Turrican Flashback - Review

Over the years, there have been a few iconic games that have garnered some cult status, even if most of the gaming public. Turrican is just one of those games, while the developer behind them, Factor 5, may not be around as they were when these games were created, their legacy is strong, but is that enough for the modern gaming audience?

The Turrican collection is made up of four classic titles, two from the Amiga, along with one from Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo, the first being released in 1990 and the last, hitting the Genesis in 1995. If anyone has never played the games, they can best be explained as a blend of Contra, Metroid and Mega Man, combing the bullet hell action of the former, the exploration of the middle and robots of the latter, the games do lean more towards the Contra series. The template that was set with the original game was replicated in all of them, which is an issue we will talk on later, but you basically need to make your way towards the exit, but while there are some signs of the direction you need to go, there is no guided path to it. As you fight your way towards it, you will discover countless enemies, power upgrades and some random bosses, just to make things a little harder.

Getting around is simple, thanks to solid platforming and a nice wheel action can let you cover ground with some speed and laydown some bombs when you need to. Though while the platforming is solid, it is also quite punishing, giving you plenty of elements that you need to take into consideration, something that was not as common in games back then. While each game has a few differences from the others, there is a lot of crossover in their design is similar and even though the Super Nintendo and the Genesis had very different controllers back then, in the collection they play with almost no delay in adjusting. But as good as the games are, there are problems, not with them, with the collection as a whole.

Starting off with the good, let’s talk about visual options, as there are a solid number of them and the one most players will care about are the wallpapers, kidding. No the one that most will want to look into are the display options, specifically around them being stretched to fill the screen, left in the 4:3 ratio of old displays or the pixel perfect mode and each has their pros. When you are choosing to display any of the games in anything other than the pixel perfect mode, you can choose to have a little blur, make it crisper or delve full on into the razor-sharp lines of pixels. If I am being honest, it can be very difficult to see the difference, at least when paused, but only slightly possible when in action. In addition to the ratio, you can also choose to display the Hud or have it dynamically hide, at least in the Amiga games, but that also changes the ratio, what it boils down to, is that you can find a display that works for you.

I did mention before about the wallpapers and let’s talk about those, there are four options and sadly one of them is a black screen, now this doesn’t matter if you drag the image to fill the screen, but for those going for authentic playback, that is an issue. It also highlights the other problem that this collection has, there is nothing in the collection. Some of the games let you sample sounds, but that is not a new feature, that is built into the games, no there is no sound playback outside of that, there are no designs of enemies or levels from sketch to screen, there is nothing. Well, I say nothing, if you are willing to pay 100 euro, you can buy a physical edition that comes with more versions of the games, as well as some posters, a making of documentary and an art book, but if digital is your only option, you get nothing.

That leans into the other part of the bad, apart from the ability to rewind the games, which is quickly becoming a standard option in these sort of releases, there is nothing else here. Each of the games is wonderfully presented and is a blast (and challenge) to play, but by the time I was done with the second game, I honestly wasn’t sure if I could dive right into a third entry. It would be like being offered chocolate cake, then once you eat the entire thing, you get given another and before you even bite into that one, you can see two more behind it. There is nothing wrong with the games, but because there is nothing to space them out with, the desire to keep playing them fades fairly quickly.

Honestly though, the same impact can be applied to any collection where there are many games in the same series, like the Mega Man Legacy Collections, the difference there is that they provide alternate game modes, new playback features and of course, an impressive gallery of bonus content. For fans of Turrican, this is a must get, because there hasn’t been an easy way to enjoy the original games for decades, but for those who are on the fence, I would wait for a sale, the quality of the games is here, you just need to decide if you can enjoy the same meal over and over, without anything to cleanse the pallet in between.

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Inin Games

The Pros

+Each of the four games included, play fantastically, either docked or not

+Being able to rewind is a lifesaver, because there are times when the action can ramp up

The Cons

-There is nothing else here, no art, no music, just a few wallpapers

-The extra games being included in the retail releases should be here as well