Tyrian

The Good
Essentially the last word in PC-based vertically-scrolling shoot-em-ups, this arrived just as the PC world was going mad for 'Doom' and its ilk. Graphically it's very nice - big sprites zoom around smoothly over colourful backdrops, and the sound and music are also top. Best of all, there are loads of hidden bits - from sub-games, to banana-bombs, to a clever segment in which you play the game in a capturedenemy fighter.

The Bad
I seem to remember that it wasn't all that tricky to finish, although the hidden bits helped extend the lifespan. It might be quite hard to register this nowadays, although a 'sequel' was produced quite recently

The Bottom Line
A classic, 'Terra Cresta'-esque vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up with lots of hidden bits.

The Good
Tyrian is one of my favorite games ever. It has exciting and unique layouts for the levels, and has one of the best weapon upgrade systems I have used. The story line is cool, and the music is great. I sometimes load up the SETUP program just to run the jukebox. Both FM synthesised and General MIDI soundtracks are well done (which happen to be the same music, of course). The mouse control is excelent, and even the keyboard control is good. Two player cooperation play is very fun, and the ability to join the ships together is usefull. (Make sure that the player with the mouse is the pilot and the player with the keyboard is the gunner!) The three episodes progress well in hardness levels; you can't just jump into episode 2 or 3 without finishing 1 because your ship will be too weak (unless you're really good :). And there is a fun realtime cannon fodder style game hidden within: type "DESTRUCT" at the main menu.

The Bad
I wish that the game was longer :) Which actualy shows how good it is!

The Bottom Line
Raptor doesn't even come close the power that is TYRIAN!

The Good
I doubt even The Reap is better than this one; Tyrian is by far the best, most advanced and funniest vertical shooter ever to be developed. Designed by one of my favorite trackers, Alexander Brandon, this game features delightful graphics, wonderful soundtrack (especially with more advanced sound boards), a genuinely awesome and amazingly fast game engine. What truly makes this game unique, though, is its insane sense of humour - starting with the plot, which is practically mad and filled with bizarre twists, turns and characters. Secrets abound in Tyrian - there are at least a dozen secret levels (some more secret than others) and Version 2.0 adds weird subgames (Zinglon's Ale etc.) which add a lot to the replay value. The game also features from its first version secret subgames (Engage, Ninja etc.) which also add a lot to it, and the jukebox in the setup is simply astonishing. In short, a perfect game which deserved a lot more than it got.

The Bad
The only caveat in this game is its inability to run on anything stronger than a Pentium. It constantly crashes on my P2, which is a shame, shame indeed.

The Bottom Line
A great classic, best shooter ever, the first game for which I put Raptor aside. Simply brilliant.