Turrican II (C64, 1991)
Graphics-8 Sound-7 Control-6.5 Challenge-7.5 Story-6
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Lots of hidden and off the path items (usually rewarding to get with a bit of a challenge before them in the form of enemies or hazards)
360 laser
Smart bombs
Good variation
Respawn on the spot (only sort of bad in boss encounters since your weapon is downgraded)
Mini-bosses
Pretty good art direction overall (environments and bosses - transformers inspired)
Mixes in three shoot 'em up levels (where you still have a health bar (doesn't protect against hitting walls though), one with multidirectional scrolling)
Some large and detailed sprites
Super attack (bomb while using the 360 laser, you'll bounce around in rolling form and bomb pretty much the entire screen)
Some interesting gimmicks like the upwards winds (has some issues though) and destructibe walls and conveyor belt segment (can't use the ball here)
Some cool bosses (the big spaceship on the lvl before the first shoot 'em up segment, the second shooter boss, the final boss)
Temporary shield power up
Some nice visual details like the first elevator and the intro of the second shooter boss
Good length (~1 hour if you don't take everything)
The laser (green) weapon looks cooler than on Amiga
Some hidden paths in walls (mostly a case of trial & error if you find them or not though)
+/-
Invincibility while rolling (and no time limit?)
Can't move while crouching
Jump control takes some getting used to (immediately fall down after releasing the button)
Large maze-like levels (some backtracking here and there)
Smart bombs get blocked by walls and platforms
Easy to rack up extra lives if you explore
Overall time limit (can be turned off via a trainer)
No knockback after taking a hit
Up to jump and you have to use the keyboard to bomb on a C64 (not in emulation though)
Borrows gameplay elements from Contra (jump and spread shot)/Metroid (rolling ball and exploration)/Darius and Gradius (shooter level)
No separate button for the 360 laser
No weapon inventory
No smart bombs in the shoot 'em up segments
Unforgiving hit detection around the alien heads/platforms
12+ second loading times between levels (can be sped up in an emulator)
The castlevania-like dragon/snake enemies are more aggressive in the Amiga version
Harder second main boss than on Amiga
Somewhat fewer enemies on screen at times than on Amiga (shoot 'em up levels)
You can just roll past the walker parade before the alien lair level here
Final level is autoscrolling instead of having the upwards elevators (less unique but also less frustrating)
-
Loose and uneven scrolling (gets really fast during short parts of a jump
Somewhat looser upward scrolling when jumping than on Amiga)
No invincibility time after taking a hit (and HP drains pretty quickly)
Very loose vertical scrolling underwater
Leaps of faith (can't look up/down - also means you sometimes can't use the 360 laser to shoot enemies below you)
Some tedious platforming (jumps are more vertical based like in Contra and there are some very tight spaces to jump in, sometimes you can fall down and have to redo large segments of a level)
Enemies and items disappear if they move off screen or you scroll the screen away from them (annoying when you find an item and then it disappears because you jumped or had to avoid a hazard, can make some parts a lot easier if you just move back and forth to make things despawn)
The 360 laser isn't that useful compared to the bouncing laser weapon because you have to stand still and it takes a second to activate and another to aim (breaks flow if you don't have the other weapon)
No in-game music except for the shoot 'em up levels and final level (also auto-scrolling) - music and sfx throughout on Amiga
Somewhat basic boss patterns (first boss has a very inefficient one as well (a bit more interesting on Amiga since there are also falling boulders))
Some enemies take too long to kill (the big blobs and exploding spike pillars - the former also can't be shot from above sometimes)
Cheap hits/deaths here and there (the bombing planes, some ball traps, falling floor trap in level 2) and some unavoidable damage
So-so intro gfx (almost no colors used, messy lineart overall)
A few dead ends with nothing in them
The game pauses for a bit whenever a rolling ball bomb/mine goes off
Trial & error (inconsistent upward wind physics in lvl 2-2, boss patterns, second shoot 'em up level, some traps, see scrolling issues)
Tedious bombable wall part (reference to metroid but goes on too long)
Spread shot (red) is a bit underpowered at its highest level
No boss health bars
No "katakis lives" flag
The ending is almost exactly like in the previous game
Notes:
-Set joystick config to keyset A and use the numpad directional buttons, then joytokey to use a USB pad with the Vice emulator (otherwise either directions or fire (right ctrl - not usable by joytokey) won't work) - need to reconfigure jump button for the shooter segments
-The game occasionally hangs when you activate the scrolling in the final level (Vice emulator)
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Lots of hidden and off the path items (usually rewarding to get with a bit of a challenge before them in the form of enemies or hazards)
360 laser
Smart bombs
Good variation
Respawn on the spot (only sort of bad in boss encounters since your weapon is downgraded)
Mini-bosses
Pretty good art direction overall (environments and bosses - transformers inspired)
Mixes in three shoot 'em up levels (where you still have a health bar (doesn't protect against hitting walls though), one with multidirectional scrolling)
Some large and detailed sprites
Super attack (bomb while using the 360 laser, you'll bounce around in rolling form and bomb pretty much the entire screen)
Some interesting gimmicks like the upwards winds (has some issues though) and destructibe walls and conveyor belt segment (can't use the ball here)
Some cool bosses (the big spaceship on the lvl before the first shoot 'em up segment, the second shooter boss, the final boss)
Temporary shield power up
Some nice visual details like the first elevator and the intro of the second shooter boss
Good length (~1 hour if you don't take everything)
The laser (green) weapon looks cooler than on Amiga
Some hidden paths in walls (mostly a case of trial & error if you find them or not though)
+/-
Invincibility while rolling (and no time limit?)
Can't move while crouching
Jump control takes some getting used to (immediately fall down after releasing the button)
Large maze-like levels (some backtracking here and there)
Smart bombs get blocked by walls and platforms
Easy to rack up extra lives if you explore
Overall time limit (can be turned off via a trainer)
No knockback after taking a hit
Up to jump and you have to use the keyboard to bomb on a C64 (not in emulation though)
Borrows gameplay elements from Contra (jump and spread shot)/Metroid (rolling ball and exploration)/Darius and Gradius (shooter level)
No separate button for the 360 laser
No weapon inventory
No smart bombs in the shoot 'em up segments
Unforgiving hit detection around the alien heads/platforms
12+ second loading times between levels (can be sped up in an emulator)
The castlevania-like dragon/snake enemies are more aggressive in the Amiga version
Harder second main boss than on Amiga
Somewhat fewer enemies on screen at times than on Amiga (shoot 'em up levels)
You can just roll past the walker parade before the alien lair level here
Final level is autoscrolling instead of having the upwards elevators (less unique but also less frustrating)
-
Loose and uneven scrolling (gets really fast during short parts of a jump
Somewhat looser upward scrolling when jumping than on Amiga)
No invincibility time after taking a hit (and HP drains pretty quickly)
Very loose vertical scrolling underwater
Leaps of faith (can't look up/down - also means you sometimes can't use the 360 laser to shoot enemies below you)
Some tedious platforming (jumps are more vertical based like in Contra and there are some very tight spaces to jump in, sometimes you can fall down and have to redo large segments of a level)
Enemies and items disappear if they move off screen or you scroll the screen away from them (annoying when you find an item and then it disappears because you jumped or had to avoid a hazard, can make some parts a lot easier if you just move back and forth to make things despawn)
The 360 laser isn't that useful compared to the bouncing laser weapon because you have to stand still and it takes a second to activate and another to aim (breaks flow if you don't have the other weapon)
No in-game music except for the shoot 'em up levels and final level (also auto-scrolling) - music and sfx throughout on Amiga
Somewhat basic boss patterns (first boss has a very inefficient one as well (a bit more interesting on Amiga since there are also falling boulders))
Some enemies take too long to kill (the big blobs and exploding spike pillars - the former also can't be shot from above sometimes)
Cheap hits/deaths here and there (the bombing planes, some ball traps, falling floor trap in level 2) and some unavoidable damage
So-so intro gfx (almost no colors used, messy lineart overall)
A few dead ends with nothing in them
The game pauses for a bit whenever a rolling ball bomb/mine goes off
Trial & error (inconsistent upward wind physics in lvl 2-2, boss patterns, second shoot 'em up level, some traps, see scrolling issues)
Tedious bombable wall part (reference to metroid but goes on too long)
Spread shot (red) is a bit underpowered at its highest level
No boss health bars
No "katakis lives" flag
The ending is almost exactly like in the previous game
Notes:
-Set joystick config to keyset A and use the numpad directional buttons, then joytokey to use a USB pad with the Vice emulator (otherwise either directions or fire (right ctrl - not usable by joytokey) won't work) - need to reconfigure jump button for the shooter segments
-The game occasionally hangs when you activate the scrolling in the final level (Vice emulator)