Factor 5 finally ditches all semblance of open-ended level design (except for 1 fucking water level) and are forced to accept the fact they cannot design linear content. With all the returning mechanics and insane visual fidelity, it's clear they wanted this to be THE Turrican - their Mega Man X, their Super Mario World, their Shinobi III. But Super 2 is dreadfully unplayable, funneling every section of gameplay into a stringent, hacky setpiece. The styles are constantly switching up to vehicle and mode 7 sections to hide the fact they have no idea how to make fun encounters out of the toolkit they gave you. And the cranked-up difficulty and low lives count only makes these sections feel more unbearable.

The best Turrican by virtue of presentation alone. Does a handful of pretty impressive things considering the hardware, and at times feels reminiscent of Treasure's games of the time (see the final boss).

On the other hand, it's a little too gimmicky. In lieu of the series' typical mazelike layouts (which were already beginning to phase out by Mega and Super Turrican), we're given much shorter, much more straightforward ones that feel more like intermissions between Contra III-esque setpieces and Mode 7 bike segments, even including a ripoff of Axelay in stage 4-1.These definitely make the game more interesting than its predecessors, but just aren't fun to play either. Feels like in some way or another they just couldn't get it right for the series' entire run.

That being said, this one is the closest. It's pretty cool to watch at a minimum, and I can see someone enjoying it a good amount. If you're going to play any Turrican games, make it this one.