iPhone App Reviews

Tyrian

Swain Valasek | Aug 16, 2009 Games

User rating: (7 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)

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Tyrian is a classic SHMUP or 2D vertical shoot-em-up, developed by Eclipse Productions and originally published on the PC in 1995 by Epic MegaGames.  The game officially went freeware in 2004 and a project called OpenTyrian came about in 2007 to create an open-source version.  This iPhone port from Mobila Interactive is based on OpenTyrian but special enhancements have been made to take advantage of the iPhone’s unique interface.  I can tell you right now (IMO anyway) that this is the finest port yet of any game for the iPhone so if you happen to like SHMUP’s, you’ve found heaven.  Since this port uses original game assets, they must be downloaded (~10 MB) post-install from the Internet.  Much like Flashback, when you first run the game you’ll be prompted through this process so try to be on WiFi (after this 1-time download you’re all set).

Story goes that you are Trent Hawkins, skilled terraformation pilot in a time ridiculously far in the future.  Your job is to scout newly terraformed planets for habitable locations.  One day your best friend is murdered and as he lay dying tells you it was the insidious work of Microsol and because of his knowledge of Gravitium, a secret mineral that can alter gravity.  Microsol is a huge corporation that seeks to use Gravitium to power its warships and basically rule the cosmos.  You of course immediately become next on Microsol’s hit list so it’s up to you to fight back and stop the corrupt machine…
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There are 2 ways to play Tyrian, classic mode and arcade mode.  In classic mode you gain bits of the story through info cubes and can upgrade your ship and weapons with money gained during gameplay.  In arcade mode the focus is pure action as the story is fed to you automatically as you progress and powerups are gained in the traditional manner of item drops after killing certain enemies.  Here’s the basic feature set ripped unashamedly from the dev website:
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- Full Story & Arcade modes
- 4 Episodes: “Escape”, “Treachery”, “Mission: Suicide” & “An End to Fate”
- 50+ levels
- 7 difficulty levels
- Sophisticated weapon upgrade system with hundreds of weapon combinations to chose from
- Support for cheat codes, secret game modes, easter eggs, etc
- 30+ music soundtracks by Alexander Brandon with a Jukebox
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That’s right, the game is loaded with secret stuff: hidden options, mini-games, bonus levels, geeky references to other Epic games, you name it and it all just adds to the fun (check the Wikipedia page for info about the mini-games, secrets and such).  There’s a fantastic array of options to customize the game to your liking, even a special detail setting for 3GS owners (though I’m not really sure what it does).  One thing of note is that the game ran way too fast for me but lo and behold the game accounts for this and has several speed settings (1 notch down from normal was perfect).  By jukebox they mean there’s actually an ingame app that lets you listen to all the game’s music tracks while retro graphics routines are displayed (very chill).  The mini-games aren’t gonna wow you too much but their inclusion is definitely high on the ‘that’s cool’ list.  Critical to the success of a shmup on the iPhone is the controls and fortunately Tyrian nails it.  The default scheme is ‘direct’ in which the ship moves 1 to 1 with your finger and I found this mode flawless and extremely responsive.  The alternative is a relative mode which is similiar but the ship doesn’t snap to your finger’s location; I found this mode a little clunky so went right back to direct.
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There are very few props and flops this time since as I mentioned earlier this port is just a shining example of how it should be done.

• Would be good to see an option to have the onscreen UI elements on the right side instead of always on the left
• In arcade mode your game isn’t autosaved after you finish a level; it’s saved after you start the next level.  Until I figured this out I had to replay a number of levels, which I didn’t mind with a game this good but still I didn’t find this too logical a way to autosave.  Perhaps allowing the player to manually save after each level would be a good idea.

That’s about it, check the video and screenshots if you need more convincing.  By all means try the lite version first but bottom line this is a fantastic arcade-quality shmup experience on the iPhone and easily worth the asking price for the full game.  The graphics are superbly retro-licious and remind me of the Amiga big-time; the music tracks are top-notch and fit the gameplay perfectly.  There is a ton of value in this game and it totally satisfies the primal urge to shoot and blow stuff up (in a non-threatening sci-fi way, natch).
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Version reviewed – 1.1
Reviewed on – iPhone 3GS 3.0.1
iTunes Link – Tyrian Lite / Tyrian Full
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Tags: $1.99, 2D shooter, shmup, Swain Valasek, vertical shooter