Tempest 4000 Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)
We go on a retro trip with our Tempest 4000 Review, a visually stunning, action-packed tube shooter based on the classic hit arcade game, Tempest. Developed by legendary game designer, Jeff Minter, Tempest 4000 remains faithful to the original fast-paced gameplay by putting you in control of the Claw, a powerful spacecraft equipped to destroy deadly creatures and other obstructions with rapid-fire shots on vibrant geometric prisms.
Tempest 4000 Review Pros:
- Cool vector-style graphics.
- 1.6GB Download size.
- Basic tutorial pop-ups.
- Classic tube shooter gameplay.
- Simple controls.
- Own in-game achievements.
- Pure retro arcade feel.
- Absolutely solid soundtrack.
- Power-ups are earned by playing and over time increase ineffectiveness.
- Easy to play.
- Addictive.
- Pure eye orgasm.
- Full online leaderboards.
- Help section for controls.
- Modes- Classic, Pure, and survival.
- Reset game option.
- A lot of fun to play.
- Continues- Works as in every time you finish a level the game saves your current loadout like lives and power-ups so you can carry on.
- Difficult.
- Powerups are varied like AI droids that will run around the outside of the tube and kill enemies or maybe you can get the ability to jump.
- Screen effects.
- Pure is basically a clean one-time run.
Tempest 4000 Review Cons:
- Cannot rebind controls.
- No touchscreen support.
- Confusing menu layout.
- Difficult.
- Sensitive analog movement.
- Doesn’t feel that much different from previous games.
- Feels a tad limited.
- Looks and plays a lot like TxK.
- Loose controls, Just feel like there is an ever so slight delay on both d-pad and analog.
- Annoying level transition mini-game where you must go through hoops to score bonus points, the only issue is you use the motion control of the DS4 and cannot change it.
- Different modes are just slight alterations as opposed to full-on different modes.
Related Post:
Tempest 4000:
Developer: llamasoft
Publisher: Atari
Store Links –
- Graphics - 8/108/10
- Sound - 8/108/10
- Accessibility - 7/107/10
- Length - 7/107/10
- Fun Factor - 8/108/10
Summary
Ok, so the first thing you experience is the controls. They are just loose and constantly feel like you are a few clicks behind your moves registering. It’s a huge shame as the previous games have slowly built up over time the staple of solid controls. Anyway, the game plays well and looks every bit the part of a retro gamer wet dream. The soundtrack is by far the strongest part and will have you wanting the full album. Aside from that I feel the game was a “Look we’re still cool” attempt by Atari and they needed Minter to be a part of it but it really feels like they restricted his talent a lot, So many stepbacks from the other games and for that the game suffers. Ok so with all this the choice is yours but to be honest, Polybius is the definitive version tube shooter and even TxK (if still available) is a better option. Tempest 4000 promised so much but fell way short.
