Turrican 1 logo

RAINBOW ARTS £19.95 * Joystick

Everyone has nightmares at some time. But where do they come from? Legend tells of a creature with a highly-developed psyche, due to his three-headed mutant form. His influence was so powerful that everyone on Earth was touched by his evil thoughts. The human race was gripped with fear and worry and terrible nightmares made the dark a cold and frightening place. This creature was named Morgul.

A heroic warrior named Devolon managed to battle him and banish him to a hidden dimension inhabited by strange creatures incapable of emotion and therefore immune to the fears and dreams he instilled in mankind. Years have passed since this age, with humans still occasionally troubled by nightmares and worry. Even though Morgul has been trapped, his influence still breaks through.

However, mankind has once again begun to experience horrific dreams, worse than ever before. No-one will venture out onto the streets during the hours of darkness. One terrifying thought is lurking at the back of everyone's mind - Morgul has returned.

You are Turrican - one of the few remaining people who have not lost all sense of courage. You have been kitted out with the latest state-of-the-art firepower ready for the mission ahead - to find Morgul and kill him.

You must travel through five areas of the realm that Morgul has created for himself, fighting off the creatures that he has warped to obey him. To begin with you are armed with a rapid-firing pulse rifle and a flash-beam which can project a directable stream of lightning to take out enemies at a distance. Extra energy packs can be picked up around Morgul's fortress and converted into weapons such as lasers, spray rifle packs and energy shields. Some are freely available, but others are hidden and have to be carefully searched out before they can be collected.

At the end of the last area is the evil Morgul. Can you use the weaponry available to destroy him? Who knows... but it could give you dreams for a while!

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Turrican's appearance is very much in the mould of many coin-op machines. The graphics are colourful, smoothly animated and atmospheric and the sound backs the gameplay up superbly with a range of powerful effects. Even the music has been done well, using real chords - a point not often apparent in game soundtracks. In fact Turrican could well be an arcade game, except you do not have to put money in it all the time!

LASTING INTEREST

The feel of the weapons is easy to get to grips with and to begin with it is fairly easy to blast the living daylights out of all the attacking creatures. Things do get a lot tougher though, despite the extra pick-ups to help you on your way. A lot of playing practice will have to be put in before you get any distance into the game and it will be quite a while before all the levels have been conquered.

JUDGEMENT

Some people may argue that there are too many shoot-em-ups on the market already, and this would be a fair point. The problem is that a great deal of them is pretty half baked, pale representations of established coin-op machines. However with a game like Turrican, not too many people could complain about the addition of another blast to the ever-increasing list. Rather than being a rip-off, Turrican could well be in an arcade (in fact do not be surprised to see some of Turrican's ideas finding their way into future coin-ops). The gameplay itself is nto particularly groundbreaking, but it is frantic fun and extremely well presented and should appeal immensely to fans of the old 'spraying bullets' genre.



Turrican 1 logo Amiga Joker Hit

Rainbow Arts ist immer wieder für eine Überraschung gut; Edel-Flops wie "Graffity Man" oder "Berlin 1948" werden mit gleicher Nonchalance veröffentlicht wie Mega-Hammer. Diesmal hat die Düsseldorfer Company einen echten Knaller gezaubert: Ein reinrassiges Ballergame mit tierisch vielen Extrawaffen, Spitzengrafik und flotter Musik!

Die Story ist schnell erzählt: Seit Jahrtausenden peinigt ein furchtbar böser Morgul die Menschheit mit den schrecklichsten Alpträumen. Vor einigen Jahren hat ihn ein tapferer Jüngling in eine andere Dimension vertrieben, doch jetzt ist das Monster wieder aufgetaucht. Deine Mission dürfte damit wohl klar sein: Morgul finden und 'nen Kopf kürzer machen!

Nach einem gelungenen Intro mit starkem Chris Hülsbeck-Sound sieht man de Helden mit der Strahlenkanone im Anschlag auf einem Felsen stehen; er wartet offensichtlich darauf, daß sich jemand de Joystick schnappt und losballert! Gut, gehen wir's also an: Der Weg zum Morgul ist beschwerlich und mit tiefen Schluchten, dunklen Höhlen und geheimnisvollen Techno-Landschaften gepflastert.

Es gibt dreizehn Level, die zu insgesamt fünf Welten zusammengefaßt sind; der Held läßt sich darin in alle Richtungen steuern. Eine Unmenge verschiedener Gegner hat es dabei auf die drei Bildschirmleben abgesehen: Da tummeln sich fliegende Würmer, zweibeinige Stahlroboter und herumballernde Panzerfaustschützen, um nur ein paar aufzuzählen.

Glücklicherweise ist auch der Hero ganz gut ausgerüstet; mit seiner Lasergun pustet er schonmal de Großteil der Feinde vom Screen. Für die härteren Brocken müssen Bonussymbole aufgesammelt werden, die für feine Extrawaffen ohne Ende sorgen. Man darf Minen legen und Smart Bombs werfen; es gibt Streufeuer, diverse andere Laserfeuer, Schutzeschilder und was weiß ich noch alles. Außerdem kann sich das Helden-Sprite in eine Art Kreis-säge verwandeln (Joystick nach unten und Spce-Taste drücken) und unverwundbar über den Screen rasen - in diesem Zustand ist die bloße Berührung der Todeskuß für alle Gegner!

Turrican ist eine actiongeladene Ballerei in programmiertechnischer Perfektion: Die Animationen sind flüssig, die Hintergrundgrafiken gelungen, und die Sounds ausgezeichnet (jeder Level hat seine eigene Christ Hülsbeck-Musik).

Hinzu kommt der ausgefeilte Schwierigkeitsgrad - wie es sich gehört, wird dem Spieler von Stage zu Stage immer ein bißchen mehr an Joystick-Geschick abverlangt.

Somit ist Turrican nicht nur ein kleines Meisterwerk deutscher Programmierkunst - es macht vor allem wahnsinnig Spaß! (C. Borgmeier)



Turrican 1 logo CU Amiga Screen Star

Rainbow Arts
£24.99

Programmed by the same team who brought you Denaris, Turrican looks to be a turning point in European software. Featuring lots of extra weapons, neat sprites and hidden bonuses, it is very reminiscent of the Japanese shoot 'em ups which have clogged up arcades and kiddies concsoles for the past six years.

Set over thirteen levels, Turrican requires you to blow seven kinds of hell out of the bad guys, collect several hundred diamonds, find your way through a maze and confront several rather large guardians.

Your hero starts off with a bog standard gun, plus an amazingly over-the-top beam weapon. Extras include three-way fire, an extended beam laser, smart bombs, land mines and a laser that is guaranteed to wipe the screen clear of aliens.

Finally there is gyro mode. By pulling the joystick down and tapping the space bar, your character is transformed into an indestructible circular saw blade. Rather handy for getting out of tight situations. All these weapons are easily accessed so there is no messing around with window and menus.

The standard nasties are not too inspired. However the end-of-level beasts are quite smart. The first is a huge fist which does its level best to make a pancake out of you; next is a giant robot piranha, then finally there is a gue thrashing mass of blades, which traps you in the end room in an out-and-out battle.

Variety is essential in this type of game and Turrican supplies it. The first level is a run along/zap the aliens affair. Level two is reminiscent of Denaris on the C64, and involves you in an all-out search for diamonds. Later levels also include a maze section, a vertically scrolling jet pack flight and a huge city which marks the end of your adventure.

The graphics are, to coin a term, arcade quality. All the aliens are well drawn and well animated again similar to the Japanese style of clear cut, hi-tech design. The sound effects are of a similar high standard; a multitude of zaps, explosions and voer twenty different tunes.

Turrican is the best shoot 'em up I have seen this year. Definitely a gme the discerning arcadester cannot afford to ignore.



Turrican 1 logo Zero Hero

Thinking that Turrican was an exotic form of pâté, Paul Lakin arrived to review it armed witha loaf of sliced brown bread and a rather dirty knife...

Well, what do you know. Just as you've settled down to spend a Saturday afternoon in front of Grandstand, old Morgul strolls into town.
Remember Morgul? 'Course you do. He's the story of guy who spills little old ladies' pints of stout. We're not talking bad, we're not even talking really rather nasty, we're talking evil incarnate! Phew!

To teach the cad a lesson, Turrican (that's you) is going to have to battle across five worlds of nasties. Worlds are not small things (unless they're small worlds of course) so you'd better be prepared to explore 13 levels or, if you prefer, 1300 screens. As well as blasting nasties you'll be collecting crystals, energy boosters and the like. Let's face it, there's no way you're even going to be back for Final Score.

Turrican comes with some really rather good credentials. The sound was done by the same guy who did the sound on X-Out and R-Type onto 16-bit. It also has some rather fast 50-frames-per-second scrolling and more aliens than you can shake a laser blaster at. Not a game for the fainthearted.

Amiga reviewPaul: Turrican, now that's a daft name if I ever heard one. I mean it's going to go down a right treat at the International Convention For Really TUFF Superheroes. "Hi guys, my name's Turrican but you can call me Turry for short." An introduction like that is likely to make you about as pooular as a fire eater on an oil rig.

At first glance it looked as if the game Turrican was going to be as feeble as the name. The graphics didn't strike me as out of this world, nor did the gameplay seem up to much. Oh dear, another half-baked shoot 'em-up I thought.
Which all goes to show how wrong first impressions can be. In fact Turrican is on the very good side of excellent.

Although some of the backgrounds are a little uninspiring, they are colourful with nice changes of light and even some rather impressive lightning sequences. Better still is the three way parallax scrolling, it's almost enough to make you forget the danger.

The monsters are well executed and even weller (Better you fool. Ed. animated. Turrican himself is a real neat little mover - which is a good thing considering some of the platform gymnastics he has to pull off.

The range of weaponry is almost as fearsome as the range of... (Pauses while trying to think of word for monsters beginning with w)... erm, whelks. Hmm, not quite right. Anway you've got a lot of weapons see, including little bombs that you can leave around to blow up unsuspecting little monsters (or in my case unsuspecting little Turricans who'd forgotten to read their copy of A Beginner's Guide To Blowing People Up).

As would be expected, the soundtrack is pretty impressive. It has the same rich sound as X-Out. Even more impressive is the scope of the game. Each level seems to go on and on. Mapping this game could be a full time job. Just when you think you've reached a dead end a stray shot knocks down another wall and reveals another few screens of danger to you.

In view of the depth of the game, the end of level nasties are a bit disappointing but they're about the only thing in this game which is. Stop



Turrican 1 logo Zzap! Sizzler

Rainbow Arts, Amiga £24.99

The C64 Gold Medal has finally spawned the inevitable Amiga conversion, and once again the world is under threat. Morgul is the three-headed demon which has been haunting Mankind's dreams for centuries. In ancient times Morgul was banished to an unknown dimension by the hero Devolon, his only influence on Earth the nightmares that disturbed people's sleep. Now the nightmares are escaping into everyday life with people afraid to venture outside their homes. Morgul's kingdom of dread is re-establishing its dominion and only one man still has courage enough to resist - the Turrican.

All of humanity's ingenuity and skill has gone into equipping him with the most fearsome weaponry. For defence he has a lightweight armour suit, its energy supply shown just above the score on the right. For offence he has a machine gun, grenades, mines, smart bombs and a lightning bolt (which can be rotated around the player). Some aliens leave symbols when shot; these can give extra grenades, smart bombs and mines, extend the lightning flash to the length of the screen and improve the laser gun with triple shot or replace it with a laser. In emergency Turrican can even change into a small, fast moving gyroscope.

All this incredible firepower is vital since Morgul's kingdom is vast, including five different worlds. Three worlds are split into three levels. Fortunately Turrican begins with three lives, and three continue-plays. More lives can be got by collecting special symbols, while further continue-plays are earned by collecting 300 of the diamonds, which can be found on the worlds.


Phil King This is set to become a classic! The C64 game astonished us with its technical excellence, and although the Amiga version isn't quite as amazing it plays just as well as its 8-bit counterpart. It has a great arcade feel to it all with beautiful backgrounds (completely different for each world) and detailed animation (especially on the swaggering hero). I also loved the varied, dramatic music which heightens the atmosphere: this includes some heavy, pounding tracks and the brilliant Alien world One consists of an eerie roaring sound effect. This 'distant storm' is just like being on LV426 with Sigourney and Co. What's more; unlike many games nowadays you have both the music and FX simultaneously. The latter are really good, even if the lightning bolt sounds like an electric shaver!
The most impressive thing is gameplay, though. The levels are huge and great fun to explore while Turrican's range of weaponry and special features adds a dose of strategy in knowing when to use what: the rotating lightning bolt must be one of the best weapons in any game. In fact, I can't help feeling Turrican would make a brilliant coin-op: it's got better, more varied gameplay than most coin-op conversions! This is original arcade action at its best, fully making use of the Amiga's capabilities.
Robin Hogg The C64 game was technically brilliant, crammed to busting with graphic styles and wonderful playable - all things that 16-bit conversions rarely manage to replicate well without being accused of not using the host machine. Turrican changes things quite dramatically with super slick scrolling taking you around some truly massive levels. All credit to Manfred Trenz for the original C64 version as the gameplay was superb to start with and comes across intact. The flow of the game is remarkably quick; it's very easy to run into trouble with some incredible mother aliens. Those continue-plays are very welcome indeed (the mega piranha fish may not be quite as good as its C64 brother but it moves horribly quickly!).
Rainbow Arts have taken the time to use the Amiga's capabilities with good compression techniques allowing each world to have all sub-levels in one load, a different tune per level (the level 3 music is even better with 16-bit power behind it), expended levels and of course, true Amiga quality use of colours and graphic detail. A great blast (the best I've seen on the Amiga) and one to really get the blood racing. First division stuff.
Scorelord It's an astounding testimony to the brilliance of the C64 games that a fairly straightforward conversion has resolved in one of the best Amiga games we've seen. Five worlds and 1300 screens are massive for any machine! The graphics obviously aren't as astonishing as the C64's - we know the Amiga's got a blitter so massive end-of-level monsters aren't quite as dazzling. But the main sprite is superbly animated. His whole body moves as it walks. His weapons are no less impressive, with the lightning bolt particularly good, really sparking with amazing energy.
There's also a bit more animation on the background graphics, which obviously use more colours and detail to ensure a real 16-bit feel. This is a vast game, packed with graphic imagination, gameplay variation and most of all, playability. I particularly like the world where the scrolling goes vertical for an all-out shoot'-em-up with our hero strapping on a jetpack. The graphics have a Salamander feel while the soundtrack sounds just like something Konami might write. Also good are the different ways you can play the game. To start with you rush around looking for the exit, trying to speed through the levels to see yet more of the graphics. But later on you get a bit wiser and start looking for the numerous treasure rooms, hidden away in the most obscure locations but packed with shimmering diamonds. Using this technique it's possible to build up lots of continue-plays, making it all seems almost impossible to complete.
All in all, a huge game which is recommended for anyone wanting a top-notch arcade blast.

Turrican 1 logo CDTV

Ja doch, es stehen wieder haarsträubende Baller-Streifzüge durch die fünf Turrican-Welten an, um dem Übelwicht Morgul eins vor die Birne zu brettern. All die versteckten Extras, die Superwaffen und natürlich die Gegner des Originals sind mit von der Partie. Aber die Nachricht des Tages ist sicherlich, daß sich die Action-Orgie mit dem CDTV-eigenen Infrarot-Pad nach kurzer Eingewöhnungszeit bestens dirigieren läßt - für ein Game dieser Art besonders wichtig!

Rein technisch gibt es wenig zu bemerken, der Schillerscheiben-Turrican gleicht seinem Disk-Bruder auf's Haar. Das gilt sowohl für die tolle Grafik mit dem samtweichen Scrolling wie auch für Chris Hülsbecks "O(hr)chester". Nur die abspeicherbaren Highscores sind der neuen Technik zum Opfer gefallen, aber wer wird schon wegen einer solchen Lappalie auf seinen Turri verzichten? Urteil: Super.
(Rainbow Arts, ca. 89,- DM)