Holy power line, Batman ! It has been 11 years since the last Turrican fangame was released ! And what a fangame it is !
Made by : Jorg "Eiswuxe" Winterstein and Thomas "Turri" Schreiter
Released in : June 20, 2007.
Genre : Modern Turrican (Plateform/Shooter)
Players : Two players Co-op (Local).
Price : Free.
Website : https://www.winterworks.de/project/hurrican/
If you're not familiar with Turrican : it's nothing like Contra or Metal Slug. It's a plateform/shooter heavily inspired by Metroid (giant levels and morph ball power), Mario (controls and mecanics) and Psycho Nics Oscar (armored robot with gunS and power ups). While (especially Turrican I & II) the levels of the series are all linear, you're encouraged to explore them a lot to find 1-Up, Diamonds (witch can give you a Continue) and power ups. Exploration is always rewarded. The franchise has changed quite a bit since Manfred Trenz, the sole creator of the first two ones, wasn't very involved in the series after Turrican II, going from a heavily exploration based levels to more "closed arcade action" in Turrican 3 / Mega Turrican and Super Turrican 2.
After the demise of Turrican 64 / Thornado, the rights of Turrican were in the hands of THQ (with Manfred Trenz, for a time). THQ only made a couple of games for mobiles and then, cancelled Turrican 3D before its release. And after that, the franchise went dormant... but you can always bet on fans to resurrect the franchise.
Almost complete, Turrican 3D by Manfred Trenz and THQ, for the PC. To be released in December 99... and cancelled.
There were multiple tries to bring back the Turrican Assault Suit and Bren McGuire alive. The amazing Turrican SETA website can show you the cancelled fan projects (Turricane 4 Ever, Turrican Forever) and the ones who got released (like T2002, T4 Funeral -a great mod for T2002 and a completly new Turrican 3 for the C64 by Smash Designs). Today, I'm gonna talk about Hurrican, released in 2007 by team Poke53280 (now Winterworks).
Trailer from the Preview version, a few months before the release, highlighting what to expect.
Yep, eleven years since I played the final version of this gem, after five long years of development and a greate Preview version for the public, Hurrican was finally available and it was a blast.
Gameplay :
Hurrican controls exactly like a Turrican. It's amazing how Eiswuxe managed to get it perfect. It was one of the points I disliked the most about T2002 and its mods, but here, the team nailed it. You can jump, go underwater, transform into a spiked wheel (witch doesn't make you completly invincible to most of collisions, exactly like in Turrican 3 and Super Turrican 2) and for the first time in Turrican history : you can aim diagonally ! Doing so will stop your movement. Also, when you can finally swap between weapons freely instead of being able to carry only one. Getting weapon power ups level them up and losing a life decrease their level by one. The spiked wheel can slowly recharge and do it faster if you don't move. Finally, you can still use the famous 360 surround beam and even charge it to unleash a powerful sphere. Powerlines and Grenades are back and a new power up : the shockwave, witch touch everything on screen (unlike the power lines).
Yes ! You can shoot upward ! (img : MobyGames).
Music :
The soundtrack is awesome. It has a bit of a Turrican inspiration but is also its very own thing and identity. I really love some of the tracks (Main Title, In the beguinning, Jungle Beats, Demo Level 1, The Real Cave, Power Tower, Credits). Nailed it.
You can freely listen the OST on SoundCloud and Eiswuxe even included the tracks from the Preview Demo and the ones from the cut content (and when you watch the tons of tracks from the unreleased stuff, it makes you wonder what amount of levels / stuff has been cut !).
Graphics :
Maybe the part that didn't aged well because of the digitalised sprites, but personnally, it doesn't bug me at all. Each levels are distinct from the others and are filled to the max with secrets that only a trained eye will find. There's some nice effects underwater, bullets fall from your gun and drop on the ground, and even some smoke effects. It has a charm even if I prefer pixel art like the official Turrican. The excellent level design hopefully helps a lot to guide the player and even help him with a few hints here and there to access secrets.
Yep, it's that famous glove boss from... well, the entire franchise (except Super Turrican 2).
Verdict :
Turrican Mania /10.
It has been so long since the last time an official Turrican was released... and Hurrican nailed everything it needed to be a good fangame : the controls, the physics, the music, the levels... what a blast ! You can still get it for free at Eiswuxe websites, along with other games he worked on (like Bloo Kid 1 & 2).
https://www.winterworks.de/project/hurrican/
Made by : Jorg "Eiswuxe" Winterstein and Thomas "Turri" Schreiter
Released in : June 20, 2007.
Genre : Modern Turrican (Plateform/Shooter)
Players : Two players Co-op (Local).
Price : Free.
Website : https://www.winterworks.de/project/hurrican/
After the demise of Turrican 64 / Thornado, the rights of Turrican were in the hands of THQ (with Manfred Trenz, for a time). THQ only made a couple of games for mobiles and then, cancelled Turrican 3D before its release. And after that, the franchise went dormant... but you can always bet on fans to resurrect the franchise.
Almost complete, Turrican 3D by Manfred Trenz and THQ, for the PC. To be released in December 99... and cancelled.
Trailer from the Preview version, a few months before the release, highlighting what to expect.
Yep, eleven years since I played the final version of this gem, after five long years of development and a greate Preview version for the public, Hurrican was finally available and it was a blast.
Gameplay :
Hurrican controls exactly like a Turrican. It's amazing how Eiswuxe managed to get it perfect. It was one of the points I disliked the most about T2002 and its mods, but here, the team nailed it. You can jump, go underwater, transform into a spiked wheel (witch doesn't make you completly invincible to most of collisions, exactly like in Turrican 3 and Super Turrican 2) and for the first time in Turrican history : you can aim diagonally ! Doing so will stop your movement. Also, when you can finally swap between weapons freely instead of being able to carry only one. Getting weapon power ups level them up and losing a life decrease their level by one. The spiked wheel can slowly recharge and do it faster if you don't move. Finally, you can still use the famous 360 surround beam and even charge it to unleash a powerful sphere. Powerlines and Grenades are back and a new power up : the shockwave, witch touch everything on screen (unlike the power lines).
Yes ! You can shoot upward ! (img : MobyGames).
Music :
The soundtrack is awesome. It has a bit of a Turrican inspiration but is also its very own thing and identity. I really love some of the tracks (Main Title, In the beguinning, Jungle Beats, Demo Level 1, The Real Cave, Power Tower, Credits). Nailed it.
You can freely listen the OST on SoundCloud and Eiswuxe even included the tracks from the Preview Demo and the ones from the cut content (and when you watch the tons of tracks from the unreleased stuff, it makes you wonder what amount of levels / stuff has been cut !).
Graphics :
Maybe the part that didn't aged well because of the digitalised sprites, but personnally, it doesn't bug me at all. Each levels are distinct from the others and are filled to the max with secrets that only a trained eye will find. There's some nice effects underwater, bullets fall from your gun and drop on the ground, and even some smoke effects. It has a charm even if I prefer pixel art like the official Turrican. The excellent level design hopefully helps a lot to guide the player and even help him with a few hints here and there to access secrets.
Yep, it's that famous glove boss from... well, the entire franchise (except Super Turrican 2).
Verdict :
Turrican Mania /10.
It has been so long since the last time an official Turrican was released... and Hurrican nailed everything it needed to be a good fangame : the controls, the physics, the music, the levels... what a blast ! You can still get it for free at Eiswuxe websites, along with other games he worked on (like Bloo Kid 1 & 2).
https://www.winterworks.de/project/hurrican/
