Tyrian

It's the future. Like, by a lot. You are Trent Hawkins, a pilot with skill in terraforming and scouting out habitable locations. Well, that's the idea. In this, you make things go boom. All the time. There's a detailed plot about who wants what and such. And I refer you to the sentence before about that. Along the way, you'll be contacted by Star Trek: The Next Generation-style aliens(facial prosthetics, mainly humanoid, not that outlandish… as far as you see, at least) and even ninjas(!). Yes, this is partially comedic, what with cartoon-like artwork, the plentiful silly dialog and content. This includes a sweet letter from your mom, ads for working camps to send your kids, and tourist attractions that may maim or kill – however, they do offer quick hospital transport and attention, and good burial options. Heck, you may get to use a food item in an… unusual manner. It isn't always Earthworm Jim status in the non-serious material, as far as how strange or funny it is. Some of it can get disturbing for kids. The graphics are great, very detailed and, like most of the what we get here, varied.

I will be comparing this to Raptor: Call of the Shadows throughout, since they are from the same time and I am especially familiar with that. We have arcade-style vertical scrolling shooters, and in this, the speed will occasionally increase temporarily, upside down(!), and/or it'll fly backwards, then let you fly ahead, then backwards, etc. It's very much set in outer space, sometimes you're close to the surface of a planet, inside an asteroid belt, etc. The temperature may go to extreme heat or cold. You can place yourself anywhere on the screen, and it will move at the same pace regardless – but the further towards the top, the less chance of adjusting for the next thing that you approach! At the same time, something may come at you from behind… These are mostly fast-paced, memorizable and present a variety of enemies – flying, fixed, some on rails: you have to dodge them and their fire(and tell it apart from your own), as well as some buildings/other physical obstacles that may be destroyed. A problem is that, especially at first, it's tough to tell these apart, and include with that pickups(in that, they have glint), and sometimes even completely passable terrain/go under/over. In that, in general it's easier to tell if something is safe, neutral or dangerous. There are bosses, which, unlike most of the rest of the foes, cannot be avoided, have to be killed, and when you've done so, you'll have completed the level. They have a health bar and unique attacks. There are many occurrences of stationary and/or indestructible obstacles. Sometimes, controls are slow to respond.

Before your starship is destroyed it must take enough damage to exhaust several points of shields (which in this regenerate over time. In contrast to that, which never do, though you can buy multiple of, and repair inbetween) and armor(which you can find rare repairs for. And when it's low, you hear an obnoxious siren telling you so – a big help, d'you know that?). The music is catchy, electronic, energetic and, here, light. There are 3 difficulty settings and 3 hidden ones, and this is challenging on Easy… in fact, this starts in that where that leaves off, more or less. Before a level, if you picked up Data, you may be able to read warnings about your next level, what enemies and the like. Part of what makes this so hard is surprises that are likely to get to you the first time, and other unfair elements.

You can save any time before or after any level. It also automatically does so after, so you can replay it(which, along with loading, is the only way to play it except starting over and working your way back up to it. Unlike that, you can't choose which of the five episodes to go for the next one in – there, if you want to try one of those, it'll let you try the one you got up to last time you played that one. In this, if you want to play any of them you aren't currently, you'll be going back to the beginning with none of what you've earned. Completing one lets you start on the next without losing anything. When you complete this game in full, it lets you can redo #1 with all you've gotten, and play through these again. This took me 5 and a half hours.

There is a lot of replayability in the additional modes… Timed, two Super ones and Arcade: find, not purchase, what you need – this is where you can play two, as well, be it via modem or local, since this supports keyboard, mouse and joystick, and you'll have different vessels, that can even be combined into one, where you either man a turret or the whole thing at once. Heck, there are minigames to unlock! Ones based on Scorched Earth, Galaxian, one with bouncing threats to clear and avoid touching.

You independently buy a different machine, your generator that'll keep your energy high and upgrade/get new of all four weapons: Front(forward arcs) and Rear(wider coverage with sides, backwards, or, alternately, back-up) linked to the same button albeit they can be different types, and up to two external pods(Sidekicks: powerful low ammo ones for when things get hairy, charged ones, or even ones that can split/reattach when you want them to, or simply additional force… they can't be broken. You will sometimes wish you could set it to them all going off at the same time) with their own ones. The three last mentioned are optional, and thus, a place to scavenge more funds. These include, yet aren't limited to, multi-directional cannons, lightning guns, beam lasers, heavy missiles, and homing bombs.

I recommend this to any fan of the subgenre. 8/10