Tyrian 2000

One of those games I keep coming back to and doing a playthrough every once in a while. An absolute gem of classic old school PC goodness.

When I first tried Tyrian I've quit after several levels. This game really tested my reflex and patience. On the second try (after a long break) I managed to complete the game, but some levels are just brutal. What made it worth in the end was the wide variety of weapons and equipment, colorful artstyle and great soundtrack. This is a type of game for people that enjoy fast-pace arcade style gameplay. I'm not that type of person, but I got some enjoyment out of it.

Tyrian 2000 is a vertically scrolling 2D shoot'em up in the most classical vein. And your impressions from it will probably vary depending on when you stop playing. It starts off strong. Lots of enemies and upgradable equipment (weapons, shield, generator, the spaceship itself), graphical variability. The story is told through data cubes that you in part receive between missions and in part get from destroyed enemies. Plus, to encourage experimenting with the weaponry, you can sell your equipment at the same price for which you bought it. The authors just do their utmost to give you a great shmupping experience. So why only three stars? Well, the game is divided into 5 chapters, and all of the above works about till the end of chapter 3. Then the game starts to overstay its welcome. Ultimately, space shmups are about two things: weapon upgrades and progressively more epic boss fights. Near the end of chapter 3 I reached a point when I upgraded my weapons to the max and trying different ones didn't really change anything about fighting strategy. The other equipment worked the "buy whatever's the most expensive" way. Even worse, bosses felt like I'd seen them all before. No more surprising designs or attack patterns. And the final boss was a straight anti-climax: I killed it before it even fully arrived onto the screen! Also, chapter 4 and 5 introduced more humor to the story and even broke the 4th wall. This element was what kept me interested through the rest of the game (was there some surprising, mindboggling twist coming?), but unfortunately, the loose ends never got tied. Tyrian 2000 has impressive 61 levels. If it had about 40 and just a bit more interesting bosses near the end, I would have loved it to bits. As it is, I'd rather recommend you Jets'n'Guns Gold by Rake in Grass (2006), which does successfully what Tyrian 2000 attempted 5 years earlier. But hey, Tyrian is a freebie, so try it out for yourself and have as much fan as you deem suitable. :)

Its hard, fun, and old-school; there's secret levels, pain in the posterior bosses, and arcade levels that you have to play perfectly and then have a little luck. On top of all that it even gives Microsoft some well deserved bashing and goes deep with its story; overall, the only thing I would improve would be fixing some of its glitches and making the fourth episode feel less automatic (you've fully upgraded your ship at this point). (P.S. One of its minigames is the unofficial mini-game of the Last Supper.)

Tyrian is easily one of the games I would put on the "Required Play" list (gaming equivalent of Requireed Reading), especially if shoot 'em ups are your thing. The first time I really played a shoot 'em up was a Raiden arcade cabinet and getting my ass handed to me (along with losing my AU$0.60). My first encounter with computer games was 1983 Atari 2600 release of Galaxian, and I was around four years old when I played that! My first PC shoot 'em up experience was the original 1994 release of Raptor: Call of the Shadows (Shareware Version) on the family 486. The first time I played Tyrian was a shareware copy I must have got of one my PC Powerplay coverdiscs or something around 1996/97 somewhere. I can remember purchasing a copy of version 2 on CD at Hitech World (when they were still trading). Tyrian is a shoot 'em up that manages to channel my best memories from the above previously mentioned titles along with Capcom's 194X / 19XX franchise and the majority of classics of the genre. Tyrian's game modes that are available from the get-go you have the Full Game, Arcade and Timed Battle modes along with a Two Player Arcade mode - That's until you start entering codes! Tyrian is a game that seems to encourage the use of "Cheat Codes" (most of these are in fact hidden modes, difficulties and special moves that work in a similar to games like Street Fighter). The Arcade modes are your "Jump in and play" modes, whereas the Full Game (story mode) will offer a deeper strategical experience as you can swap out ships, weapons, generators and shields allowing for a craptonne of combinations. The story is told primarily through Tyrian's lore-equivalent of E-Mail being the Data Cubes you can pick up during play (Full Game). Arcade offers up a typical shmup experience with lives, powerups and weapon pickups. Tyrian is a game that offers an experience suited to both casual and hardcore shoot 'em up fans alike and will more than likely keep you coming back for more!