We are back with another retro video game collection review! This time we are taking a look at the recently released Turrican Anthology Vol. 1 brought to us by ININ Games, which collects a selection of the games from the series into one tasty package. ININ Games have also released a Vol. 2 collection too, so keep your eyes peeled on the site for that review coming soon!
Turrican was originally released back in 1990 and was created by computer developer Manfred Trenz (he created a commodore 64 version of R-type and also made The Great Giana Sisters). The game was then released on Amiga by Factor 5 and is described as a cross between Metroid and Psycho-Nics Oscar. After the original release multiple sequels followed and the series became a solid fan favourite!
The Turrican series is a solid line of action games filled with bright graphics, non-linear, explorable levels, tons of shooting and a rocking soundtracks composed by Chris Huelsbeck.
The games included in volume one include Turrican and Turrican II for the Amiga, Super Turrican and Super Turrican Director's Cut for the Super Nintendo, and finally Mega Turrican Score Attack for Sega Megadrive/Genesis. The original Amiga and SNES games play exactly like you remember them but it is nice in collections like this when they add extra versions in as well!
The Directors Cut comes complete with a previously unreleased/missing level from the original game. Whilst its a great addition to the collection to be able to play this content is doesn't have the polish of the original games release and you can see why it wasn't originally included. The final addition is the Mega Turrican Score Attack and this whilst fun, is nothing more than glorified unlockable mode (and a single levelled one at that) and I don't feel it should be advertised as a full experience.
As with many of these classic retro rerelease packages, there are tons of added extras and improvements on top of the games which improve overall accessibility and give you some great bits of history to look through.
• A map feature allowing you to scan the whole map
• The ability to turn different map layers on and off
• Various enhancements on the original map like real-time and overlay maps
• Different soundtracks to choose from: emulated, original remastered by Chris Huelsbeck himself or Turrican Soundtrack Anthology music
• The option to choose either Amiga, Console or modern controls
• Unlockable cheats
• Jukebox for each game + Bonus Jukebox
• A gallery with never-seen-before concept art
• Manual scans for all games
• Improved rewind support
• Selectable covers for each game
The map feature comes in handy across all the games as it lets you view the surroundings and makes it easier to find the secret areas. Having a rewind option in modern retro releases is always a must as its honestly crazy how much harder games were back when we were younger.
Overall this is a great collection of games that still hold up to this day. The gameplay and controls are solid and all the new quality of life improvements really improve the game for newcomers and veterans alike. ININ as always have put out a great product, my only real complaint is it feels like the two separate anthologies should have been released as one package, especially considering the price and what other compilation/retro releases recently contain in terms of overall games.
TOTAL SCORE: 8/10 Turrican Anthology Vol. 1 was released onto the Playstation Store on the 29th July 2022. It is priced at £29.99 and works on both PS4 and PS5 consoles. You can buy the game HERE. The game is also available on Nintendo Switch.
We were provided a copy of the game for this review so a big thank you for that!
Comentarios