Turrican II: The Final Fight Longplay (Amiga) [50 FPS]

Developed by Factor 5 and published by Rainbow Arts in 1991.
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** Update 11/01/2020 **
Watch my new recording of the game in 1440p here:    • Turrican II: The Final Fight Longplay...  

The Amiga had many fine games throughout it's life-time, but this could arguably be considered the best, or certainly one of the most memorable.

The game opens with perhaps one of the longest introduction sequences seen to date. Set some time in the future at a point where mankind has developed interstellar space travel, the story opens with the crew of the Avalon 1, an exploratory vessel, about to take the first voyage beyond the boundaries of the known universe. However, things quickly go awry when a large battle cruiser exits from hyperspace right in front of the Avalon 1.

The Avalon's defences are neutralised and the ship is boarded by all manner of mutants and their leader, The Machine. All save one of the Avalon's crew are slain and it is this crew member, Bren Mc Guire, who escapes to the armoury. Donning the latest Turrican exo-suit, Bren vows to avenge his slain comrades and embarks on a mission to prevent The Machine from dominating the universe.

What I always found strange is that the intro movie and the enemies depicted therein never seemed to gel with the actual game. Whereas the intro clearly depicts a fight against humanoid enemies armed with laser rifles, you spend an inordinate amount of time shooting insects, fish and other alien lifeforms that really wouldn't be part of The Machines forces; I suspect that the intro came after the game's development to try and put some context around the carnage that was to ensue.

Whatever the back-story, the bottom line is that Turrican II remains one of the best (and most challenging) games to grace the Amiga. The game features ultra-smooth scrolling, excellent use of bright and vibrant colour palettes and top-notch gameplay.

The player starts out with a standard single shot pulse laser, but this is quickly upgraded by finding one of the many hidden power cubes located within each level. The cubes appear once shot and spew power-ups, extra health and other goodies rather like a piñata. Each of the weapons has distinctive advantages and disadvantages and it is up to the player to decide which weapon will work best for the level that they're in. As a rule of thumb, the phaser will get you through the majority of the game as it can be upgraded to cover a fair chunk of the screen and the projectile passes through multiple enemies.

Holding down the fire button will activate the "Surround" attack, a stream of uninterrupted fire from the player's rifle that can be directed by moving the joystick in a complete 360 degree arc. This allows the player to attack enemies directly above and below his/her current position and can quickly inflict massive damage, something especially useful on certain boss fights. The Surround starts out with a limited range, but can be upgraded until it reaches the outer edges of the screen.

Pressing the space bar unleashes the "Power Line" attack, which is essentially two walls of white-hot plasma that fire out in both directions from the player and is great for taking out large packs of enemies attempting to swarm you.

As if this wasn't enough, pressing down and space will transform the Turrican suit into spiked gyroscope! The gyroscope travels extremely quickly but it's impossible to stop moving, it's entirely possible to roll off the edge of cliffs to your doom; you have been warned! The gyroscope will destroy pretty much any enemy it comes into contact with without damaging the player and can also be used to drop mines by pressing fire whilst activated. The gyroscope can also be used to travel through tunnels and access secret areas that are impossible to reach in human form, so be on the lookout for places that might hold secret areas.

It's impossible to talk about Turrican II without mentioning the in-game music. The games reverential status can be attributed in large part to Chris Huelsbeck's brilliant audio score; the game has both music and sound effects really demonstrate the Amiga's superior audio capabilities (for the time).

Thanks to YouTube's support for 60 FPS video, it's now possible to truly appreciate Factor 5's superb conversion of Manfred Trenz's iconic shooter - be sure to set the video to 720p for the full experience!
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