N-Philes

Deep at the heart of the vast underground laboratories beneath the Spencer Mansion, Albert Wesker, treacherous leader of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team releases his monstrous creation.

Towering at over seven feet tall, sporting exposed internal organs, an emotionless expression and a huge claw-like hand, the Tyrant's imposing appearance strikes terror into the hearts of its victims. Or would, had their day been any less traumatic. Come on Wesker, we've been slaying undead monsters, mutant gorillas and giant snakes all night. The sight of a tall zombie with a big hand doesn't doesn't scare us anymore. (honest!)

The huge creature steps out of its containment chamber and turns against its creator, knocking him down. It then begins to approach our hapless hero and the first battle begins.



Fortunately the Tyrant's immense size and strength is matched only by its stiff movement and slow reactions. Jill (or Chris) can easily unload a plentiful amount of ammunition into the beast as it slowly stumbles towards them. The lab is a U-shaped room, and proves to be fairly cramped when fighting the undead. Fortunately gamers smart enough to have conserved their most powerful weapons for such an occasion will be pleased to know that the .44 Magnum makes very, very short work of the diabolical monster. All it takes is just a few shots to knock it down, apparently killing it. Our heroes recover and notice Wesker missing before making their escape.

BzzT! Self destruct activated! Looks like Wesker is trying to remove all the evidence––along with the remaining members of S.T.A.R.S.––by destroying the entire mansion. Following a very slow and unexciting exit to the helipad on the surface, Jill fires off a signal flare in the hope that Brad, the S.T.A.R.S. helicopter pilot that abandoned the team before, will see it and be able to get them the heck out of there in time.

All of a sudden, a hole is punched through the ground and the Tyrant creature leaps out. Looks like he wasn't quite dead afterall, and I don't think he's all that happy after being pelted that by a magnum. With less than three minutes remaining until the entire building goes up in smoke, the second battle begins as Jill frantically tries to hold the lumbering beast off long enough for Brad to pick them up. The Tyrant's still ever slow and lumbering, but make him angry and he'll bolt at you with blinding speed and swipe with his claw. A very painful, very hard to avoid attack. Hope you brought some first-aid sprays along.

Good news is that apart from the charging assault and the odd close-range swipe, Tyrant doesn't have much to offer. Stay alive for long enough and Brad will eventually arrive in his chopper and drop off a rocket launcher to assist in the battle. Jill makes her way over to the weapon, picks it up, aims, and fires a single rocket right into the Tyrant's chest, destroying him for good. With the self-destruct timer still going down, our characters quickly get on-board the helicopter and make a fast escape as the mansion explodes.

Another Tyrant creature appears in Raccoon City a short while later, but that's another story. (And another game!)