Turrican II (AMI, 1991)
WIP (glitched out after the shoot 'em up levels while loading the next one)
Graphics-8 Sound-10 Control-7.5 Challenge-7.5 Story-5.5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7.5 Originality-6?
Overall Score-7.5?
Some cool weapons (360 degree laser w/ upgradeable range (blue lightning power ups), bounce - richocheting shot)
Good bosses+mini-bosses overall (can stand on certain parts of bosses such as the first mini-boss's gun, the spaceship boss that reaches out to grab you is pretty cool)
Many hidden items and detours for optional items (some hidden paths in walls though it's mostly a matter of trial & error if you find them or not)
Pretty good art direction
Super attack (bounce around like crazy for a while, doing heavy damage across the screen - once per life)
Pretty good variety (mixes in some shoot 'em up levels)
Impressive music (uses additional software channels during cutscenes)
Partially destructible environment (SMB, Gradius)
3 smart bombs per life but they're kind weak and get blocked by objects (there is also another, stronger smart bomb power up which triggers when touched, lose additional smart bombs if you die)
Fast swimming underwater (doesn't quite feel like swimming though)
Can bounce on certain smaller enemies (SMB)
Respawn on the spot (only sort of bad in boss encounters since your weapon is downgraded)
Some large and detailed sprites
Infinite rolling in ball form (makes you invincible besides from pits, a bit OP)+can use bombs - a lot like Metroid
Temporary shield power up
Items don't disappear if they move off screen or you scroll the screen away from them here (unlike on C64)
Some interesting gimmicks like the upwards winds/air streams, destructibe walls and a conveyor belt segment (can't use the ball here)
Some nice level transitions
+/-
Pretty large, maze-like levels
Time limits
No save feature (start with 3 lives and no continues - 1-ups are frequent though and lifebar restoring power ups pretty frequent as well)
Gain a continue by collecting 100 diamonds (can get 5 in total)
Doesn't show bosses' health bars
Can't move while crouching
No smart bombs in the shoot 'em up segments
Can't jump while in ball form here
Kinda weird how you'll find multiple full health refills in the same spot over and over
-
Some control/interface issues (loose scrolling (very loose vertical scrolling underwater, leads to more trial & error), no auto-fire, no invincibility time after taking a hit (quickly lose HP while an enemy touches you even if it's a small and otherwise easy enemy), some delay before the laser activates (breaks flow and leads to taking hits at times)+no other weapon lets you aim upwards directly+no unique button for it+can't move while using it (with aim lock rather than standing and aiming), leaps of faith (can't look up/down), can't map the super weapon to its own button (pretty easy to activate it by accident if using auto-fire), bombs and transforming into ball form mapped to the same button, no weapon inventory)
Some boring backtracking (no new enemies or hazards appear, could've let you open up some shortcuts) and dead ends
The ending is almost exactly like in the previous game
No water surface animation in parts
Some unavoidable damage
Some damage sponge enemies (the big blobs and exploding spike pillars - the former also can't be shot from above sometimes, can generally use the ball form on these though)
Some tedious vertical platforming
A few dead ends with nothing in them?
Easy first shoot 'em up level boss
Graphics-8 Sound-10 Control-7.5 Challenge-7.5 Story-5.5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7.5 Originality-6?
Overall Score-7.5?
Some cool weapons (360 degree laser w/ upgradeable range (blue lightning power ups), bounce - richocheting shot)
Good bosses+mini-bosses overall (can stand on certain parts of bosses such as the first mini-boss's gun, the spaceship boss that reaches out to grab you is pretty cool)
Many hidden items and detours for optional items (some hidden paths in walls though it's mostly a matter of trial & error if you find them or not)
Pretty good art direction
Super attack (bounce around like crazy for a while, doing heavy damage across the screen - once per life)
Pretty good variety (mixes in some shoot 'em up levels)
Impressive music (uses additional software channels during cutscenes)
Partially destructible environment (SMB, Gradius)
3 smart bombs per life but they're kind weak and get blocked by objects (there is also another, stronger smart bomb power up which triggers when touched, lose additional smart bombs if you die)
Fast swimming underwater (doesn't quite feel like swimming though)
Can bounce on certain smaller enemies (SMB)
Respawn on the spot (only sort of bad in boss encounters since your weapon is downgraded)
Some large and detailed sprites
Infinite rolling in ball form (makes you invincible besides from pits, a bit OP)+can use bombs - a lot like Metroid
Temporary shield power up
Items don't disappear if they move off screen or you scroll the screen away from them here (unlike on C64)
Some interesting gimmicks like the upwards winds/air streams, destructibe walls and a conveyor belt segment (can't use the ball here)
Some nice level transitions
+/-
Pretty large, maze-like levels
Time limits
No save feature (start with 3 lives and no continues - 1-ups are frequent though and lifebar restoring power ups pretty frequent as well)
Gain a continue by collecting 100 diamonds (can get 5 in total)
Doesn't show bosses' health bars
Can't move while crouching
No smart bombs in the shoot 'em up segments
Can't jump while in ball form here
Kinda weird how you'll find multiple full health refills in the same spot over and over
-
Some control/interface issues (loose scrolling (very loose vertical scrolling underwater, leads to more trial & error), no auto-fire, no invincibility time after taking a hit (quickly lose HP while an enemy touches you even if it's a small and otherwise easy enemy), some delay before the laser activates (breaks flow and leads to taking hits at times)+no other weapon lets you aim upwards directly+no unique button for it+can't move while using it (with aim lock rather than standing and aiming), leaps of faith (can't look up/down), can't map the super weapon to its own button (pretty easy to activate it by accident if using auto-fire), bombs and transforming into ball form mapped to the same button, no weapon inventory)
Some boring backtracking (no new enemies or hazards appear, could've let you open up some shortcuts) and dead ends
The ending is almost exactly like in the previous game
No water surface animation in parts
Some unavoidable damage
Some damage sponge enemies (the big blobs and exploding spike pillars - the former also can't be shot from above sometimes, can generally use the ball form on these though)
Some tedious vertical platforming
A few dead ends with nothing in them?
Easy first shoot 'em up level boss