As much as I love deep, thought-provoking, character-driven stories; I'm also a sucker for the over-the-top summer disaster flick. I admit this about myself. It's a healthy vice, as vices go. As any aficionado of the genre knows, the real stars of such movies aren't the celebrities who get top billing on the poster. No, the real stars of blockbuster disaster flicks are the disasters themselves. That, I think, is why I love to play Tornado Jockey. A game where you run around chasing tornadoes? That's boring. A game where you are the tornado? That's blockbuster!Tornado Jockey is a casual game by Wild Tangent, which means you can sit down and play a round or two and not have to get deeply involved in the game. Casual games are usually puzzle games or action platform games. Wild Tangent challenges that stereotype. They gave us the first casual RPG in Fate (also reviewed on this site) and now they've broken new ground again with Tornado Jockey.
The game starts off on a sprawling prairie, dotted with farms and houses and the like. It's fairly sparse, but it is only the first of six different locales in which you will unleash your cyclonic fury. You'll progress to a small town, the suburbs, a big superhighway, an industrial park and a big city complete with skyscrapers and a baseball stadium. Each level is progressively larger and more chocked full of debris just waiting to be strewn about.
The challenge on each level is to destroy all of the marked targets within a time limit. At the same time, you need to increase your storm's F rating, because the rating that you have at the end of one level will be the rating you have at the start of the next. Accomplishing the goals in the later levels is nigh impossible with an F0 or F1 tornado.
The residents of each location don't take lightly to having their cities torn apart, of course. They've designed some pretty fearsome weather defense gadgetry to stop your storm in its tracks. Police helicopters will locate you fairly quickly and call for reinforcements, which will come in the form of storm chaser trucks, foam-spraying airplanes and tanks, “F-killer” helicopters, vacuum mines and more.
Ultimately I wished there were more levels to...well, level. Once you complete the goals in all six locations, you'll start over in year two with a brand new F0 storm. This time the challenges will be tougher and the enemies will be more determined. A few years into the game, though and you'll be wishing there were a bit more variety than the six levels you've already played. But hey, there's always sequels and expansion packs, right?
You play the game with the mouse. Simply click somewhere on the ground and the tornado will move there. The tornado does impressive damage anyway, but you can also click and hold the mouse button to cause the tornado to “drill” the ground, doing massive damage but slowing movement speed considerably.
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Different objects on the ground will take different amounts of abuse before finally succumbing to the storm's power. Tiny cars and trucks will be plucked from the road almost instantly, while brick buildings will take a few seconds. City skyscrapers by contrast take several seconds of concentrated wind power before crumbling in ruin. When objects on the ground are sucked up into the funnel cloud, they'll either remain locked within the vortex or go flying out the sides. Debris that is carried by the tornado can be thrown at targets with a click of the right mouse button. How many objects can be carried at one time is determined by the strength of the storm.
Tornadoes are classified using the Fujita scale which identifies them based on their destructive capability. An F0 tornado is fairly weak while an F6 is pretty much a meteorological apocalypse. Your tornado will start out as a lowly F0, but it won't stay there. When certain objects are destroyed, small mini-tornadoes form. Picking these up adds to your tornado's strength and if enough are gathered, they'll increase the storm's F rating, and allow it to cause more damage and carry more debris.
In addition to picking up debris, the tornado can also be enhanced by one of several different power ups. For instance, a power up that appears over bodies of water will suck an enormous amount of water into the funnel cloud which can them be dropped all at once for a huge amount of damage to a wide area. Fire Storm power ups cause the tornado to leave a wide trail of flames in its wake and enhance its damage potential.
Probably the most important power up is the Lightning Storm, which you can get by destroying any high voltage tower. This power up lets you unleash a lightning bolt at target, which is perfect for taking out pesky helicopters or fast-moving bombers. I actually found myself avoiding other power ups because you can only have one active at any time and in later stages, the weather defense gadgetry is coming at you fast and furious.
Another useful counter to the gadgetry is recruiting allies. If you pay attention in rural areas, you'll notice a few fields have crop circles. Drill the ground here and a flying saucer will pop up and orbit your tornado for a few minutes zapping anything that stands to threaten you. In the later stages there are no fields or crop circles, but keep a keen eye at the harbor for an ally of a different sort. My favorite hidden surprise, though, isn't an ally that will follow you around, but a handy nuclear bomb found in two of the levels that can be used for truly massive destruction.
The graphics of Tornado Jockey are simple, yet surprisingly detailed. Each environment is absolutely filled with stuff, which I suppose is necessary for a tornado to have any fun. You'll find everything you'd expect, from tiny cars and trucks on the roads to luggage carts at the airport to cows and horses milling about in farms. The funnel cloud itself is impressive to behold as well, especially when you pick up a fire storm or lightning storm power up.
One final thing that really sticks out about the game are the sound effects. A tornado makes a lot of noise and Wild Tangent has done an admirable job of using the game's sound effects to convey the awe-inspiring power and destructive force that these storms represent. I can honestly say I didn't expect this level of sound quality out of a casual game.
There's quite a bit here for a casual game, which is becoming something of a trademark for Wild Tangent's products. If you enjoy casual games or are just intrigued by the idea of controlling a tornado, I don't think you'll regret at least trying the free demo. If you do try it, I think you'll want the full game. It's well worth the $19.99 price tag.
I'm a thirty-something computer programmer. I live in Delaware, but I grew up in Arkansas in a tiny town of 2500. We didn't have video arcades. Heck, it was nearly an hour's drive to anything as sophisticated as a Wal*Mart. Needless to say, my exposure to video games as a child was somewhat limited.
In the mid 80's, I cut my teeth on a used Atari 2600 bought at a flea market and a handful of games like Space Invaders and Pac Man. I was hooked in a blink. In the decades since, I've become a big fan of many genres of games. From first-person shooters to role-playing to strategy and everything in between. The only games that categorically don't interest me are sports games.
The easiest way for a game to win me over is to have a gripping story. I'll forgive a lot in a game that grabs me and keeps me interested. The inverse is true, too. If a game does not have a killer story, its gameplay had better be pretty darn compelling to make up for it. That doesn't happen very often
