Turrican Anthology Vol. II
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Critic Reviews for Turrican Anthology Vol. II
Mega Turrican represents one of the series highlights, and there’s a certain amount of intrigue in Super Turrican 2’s adjustment of the formula. The rest is largely recycled. The package has all the same awesome, tweakable features and options featured in Vol. 1 as well as continued bonuses in the form of galleries, jukeboxes, and a remastered soundtrack option. But the price for what’s on offer is somewhat lofty. As we mentioned in our review of Turrican Anthology Vol.1, there’s no real need to split these titles between two releases except to wring more money out of consumers. While the titles herein and the quality of the ports are generally excellent, the lack of unique content leaves something to be desired.
In the end, though Turrican Anthology Vol. 2 doesn't feel quite as essential as its predecessor, the inclusion of both Turrican 3 and Mega Turrican, not to mention Super Turrican 2, still makes this ensemble of side-scrolling, platforming shooter retro goodness a worthwhile venture for fans of the genre.
Turrican Anthology Vol. I & II have some great games and the extra features that have been added are among the best that I’ve seen in a retro game collection. That is why it is such a shame that these are two separate collections that are priced so high as I can’t fully recommend them at the asking price. It becomes even harder to recommend to those who picked up the Flashback Collection last year as you already got some of the best entries in that even if it was missing many of the extra features that are included here. Whether you’re a fan of the series or just have a passing interest in seeing what the Turrican series is all about I think you should wait to pick these two collections up on sale.
Turrican Anthology Vol. II is another good set of retro run-and-gun action games. This collection features titles that are more linear than those in the first collection, but two of the games are very similar to each other.
The second volume of the Turrican Anthologies didn’t hit as well for me as the first, which is surprising as I fully expected the opposite due to it containing an exclusive game! Yet, said game isn’t nearly as fun as the others, and as much as I love it, having three versions of Mega Turrican here is a bit overkill, even if I get why they included them. The Super Turrican Score Attack being a bit weaker also stings, and I ultimately feel that a combined SKU would have been better at the end of the day.
Judging Turrican Anthology Vol. 1 & 2 isn't easy, especially from the perspective of a fan of Manfred Trenz's creation. Such fans might overlook the ill-advised (and money-grabbing) decision to split the collection into two volumes, driven by love that's hard to quantify economically. Setting this particular target aside, the two well-packaged collections offer a rich gaming history with thoughtfully conceived enhancements, albeit at a steep price. As always with nostalgia-driven operations, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. As a series superfan, I recommend waiting for a price drop despite the collection's quality. The spontaneous question arises: a new episode?
Review in Italian | Read full review
Altogether, Vol. II falls into the same category as Vol. I: a collection of deep cuts better suited to completionists and Turrican loyalists than the everyday player.
