Tyrian 2000
Remake of Tyrian
3.50 average rating based on 56 ratings
- Developers
- Eclipse Software
- Publishers
- XSIV Games
- Series
- Tyrian
- Platforms
- DOS, Mac, PC (Microsoft Windows)
- Genres
- Arcade, Shooter
- Themes
- Action, Science fiction
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Tyrian 2000?
Alright SHMUP. Great DOS game.
I'd played a teensy bit of this long ago. Wanted to shelve it. Always down for SHMUP on weekends.
This one is a bit different. Most shooters I play are japanese and this one feels different all across the board from art design and play style. It also has dos era quirks (text story) which make it a rather different feeling 'Western' SHMUP.
It's quite hard, with one life per mission (but you can always try again) It's also very long with 5 'episodes.' Bosses in this one are pretty lame.
This game has two things that are notable. First, its a game that was widely available. IT was distributed in many formats and came preinstalled on some PCs at the time. Second the game has some really interesting weapon upgrade mechanics where you go to a in between mission shop. you can redeem what you buy, so you arent penalyzed in any way for experiemnting. You can cash by cash drops and score mechanics. It's overall simple. Upgrades take off exponentially however and there are some balance issues.
In conclusion this is a historical game, is just different enough to be interesting and plays fast and quite well in …
I'd played a teensy bit of this long ago. Wanted to shelve it. Always down for SHMUP on weekends.
This one is a bit different. Most shooters I play are japanese and this one feels different all across the board from art design and play style. It also has dos era quirks (text story) which make it a rather different feeling 'Western' SHMUP.
It's quite hard, with one life per mission (but you can always try again) It's also very long with 5 'episodes.' Bosses in this one are pretty lame.
This game has two things that are notable. First, its a game that was widely available. IT was distributed in many formats and came preinstalled on some PCs at the time. Second the game has some really interesting weapon upgrade mechanics where you go to a in between mission shop. you can redeem what you buy, so you arent penalyzed in any way for experiemnting. You can cash by cash drops and score mechanics. It's overall simple. Upgrades take off exponentially however and there are some balance issues.
In conclusion this is a historical game, is just different enough to be interesting and plays fast and quite well in DOS, making it a good action game... But it doesnt satisfy my shmup itch.
Tyrian 2000: Biting the Bullet
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version
Tyrian's approach to shmups might feel a bit janky and have some frustrating moments, but there's a decently sized package in here that'll hold players longer that most of the genre.
In the distant future, the player takes on the role of a skilled terraforming pilot - avenging his best friend's death, you take on a giant corporation and blow up a bunch of stuff. A lot of story and world details are hidden inside data cubes that the player can find in each level, but most of it isn't particularly interesting and can go so wildly silly in tone you'll be firing on fruit armadas near the end of the game.
The player has a main gun, a rear gun, a rechargeable shield, a generator for rate of fire, a ship type for health, and two sidekick weapons (one on each side). Other than basic shmup mechanics, the player can control sidekicks separately and use some helpful powerups. The meat of the system is using currency won in the game to upgrade the ship. There are a significant array of options but the player will go for the most obvious optimal setup very quickly, racking up a lot of …
Tyrian's approach to shmups might feel a bit janky and have some frustrating moments, but there's a decently sized package in here that'll hold players longer that most of the genre.
In the distant future, the player takes on the role of a skilled terraforming pilot - avenging his best friend's death, you take on a giant corporation and blow up a bunch of stuff. A lot of story and world details are hidden inside data cubes that the player can find in each level, but most of it isn't particularly interesting and can go so wildly silly in tone you'll be firing on fruit armadas near the end of the game.
The player has a main gun, a rear gun, a rechargeable shield, a generator for rate of fire, a ship type for health, and two sidekick weapons (one on each side). Other than basic shmup mechanics, the player can control sidekicks separately and use some helpful powerups. The meat of the system is using currency won in the game to upgrade the ship. There are a significant array of options but the player will go for the most obvious optimal setup very quickly, racking up a lot of unnecessary money near the end.
As for jank, the player has a life bar and a rechargeable shield bar instead of set hits like most other shmups. Most of the time the player will die due to being caught in an enemy's close proximity and get crushed, which can lead to some frustrating moments as levels are lengthy and contain some cheap dangers that will kill the player faster than they can react. It doesn't help that most of the controls are a bit slow and slippery (save for the mouse), but the player's health bar can also take a mighty wallop of bullets.
The graphics and sound are fairly impressive for a DOS game and a shmup at the time. There's a wide array of environments (volcanos, ice lands, deserts, fleshy places, underground you name it) and enemies (though the enemies all take a massive amount of firepower to sponge up unless you're on the highest upgrade) and the soundtrack can be a bit catchy, if not peppy most of the time.
Tyrian 2000 is a pretty lengthy shmup at five episodes with a large array of levels, and if you can have some patience for the jankier side of things you might have an interesting piece of shmup history on your hands. Just get prepared to take a LOT of bullets.