Tyrian 2000

I first discovered Tyrian when I went digging through the files on my dad's old computer at the young age of 3. I'm now 22 and have probably beaten this game around 25 times since I first played it. When it comes to pure shoot 'em up goodness, almost no other game can compare. Not only is Tyrian infinitely more forgiving than most other space ship shooters, allowing you to take multiple hits and even giving you a regenerating shield, it's just bloody fun. There's no better relief for stress than to hop on this game and romp through a few levels decimating entire star fleets and massive battle ships in your humble fighter. Besides, even if you end up not liking the game, you didn't pay a dime for it since it's free.

Tyrian has been around for a good stretch now. With the release of Tyrian 2000 (Win/Mac), there's no reason to not have it. PROS: + Arcade style shooting action. + Gamepad compatible. + RPG sort of upgrading system. + Windows and Mac installers included. + Rock bottom hardware requirements. CONS: - No online multiplayer that I'm aware of. VERDICT: Given that Tyrian 2000 doesn't cost a penny, why don't you have it yet?

Until two years ago I've been all my life playing old videogames, and for sure I had space shooters among them. Before I knew this one, my favourite was Dangerous Seed in the Mega Drive/Genesis, but, man, Tyrian means for its subgenre what Metal Slug (or Contra for some people) means to shoot'em up titles. Cool sprites, fast gameplay, interesting ship improvement system and, of course, epic difficulty. I just can't give a word about story yet, even if I managed to read a bit of it, but no text could make this piece bad. For Linux users, I recomend using the extracted content in the native DOSBox emulator. Take a shot in this game, it's a great hit.

I CANT STOP PLAYING THANK YOU FOR THIS one of the best shooters I ever played and I played a hell lotta shooters in my life

A bright, colourful and easy-to-play SHMUP that reminds me of happy days gone past with R-Type and other 90s games in the genre. The difficulty level is good for people (like me) who are not twitch-fiends or bullet-hell enthusiasts. Tough enough to be challenging, not so tough you give up. If you're a bit fan of this genre, I imagine you'll find it very easy. You can change your load out each level, which gives you variety of strategies to try. There's a wide range of enemy types that forces you to switch your playstyles from time to time, and a few bonus objectives in each mission that allow you to stretch yourself. My one criticism is that the plot doesn't make a lot of sense. Apparently the idea was to only tell you part of the story, so you had to piece things together from your little perspective in a grander war. But I found it too confusing to follow. Not that it matters though, this is a shooter, not Mass Effect. Well worth a try!