Tornado Outbreak

Tornado Outbreak is an action-adventure video game developed by Loose Cannon Studios and published by Konami Digital Entertainment for the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. The game was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 2009. The game was later re-released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on December 6, 2011.[1]

This article is about the video game. For the weather phenomenon, see Tornado outbreak.

Tornado Outbreak
Developer(s)Loose Cannon Studios
Publisher(s)Konami Digital Entertainment
Producer(s)Darci Morales
Programmer(s)Scott Bilas
Simon Cooke
Shane Whitfield
Artist(s)
  • Dev Madan
  • Karin Madan
  • Jordan Kotzebue
  • Travis Kotzebue
  • Scott Kikuta
  • Paul Whitehead
Writer(s)Aaron Martin
Composer(s)Peter McConnell
Platform(s)PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Release
  • NA: September 29, 2009
  • EU: November 13, 2009
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

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 an 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 reins of the squad of Wind Warriors. The Wind Warriors along with Zephyr and Nimbus uncover the anti-matter being known as Omegaton, whose six orbs of power were taken away from him by his enemies; flaming little creatures 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.

Characters

Tornado Outbreak features a variety of characters represented by the different elements. [2]

Air
  • Zephyr - The main protagonist and the leader of the Wind Warriors. Initially described as an unlikely hero, Zephyr possesses the ability to transform into a destructive tornado that can level anything in his path.
  • Nimbus - A former leader of the squadron of Wind Warriors. Passing the torch onto his protégé Zephyr, Nimbus now serves as the wise second-in command lieutenant, providing guidance and support.
  • Wind Warriors - A group of unnamed, fearless air elementals appointed with the task of creating atmosphere on lifeless planets. They stand behind their leaders Zephyr and Nimbus and is willing to assist them in their mission.

Rock and Water
  • Stone Stompers - Rock elementals who were banished to earth by Omegaton. They teach Zephyr the ability to Stone Stomp, a move that allows Zephyr to quickly destroy objects by pouncing on them.
  • Water Whirls - Described as calm and fragile creatures, the Water Whirls are female water elementals who teach Zephyr the ability to dash with the tornado, enhancing his control over his formidable power.

Fire
  • Fire Flyers - A group of mischievous fire elementals who invade earth to play an endless game of hide and seek in which Zephyr, the protagonist is required to collect and transport to the L.O.A.D. STARR.
  • Omegaton - The main antagonist of the game. Omegaton is a powerful fire elemental who initially was outnumbered and weakened by his enemies where he was banished into space left to perish. However, upon being discovered by Zephyr, Nimbus, and the Wind Warriors, Omegaton used deceptive coercion to get them into retrieving his orbs of power.

Gameplay
The player destroying several buildings to collect the fire elementals known as Fire Flyers.

Tornado Outbreak's gameplay is in line with that of Katamari Damacy, in that (as Zephyr), players are required to suck ordinary Earth objects into their funnel to grow in size. An added level of complexity is present in Tornado Outbreak, in that players must stay in the shade at all times (shade is created by an object called the L.O.A.D. STARR), as Wind Warriors will die under direct sunlight. Each level is split into five stages. The first three stages are Zephyr pillaging the landscape in search of hiding Fire Flyers (with the location of Fire Flyers being designated by an orange glow under objects). After collecting fifty Fire Flyers in each of these three stages, a totem appears from underground, surrounding a large object on the outskirts of the playing field (a skyscraper, mountain, hotel complex, etc. depending on the geographical location – Vegas, Britain, a theme park, and so on). The fourth stage of each level is a race of sorts, which sees Zephyr flying through vortex rings surrounding the totems. This creates a massive storm above the landscape, complete with moving clouds and patches of sunlight. In the fifth stage, players must navigate these moving clouds to reach the Totems so that they can be destroyed in a button-mashing mini-game, thus revealing one of Omegaton's orbs and unlocking the next level.

Development

Development of Tornado Outbreak started in July 2006.[3] A PlayStation Portable port of the game was in consideration but was scrapped in favor of the PlayStation 3. The game was originally named Tornado Alley and focused around the premise of causing as much destruction within a given time limit.

Loose Cannon Studios

Following the completion of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, Dev Madan and Matthew Scott left Sucker Punch Productions to form Loose Cannon Studios with Ricci Rukavina serving as co-founder.[4]

Loose Cannon would go defunct without producing another game by 2010, with Dev Madan[5] and Matthew Scott[6] moving on to PopCap Games and Ricci Rukavina to found Kung Fu Factory.[7]

Announcement

The game's development was first publicly announced on June 3, 2009, under the title Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals.[8] On July 9, 2009, the game received a new title, Tornado Outbreak.[9]

Reception

The game got moderate to good reviews. GameSpot gave it 6.5 out of 10,[16] Game Informer game it 6.75 out of 10,[17] and IGN gave it 8.1 out of 10.[18]

References
  1. "Xbox Marketplace".
  2. "Konami Reveals Story Details, Characters and Trailer for Tornado Outbreak". Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  3. "Tornado Alley Pitch: Nine page document featuring the LOOSE CANNON mark as used in a presentation or sales pitch prepared and delivered to a potential customer in July of 2006 for a computer game for multiple platforms". Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  4. "Former Sly Cooper Devs Found Loose Cannon". Retrieved May 13, 2009.
  5. "Dev Maden's About page". Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  6. "Moby Games". Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  7. "Ricci Rukavina's LinkedIn page". Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  8. "Loose Cannon firing Zephyr: Rise of the Elementals". Retrieved June 3, 2009.
  9. "Zephyr turns into Tornado Outbreak". Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  10. "Tornado Outbreak (PlayStation 3)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 18, 2010.
  11. "Tornado Outbreak (Wii)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 21, 2010.
  12. "Tornado Outbreak (Xbox 360)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012.
  13. VanOrd, Kevin (October 7, 2009). "Tornado Outbreak Review for PlayStation 3". GameSpot. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  14. Clements, Ryan (May 12, 2009). "Tornado Outbreak". IGN. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  15. "Tornado Outbreak review (Wii)". Nintendo Power. Vol. 247. November 2009. p. 88.
  16. "Tornado Outbreak Review". Archived from the original on October 29, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  17. "Katamari-style Gameplay With A Meteorological Spin - Tornado Outbreak - PlayStation 3 - www.GameInformer.com". Game Informer.
  18. "Tornado Outbreak Review". IGN. October 5, 2009.
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