Tyrian 2000

As a shmup connoisseur, I have yet to find another one with such an amazing combination of content, atmosphere, music, and customization.

I've spent many quarters in Capcom-type shooters such as 1943, Varth, and Raiden, so I really like this type of game. This is an excellent one, and I would have pumped many quarters into a Tyrian machine if it were an arcade game. If you are expecting a deep space shooter, you may be disappointed, but if you are looking for a Capcom style flying shooter, this one is right up your alley. And, it's free and given the full GOG treatment here. I know it is available elsewhere for free, but the GOG treatment makes this one a worthwhile acquisition here. Get it, try it, like it or not, it's free!

I absolutely love vertical shooters, and this one takes the cake. Tyrian 2000 give you everything that you want in a vert. shooter: fast paced action, mass quantities of powerups, and challenging bosses. It also has a sweet retro soundtrack to top it all off. Even though this was in my sign-up bundle, it is my most played GOG release.

I discovered this game twelve years ago and I still play it - in fact, this is the game which brought me to GOG :-). But it is not only about my memories and personal preferences, this game is real good - it has great graphics, tons of beautiful levels with great visual variety, perfect ship upgrade system (you had to replay whole game twice to get all possible upgrades) and, of course, great story. You usually don't expect story in 2D scrolling shooter, but this game has story which is both rich and entertaining. In short, Tyrian presents its own universe which is fun to discover a fun to play, even after all those years. NOTE: Yes, there is OpenTyrian project which allows you to play Tyrian natively even on 64-bit Win 7, but it is based on original Tyrian, not Tyrian 2000. Main difference is that original game lacks 5th episode and many ship upgrades, which makes Tyrian 2000 far better and more polished version.

Impressive RPG elements, very addictive. Never heard of it before (so there was no nostaliga factor for me to skew my judgement). But even though it's 2011, this game is very current and on par with the best there is from current indie developers.