The lost colony of Alterra is a completely man-made lifeworld abandoned long ago in a nearby galaxy. Alterra is actually five colonies in one. Each self-contained habitat has been separately bio-engineered by a powerful ecosystem generation network known as a Multiple Organism Unit Link. MORGUL, for short. Early colonists used MORGUL to render Alterra inhabitable. But a cataclysmic quake severed all system interface functions, and MORGUL murderously rebelled. The few colonists lucky enough to escape told a grim tale of a higher intelligence gone berserk. For generations, mankind sought a return to Alterra. Finally, genetic science created a saviour: Turrican, a mutant warrior, bio-engineered for the task of planetary reclamation. In the meantime, MORGUL has diligently twisted Alterran life forms to his brutal, destructive purposes. Thus, Turrican's challenges consist in eliminating hostile organisms from Alterra's five multi-level worlds and, finally, destroying the three faces of MORGUL.
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If that sounds like a chaotic mess, that's because it is. It doesn't totally fall apart. There's sections of this game that look great but without a dedicated direction, it aimlessly spins about until it sort of just ends.
I'd call this the more sober and streamlined equivalent to Mega Turrican but it still has mostly bad ideas for levels past the first stage - and only 4 in total. Stage 2 is cramped as hell, stage 3 has awkward ice physics and ledgejumps, and stage 4 still uses the goddawful train section from Mega. I don't consider Mega a well-executed game but its ideas feel more focused, memorable and contributable to its core identity. (it also has the better music lmao). There's less than half as many bosses here and the few that made the cut aren't even good. I think the only fun one to fight is the stage 2 robot head that gets bigger as you attack it and fires spreads that require taking cover.
I hear 2 is better. We'll see.