Year: 1993
Platform: Super Nintendo
Publisher: Seika
Developer: Factor 5
Genre: Action/adventure
Rating: ****

This extremely fun game is essentially a variation of the awesome "Turrican 2" which came out for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991. The biggest difference is that the flame thrower weapon has been replaced with a freeze ray, which can be whipped around in a 360 degree arc to momentarily freeze enemies. Unfortunately, as a weapon it's pretty weak, and is mostly only useful for exposing hidden platforms and power-ups. The jump is also limited, which makes traversal harder than the previous games. Again, Chris Hülsbeck's music score rocks, and the Dolby Surround Sound is pretty darn cool. It's arguably the best looking game in the series, but the garish background colors often overpower the foreground action. It's also one of the hardest games in the series and less fun to play than the previous games. Even with the invincibility cheat enabled, the numerous instant death scenarios can end your game very quickly. Regardless, this game alone was enough to make me buy a SNES.