Customer Reviews

Tempest 3000: Game

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Tempest 3000 by Jeff Minter is finally here, and it was well worth the wait. The graphics are about what you expect if you've seen the NUON demo, only the frame rate is much higher. Webs pulsate, twist, & turn, plasma is abundant and everything has an altogether nice look to it. Vectors are actually sharp and well-defined, while the plasma effects give an ethereal appearance to it all, along with the procedural textures of the web. Gameplay is refined, and a step above Tempest 2000, its predecessor on the Atari Jaguar, with the addition of guided shots and a now limited jump, which makes everything a lot more tense. If NUON has a killer-app, this is it.

This is one of those hot/cold games: you either get it or you don't. If you were born before 1972, or can't get enough of "classic" games like the original arcade Tempest, this game might be enough to induce you to buy a Nuon-capable machine along with a compatible joystick before they become impossible to find.

That said, if you're more interested in state of the art graphics, or a game with a story or an ending, or you haven't played any arcade game older than Street Fighter II, steer clear of this and get something for the Playstation 2, XBOX, or GameCube instead. This is an abstract, highly stylized game that the younger set may not like. It may also seen repetitive to do level after level of shooting nasties, and if you don't like the idea of repeating a failed level until you get it right, try something else.

This disc, along with the similarly trippy Virtual Light Machine included on the hardware, is the reason I bought a Nuon machine. It's full of swirling lights and colors, non-stop techno music, and fast and furious gameplay that is best appreciated on a big screen with the lights down and the sound UP. Its pick-up-and-play simplicity is straight from the video arcades of the 1980s.

The now-bankrupt NUON company didn't release much interesting software or hardware, but this game is a masterpiece. The nation of Wales should designate programmer Jeff "Yak" Minter a national treasure.

This game is INSANE! The visuals on it are like nothing you've ever seen before, and you're not likely to see anything like this on current or upcoming game systems either (due to the unique way they're implemented on NUON). This game is worth the price of a NUON enhanced DVD player easily. KILLER APP!

...get Tempest 3000. It is definently a very good reason to own a NUON enhanced DVD player, and is one of the most insanely intense games I have ever played! The graphics are incredible, and there are TONS of totally new special effects that I haven't seen on any platform(PC, Dreamcast, PS2). Gameplay wise, T3k has completely outdone any previous Tempest by several leagues. The only thing close is Tempest 2000, although that will NOT prepare you for T3k, I guarentee that much. By Jeff Minter, this game is a total masterpiece that has to be seen(and played) to be believed :)

Tempest 3000 is the first Tempest to scream along at 60 fps, and this game will not only do justice to the Jag original but one up it. Bravo, Minter! You are just a stone cold beast...this won't be a house hold name, but it will have a strong underground support.

One of the greatest shooters ever, only available on a defunct console that hides inside a dvd player. It's criminal how many will never get the chance to play Tempest 3000 as it's the absolute pinnacle of the Tempest template. 2000 on the Atari Jaguar is cleaner to look at, and certainly beats it in gameplay terms if you can source a rotary controller, but 3000 is more immersive, and that's where the magic lies. As soon as it loads you're hit with an explosion of neon pyrotechnics and a deep, manacing soundtrack that combines dance/rave, sci-fi and 80s videogaming. Add some of the tightest gaming mechanics ever programmed and it all comes together to create an experience where you simply become unaware of anything outside of the game. And that's what Tempest 3000 is all about; the experience. There's nothing else like it.

Tempest 3000 is not about polygons-per-second, it is not about realistic graphics, it is not about virtual reality. Think about any buzzword game publishers come up with to sell their game, and I will more or less guarantee you that Tempest 3000 doesn't have a whole lot to do with them. Why? Because, when you get right down to it, Tempest 3000 is about game play. Sure, the visuals may look great and the music may sound great, but that's just the icing on the cake, worthless if the game itself is not fun to play. Needless to say, T3K is fun, with just enough frustration to keep you playing. Control with the D-pad, like the Jaguar version, is good, but if you're one of the old-school arcade junkies who played the original as it was meant to, you might find it lacking. As far as difficulty goes, it's a mixed bag, but it's almost all hard. Once you've gotten into the groove though, it won't be uncommon to zoom through level after level, only to be stopped cold by a particularly nasty web, but that's where the enjoyment comes in. Half the satisfaction comes from getting past that one web that's been giving you fits, conquering that level you've been failing on for weeks. That's what keeps you playing, that's what keeps you into the game. Tempest 3000 is a finely crafted, highly-tweaked model of what gaming should be, and as far as NUON is concerned, it's *THE* killer app.

Tempest. The very name conjures up images of vector graphics and rotary controls, the arcade memories of yesteryear. Indeed, for the older gamer, Tempest 3000 is the culmination of childhood memories, matured & updated with a more electronic edge. For those lucky enough to play the game on the Jaguar (I'll even count the Saturn & PC ports, or Tempest X on the PS), this is the next step, as it advances the game play, look & sound to an all new level. The YaK has made the updating of classics into an art, an art that no one else has yet to master as he has. For many, this is the ultimate kind of gaming, the kind of challenge that gamers used to spend quarter after quarter on, for bragging rights, for high score, for fun. As is emblazoned across the T3K case, ''Easy to Learn. Difficult to Master.'' For this gamer, that's more than enough to provide hour after hour of gaming at its best.

Tempest 3000 isn't the kind of game that comes out everyday, and to be honest, it really shouldn't be, if for no other reason to prevent sensory overload. The gaming industry has become a monster of sorts, as what is 'good' has now been defined by the company rather than the consumer. Substance gives way to style, which is more often than not, tasteless. Tempest 3000 is an exception to the rule, an old fashioned game crafted by a single master of the trade, a game with plenty of style, but not at the expense of its substance, which is at its core. This is gaming at its best...

Great gameplay, great graphics.
Contrary to what you read on the top of this page, this game /will/ play in Europe. I know because my European Nuon player has no problems with it.

It's fast and furious, any only the best gamers will master it.
The fastest action I've ever seen, all in 1 screen.
HINT: try the password GLAS - levels are not always harder in higher numbers, so try a few areas.

I used to play this game addictively as Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar (and otherwise marginal system). I bought a Nuon player on the strength of the Virtual Light Machine and Tempest 3000. I'll let you know in a week how the new versions compare. Since the Nuon hardware is better in every way, and the same brilliant programmer that wrote VLM and Tempest on the Jaguar wrote the Nuon versions, I am looking forward to the combination.