The original Turrican I/II plays like a mix of Metriod of and Contra. It had Metroids large expansive levels, but with increased intensity reminiscence of more action focused titles. Developed by one man, Manfred Trenz, it's quite an achievement.
Mega Turrican (Or Turrican 3) is developed by Factor5. It feels very different.
Large labyrinth map are replaced by tighter linear levels with comparatively no downtime. Almost every foot the game encourages the player to keep the finger on the trigger button. It's first and foremost, an action game.
A few original features exist, such as the gyroscope, powerups and the occasional secret, but this is primarily about a constant firework of explosions.
There are a few recognizable takes on the enemies can be seen, including bosses. The vanilla enemies somewhat bland, simply walking from the right towards the player by and large. It let's the action element down somewhat lacking the creativity of the originals.
If willing to accept the difference in design, in this regard, it's hard to fault Mega Turrican beyond that. It's fast frenetic pacing is smooth, it's visual and audio presentation pretty much perfect and boss battles frequent, enjoyable and improved over Manfred's original.
It's an interesting title. Taken as a whole, Turrican I/II are arguably better. Taken as a purely action game, Mega Turrican clearly comes on top thanks to tighter methodical pacing. It's a fantastic action game, albeit far more traditional in nature.
Basically, if you like shooting things, seeing pretty explosions and other pretty effects against a HR Giger backdrop, there are worse ways to spend an evening.
