Tornado Outbreak (formerly known as Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals) is an action video game developed by Loose Cannon Studios and published by Konami Digital Entertainment for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 in 2009. In Tornado Outbreak, players take control of a Zephyr, a blue spiraling air elemental, who must save the world by destroying it. The game was later re-released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on December 6th, 2011.
Plot[]
Tornado Outbreak follows a group of Wind Warriors, that is led by Captain Nimbus. The Wind Warriors are a noble group of Air Elementals given the task of providing atmosphere on lifeless planets. Players take control of a blue spiraling Wind Warrior named Zephyr, who has been selected by Nimbus to take over the reigns of the squad of Wind Warriors. The Wind Warriors along with Zephyr and Nimbus uncover the anti-matter being known as Omegaton, who's six orbs of power were taken away from him by his enemies; flaming little buggers known as the Fire Flyers. In return for helping him regain his orbs of power, Omegaton provides the Wind Warriors with a Light Weight Object Amalgam Device (shorten as L.O.A.D. STARR) to protect them from the sun's deadly radiation.
Near the end of the game, it's revealed that Omegaton was from a backwards dimension; a hero in space is a villain on Earth. The game ends with Zephyr, Nimbus, and the Wind Warriors defeating Omegaton, and returning to their homeworld, Harmonia.
Gameplay[]
Tornado Outbreak's gameplay can be compared to that of the Katamari Series. In Tornado Outbreak, players take on the role of Zephyr and start off small, gradually collecting objects to grow in size. Players are required to stay within a shaded area created by the L.O.A.D. STARR, a machine that prevents Wind Warriors from dying in direct sunlight. Each level is divided into five different sections.
The first three sections have Zephyr maneuvering and wreaking havoc on the environment in search of the presence of hiding Fire Flyers, indicated by an orange glow underneath the object. Once fifty Fire Flyers are collected, a single Totem rises up from the ground for each completed zone.
The fourth section involves Zephyr participating in a Vortex Race around the map to build a powerful tornado to destroy the Totems. In the fifth stage, players must guide Zephyr through a path of moving shade while protecting his army of Wind Warriors from incoming fireballs launched by the Totems. When Zephyr gets close to the Totems, he enters a minigame that features him pummeling the Totem until the arm is destroyed. Once all Totems are destroyed, Omegaton’s orb is revealed, unlocking the next level.
Development[]
Tornado Outbreak's development started in July 2006. Initially, there were plans for a PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) port of the game, but those ideas were eventually abandoned. The PSP port was scrapped in favor of releasing the game on PlayStation 3, while the Xbox Live Arcade version was rebranded as a full digital release for the Xbox 360 port.
The game, originally known as Tornado Alley, revolves around the premise of controlling a tornado as it wreaks havoc on various environments, a core gameplay mechanic that remained in the final release of the game. By August 2007, Warner Bros. Games entered into negotiations with Loose Cannon Studios. However, this deal didn't last long due to creative differences leading to Konami taking over the publishing rights at an unspecified date.
In June 2009, the game was publicly announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 3, 2009, under the title Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals. The build introduced a main protagonist named Zephyr, a blue air elemental who has the ability to transform into a destructive tornado as he travels through various locations to capture mischievous fire elementals known as Fire Flyers.
The game underwent a final name change and was officially titled Tornado Outbreak on July 9, 2009.
PC Prototype[]
A Microsoft Windows port of the game was primarily utilized to prototype the game in the later stages of its development. Although the PC port was never shipped for release, mentions of it as "iswin32" still exists within the game's executable. The PC prototype was primarily controlled via controller with the Keyboard being primarily utilized to activate a developer console.
Reception[]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic (PS3, Wii, 360) | 70/100[1] |
| Publication | Score |
| IGN | 8.1/10[2] |
| Nintendo Power | 6.5/10[3] |
| GameSpot | 6.5/10[4] |
| Xbox World Magazine | 38/100 |
Tornado Outbreak received a mixture of moderate to mixed reviews. The highest being an 8.1/10 by IGN and the lowest being a whopping 38/100 by the Xbox World 360 Magazine.
Trivia[]
- The working title for the game was Tornado Alley.
- Interestingly enough, the internal project name for the Xbox 360 version is tornadoalleyxbox360_release
- A Nintendo DS port of the game was in development from February to July 30, 2008 before it was ultimately retooled by Warner Bros. Games into Galactic Taz Ball.
- Tornado Outbreak would be the first and last game to be developed by Loose Cannon Studios because of the company's shutdown.
- The Xbox 360 version is the only version that has a digital release.
- As of now, the game isn't playable on the Xbox One/ Series X via backwards compatibility.
- The game was originally made as a Wii exclusive, but later got ported onto the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
- The Wii version only supports the aspect ratio of 4:3. Setting the display to 16:9, will result the display being stretched out.
- The game uses a modified version of the Granny3D engine, a game development tool created by company: RAD Game Tools.
- Models in-game were exported from Maya into Granny using version 2.7.0.28 of Granny Maya, a plugin for Autodesk Maya 8.5.
- The Wii version, along with the rest of the Wii game catalog is backwards compatible on the Wii U.
- Konami officially stopped supporting Tornado Outbreak around late 2015 to early 2016. As a result, the game was removed from the website.
- The game uses two different fonts. Badaboom BB for the logo and Chowderhead for in-game text.
- On August 26, 2024, the game made an appearance in a livestream hosted by Vinny, a content creator for the Vinesause Channel.[5]
Source(s)[]
- ↑ Metacritic
- ↑ IGN review
- ↑ Nintendo Power. Vol. 247. November 2009. p. 88
- ↑ GameSpot review
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkWut9VxNqw