Tyrian 2000

Tyrian is a fantastic game from the days of the vertical shoot-em-up. Back then, shareware games were common, and you could play the first full episode series for free without registering, and could share the shareware version freely, with anyone you thought might like it (I miss the golden age of shareware...) Anyway, not only did I defeat the shareware version multiple times, I also registered it, and played the full version through many times (quite a few things changed, even in Episode 1). I also purchased Tyrian 2000 on CD when it came out, and again, beat it many times over. The story, and the ability to purchase different ships, shields, and weaponry (each with multiple levels of power), makes this much more than the usual shmup. This is pre-bullet hell too, you can enjoy and explore (and the number and types of secrets are incredible), rather than memorize patterns. The only game I've found that is even close to Tyrian (and believe me, I keep looking!!) is Raptor: Call of the Shadows, which comes across like a rough early version of Tyrian's gameplay style. Give it a shot! Get Tyrian 2000 for that version, and get OpenTyrian for the original registered version of Tyrian!!

Man, oh man! I loved playing this back in the days of High School. I had downloaded a bunch of Epic Mega Games products to my 85 MHz 486 machine from a BBS with nothing more than a 14.4 kbps modem. Hah! Have we evolved from then or what? Between this, Jazz Jackrabbit, One Must Fall: 2097, Solar Winds, Jill of the Jungle, Epic Pinball, and Castle of the Winds 1&2 my afternoons were stock full of fun. Add in to that mix Privateer 2, Master of Orion 2, and C&C: Red Alert and I had practically every genre of game. This is still one of my all time favorites, though. It stands head and shoulders over everything else that Epic MegaGames had put out at the time. The graphics are great, the game play is smooth, the controls are responsive, massive customization of the ship model/engine/shield/weapons, and there's so much to find! So many secrets! The plot is standard fare; find out what UberCorp is doing and stop them, but the lore they threw into it is what really makes this stand out. From the messages from your parents, to the President of MicroSol telling you that your mission is pointless, the game actually makes you feel like your actions have an impact. This is worth a play, even in this day and age, and best of all - it's free!

I said to my self, lets give it a try, Anyway, is for free. Just a couple of hours to the bed. There was no bed for me that night.

This game is very fun and now its free. The controls of the game are quite simple and not to complex you can play with either keyboard, mouse, or gamepad/joystick. Default controls are not to complex. Music is awesome and memorable in fact I have the soundtrack that GOG included on my mp3 player. And the replay ability is quite impressive for its genre. And there is multiplayer where one person controls a second ship with the mouse while player 1 uses the keyboard, also the ships combine for more fire power. There are 5 episodes which include tons of levels and secret levels. There is the classic Arcade Mode which you play from level 1 to the last level picking up powerups and gaining points which increase the amount of lives you have. There is also a mode called Full Mode(which is pretty much Story Mode) which you start out with a cheap ship which you purchase upgrades (which money replaces your score, instead of gaining points for killing enemies you gain money to spend on upgrades) along the way which include: Weapons, Shields, Generators, and New Ship Types. This mode includes exclusive levels that you can only find in Full Mode. This mode is more challenging because you only get one live; you die you have to start the whole level over again, which can be a pain in some bonus levels and later stages. And the game includes a lot of unlockables/secrets. Included is 2+ more difficulty levels after Hard difficulty which will test your skills. New ships to play as in Arcade Mode. A game like Scorched Earth. A special surprise when you play during the month of December I remember the first time I played it was when my dad who went on business trips. One trip he picked me up a magazine from France and it came with a demo disk which included this game. I played it all the time. Me and my friend played through the whole shareware version which included the first episode which was quite a long game.

Amazing 2d side-scrolling shooter! Similar to Raptor: call of shadows.