Turrican 3

Turrican 3 is a sci-fi platformer/shooter that was initially developed by Factor 5 for the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis under the name Mega Turrican. It was later ported to Amiga in 1993 as a sequel to Turrican and Turrican II.

It is always a pleasure to return to a classic of the time. It is a game that not only marked gamer generations but that today is still played by a huge amount of speedrunners—a difficult game, fun, and with enormous technical quality. I'm talking about Turrican 3. Yes, that's the game I was referring to.

Also known as Mega Turrican, the third part of this saga of run-and-gun space shooters was developed by Factor 5. The title originally developed for the Mega Drive received a port to the Amiga, which was even released before its other version.

In this installment, we witness the return of The Machine, who, after doing his thing in the previous adventure, in this title puts an end to the freedom and tranquility of the entire galaxy by destroying dozens of planets and enslaving several civilizations. In the previous game, Bren McGuire had carried out his revenge against The Machine and received the call of a girl who desperately asks for help since her planet is being enslaved. So, the hero answers the call for rescue and swears revenge against evil once again. The man really loves swearing revenge on things. Yes, he embarks on a suicidal mission against a horde of enemies only because a stranger asked him to. The game (for obvious reasons) does not hesitate to clarify that she is beautiful.

The gameplay is quite similar to previous releases of the saga. The character can choose between three weapons: a laser, a weapon with a spread shot and a lot of damage, and another one that shoots bullets that bounces up and down. The game also uses a system where the protagonist enters a wheel-mode or even uses a grappling hook, almost identical to mechanics used in Super Metroid.

Graphically, the adventure doesn't offer anything out of the ordinary for this type of title. The levels have a dystopian-industrial theme. Although each one has a different background color, the level itself is dominated by different ochre and yellow shades, representing decaying machinery. The entrance also has little music, but it's enjoyable, and every song is very distinguishable from one another, so that's a plus.

In conclusion, Turrican 3 may be very suspiciously similar to Super Metroid, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The result ends up being enjoyable. The main problem with this title is that it's a completely different game than the two predecessors. Turrican 1 and 2 were two legendary games on the Amiga, with their wide-open levels and superb gameplay, where exploration played a major role. Turrican 3 is more "console-style," with linear levels and difficulty much easier than the predecessor. If you are not looking for a true "Turrican" experience, you might even like this game better. But to be honest, there is no real benefit in choosing the Amiga version rather than the Genesis one.