites are jam-packed with colour - so much you'll begin to wonder whether you're playing the Spectrum version of the game!!
Aliens come in all shapes and sizes, some walking, some shooting and some flying, in an attempt to stop you in your tracks. There's plenty to collect, from weapon add-ons to extra lives and diamonds. Collecting a hundred diamonds will give you a continue play if you die before the end of the level.
You'll never be able to complain about the lack of variety in Turrican II. Each level has new monsters and many have two end-of-level baddies to be dealt with. Reaching world three takes you into a totally different game. The three levels that make up the world are horizontally-scrolling shoot-'em-ups. You control a ship (Turrican's inside it) and have endless aliens to kill, plus the rugged landscape to cope with. The last of the levels has a scroll that gets faster and faster while you attempt to guide the ship through small gaps in the scenery!Turrican II is one of the best games I've played on the Spectrum. The excellently drawn and coloured graphics are a real treat and the vastness of the game will keep you busy for ages. If you enjoyed the first Turrican, you'll be blown away by this one. Brilliant!
Mark
Hooray, the sequel to one of my all-time favourite shoot-'em-ups is finally here. Turrican II is every bit as good as its predecessor, with its brilliant intro tune, fast-paced (and very violent) action and rainbow-hued graphics. All credit must go to Enigma Variations for this masterpiece in Spectrum programming. The wide variety of weird and wacky aliens take their jobs very seriously indeed, especially the end-of-level dragon who knocks you over with the wind from his beating wings.
Of course, this wouldn't be a very good shoot-'em-up without a few pick-up weapons, and the old favourites are there along with a few surprises which help make a nice destructive collection. And it isn't all yomping-around, shooting anything that moves, there's a neat Nemesis-style zip-along-in-a-spaceship-shooting-anything-that-moves section too!Will there be a Turrican III, one wonders? I certainly hope so!
Verdict
Overall 95%
Possibly one of the best Spectrum games ever.
