Turrican Returns in 3D

Miracles still do happen, even in the gaming industry. Some gamers may remember a shooter called Turrican on the Amiga or one of the incredible sequels that followed on the Super Nintendo and Genesis platforms. Popular for its jump-and-shoot play mechanics, Turrican achieved a cult status in the gaming scene. And in the age of reviving classics, Turrican is about to return in 3D. Whether this 3D installment will live up to the game's heritage still remains to be seen, but there is one reason to be positive: Manfred Trenz, father of the character, is back to evolve Turrican. With a team of 20 people on board, he is setting out to deliver Turrican to a new generation of gamers.

The developer of the game, Rainbow Arts, promises plenty of weapons in the style of the original game, as well as plenty of action puzzles. The levels will be expansive, and they already show some nice effects. Even the "beam" weapon has been reproduced in 3D.

For those unaware, the German-based Rainbow Arts is essentially the same crew that developed the original Turrican title. Several years ago, a few members of the group split off to create another development studio called Factor 5, which moved to the US to work on games for companies like LucasArts. (Star Wars games on the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 were for the most part masterminded by the bunch.) Currently, Factor 5 is working on its own version of Turrican for the upcoming Nintendo Dolphin. Although it will be called Thornado instead of Turrican (because Rainbow Arts has the rights to the name), Factor 5 says that Thornado will feature designs and gameplay that will make Turrican lovers feel right at home.

As for Manfred Trenz's Turrican 3D for the PC, the game has been in development for well over a year now, with no announced release date. THQ has the rights to the PC version in Europe, but we'll have to see who publishes it in the States. As for a console version of the game, rumors have already hinted that the game would appear on the Dreamcast (because of Turrican's console-driven gameplay, a port to Sega's console would be a no-brainer). We'll surely deliver more details to you in the near future, so stay tuned.