Tempest 2000 Review(Atari Jaguar)
Tempest 2000 is a 1994 remake by Jeff Minter of the Dave Theurer 1981 arcade game classic, Tempest, for the Atari Jaguar. Originally being exclusive to the Atari Jaguar, the game received critical praise for its 3D graphics, soundtrack, and gameplay.
Gameplay
Tempest 2000 modifies the gameplay of the original Tempest by adding bonus levels, collectible power-ups, more sophisticated enemy types, and wildly varying web (level) designs. The game contains a total of 100 webs, with new frame colors and variations every 15 levels. In all versions, the player's progress is saved every couple of levels, and players are allowed to resume by using "keys" to return to the last stage the game saved at. Power-ups appear as small floating polygons that appear in after shooting a number of enemies, float up towards you. Catching the polygon will activate one of a number of progressively more useful capabilities:
Particle Laser
Particle Laser enhances the ship's firepower and allows you to destroy spikes much more quickly.
Points
Between certain power-ups, you can gain bonuses of 2000 points.
Jump
Allows you to jump off of the web, useful for avoiding enemies that are traveling along the edge, and for avoiding the attack of Pulsars.
A.I. Droid
An autonomous polygonal ship appears floating above the web, and shoots at enemies.
Warp Token
Collect three tokens to play a bonus stage when you complete the web you're on.
Outta Here!
Collecting this power-up will destroy all enemies on the web and warp you to the next stage - however spikes are not destroyed, and it is still possible to lose a life by hitting one as the player warps down the web.
If a power-up is caught while you begin to warp off of a completed web, the increasingly high-pitched sound of a woman saying "Yes! Yes! Yes!" is played, and the first power-up you receive in the next stage will be the A.I. Droid. If you successfully completed all 100 levels, you unlocked a special "Beast mode". This allowes you to play the standard game at a harder setting where the enemies move faster, fire more often while you fire at a reduced rate.
Music
The original Jaguar version's music was created by Ian Howe, Alastair Lindsay and Kevin Saville of Imagitec Design Inc. (AKA Dream Weavers), who also created the music for Jeff Minter's Defender 2000 on the Atari Jaguar. The music was composed in the Commodore Amiga MOD music file format, although non-Jaguar releases of the game played music off of CD. At the time of its release, the music soundtrack could also be purchased on CD directly from Atari. The Windows Version CD also included the songs in standard CD format, to be spooled from the CD drive to the speakers during gameplay. This could be played in a standard CD player, but was not advertised as such, as Atari was selling the soundtrack CD as an addition.
Soundtrack album track listing
1."Thermal Resolution"
2."Mind's Eye"
3."T2K"
4."Ease Yourself"
5."Tracking Depth"
6."Constructive Demolition"
7."Future Tense"
8."Digital Terror"
9."Hyper Prism"
10."Glide Control"
11."Ultra Yak"
12."2000 Dub"
Gameplay
Tempest 2000 modifies the gameplay of the original Tempest by adding bonus levels, collectible power-ups, more sophisticated enemy types, and wildly varying web (level) designs. The game contains a total of 100 webs, with new frame colors and variations every 15 levels. In all versions, the player's progress is saved every couple of levels, and players are allowed to resume by using "keys" to return to the last stage the game saved at. Power-ups appear as small floating polygons that appear in after shooting a number of enemies, float up towards you. Catching the polygon will activate one of a number of progressively more useful capabilities:
Particle Laser
Particle Laser enhances the ship's firepower and allows you to destroy spikes much more quickly.
Points
Between certain power-ups, you can gain bonuses of 2000 points.
Jump
Allows you to jump off of the web, useful for avoiding enemies that are traveling along the edge, and for avoiding the attack of Pulsars.
A.I. Droid
An autonomous polygonal ship appears floating above the web, and shoots at enemies.
Warp Token
Collect three tokens to play a bonus stage when you complete the web you're on.
Outta Here!
Collecting this power-up will destroy all enemies on the web and warp you to the next stage - however spikes are not destroyed, and it is still possible to lose a life by hitting one as the player warps down the web.
If a power-up is caught while you begin to warp off of a completed web, the increasingly high-pitched sound of a woman saying "Yes! Yes! Yes!" is played, and the first power-up you receive in the next stage will be the A.I. Droid. If you successfully completed all 100 levels, you unlocked a special "Beast mode". This allowes you to play the standard game at a harder setting where the enemies move faster, fire more often while you fire at a reduced rate.
Music
The original Jaguar version's music was created by Ian Howe, Alastair Lindsay and Kevin Saville of Imagitec Design Inc. (AKA Dream Weavers), who also created the music for Jeff Minter's Defender 2000 on the Atari Jaguar. The music was composed in the Commodore Amiga MOD music file format, although non-Jaguar releases of the game played music off of CD. At the time of its release, the music soundtrack could also be purchased on CD directly from Atari. The Windows Version CD also included the songs in standard CD format, to be spooled from the CD drive to the speakers during gameplay. This could be played in a standard CD player, but was not advertised as such, as Atari was selling the soundtrack CD as an addition.
Soundtrack album track listing
1."Thermal Resolution"
2."Mind's Eye"
3."T2K"
4."Ease Yourself"
5."Tracking Depth"
6."Constructive Demolition"
7."Future Tense"
8."Digital Terror"
9."Hyper Prism"
10."Glide Control"
11."Ultra Yak"
12."2000 Dub"
Awards
Tempest 2000 was awarded Best Jaguar Game of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.
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