StarSoldier1's Full Review: Tempest X for PlayStation 1
TEMPEST X3 (Atari/InterPlay, 1996)
If anybody remembers the Atari Jaguar, then there is a good chance they remember a game called Tempest 2000. Interplay's Tempest X3 is upgrade of that very game for that ill-fated 64-bit system and now more people have the chance to play this underrated, lightning fast, arcade shoot em up on the Sony Playstation.
Tempest 2000 and X3 were actually an upgrade to the acclaimed Atari Tempest from 1981 (a great year for Atari by the way). It featured a yellow 'U' shaped starship in a enclosed web shooting strange looking line shaped aliens from outer space that invade your web space to either capture you or just destroy you but if you destroy all the incoming enemies or you run out of time than you can escape through the other side to the next web level.
Tempest X3 not only features the same wild, fast game play that made the original such a hit but it also features all new smooth polygon graphics, excellent techno music, bonus levels, and even power ups. Tempest was never a easy game and new Tempest X3 is no exception. Your enemies consist of Flippers, Demon Heads, spikes, and even other yellow ships that look just like you, all these aliens usually come in packs and it's really easy to get overwhelmed plus some strange angles of the webs are way too confusing to get a good view on. Fortunately you can power up your little ship with Particular Lasers, Jump abilities, and an trusty AI droid, trust me your going to need them.
Play with yourself or a friend!
Tempest X3 features the original classic Tempest Plus (the webs and enemies only use lines for graphics) for anybody looking for retro style game play, Two player Tempest (split screen action) for competitive battles against friends, and of course the addictive Tempest X3 itself. There are also more modes that can unlocked if you can figure out how. There are 100 levels to master if you wanna see any kind of ending to this game but at least you can save your progress if you manage to beat so many stages to your memory card. There is a lot of replay value in Tempest X3 that's for sure.
This is your brain on .....
The graphics were like nothing I have ever seen before. The Jaguar edition of Tempest 2000 looked truly unique because of the drug-like Melt O Vision effects and X3 improves a already great looking game with an sharper frame rate and more detailed textures. There is always something crazy going on in Tempest X3's webs like the particular-like bombs and the 2000 points messages that appear in the middle of the screen. If you get tired of the 3D webs all the time than you can always go to the bonus levels like the fly through the rings game and see some cool looking fiery background. Although the game looks awesome there is usually too much going on at once in the later levels to see what's really going on and half the time you know what hit you which is kind of cheap, but you get use to it.
"TURN THAT DOWN I'M TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP!"
The music is some of the best music I ever heard in any video game.... period! The fast paced techno music works well for the quick roller action of the game and I love the heavy metal track late in the game (hopefully you're good enough to hear it?). You'll also hear a lot of cool voices samples in the game like: YES! YES! YES!, 1-up, and 'Super Zapper Recharge' in a sexy women's voice. The Techno rave music was so good that Atari released a sound track CD available with the Jaguar CD package (a crappy CD add on system for the Atari Jaguar). The Tempest Soundtrack, many say, was the best part of the otherwise lackluster Jaguar CD deal (remember that awful Blue Lightning CD game?).
Bottomline:
Tempest X3 is an excellent example of how to do a good arcade classic remake! Add tons of new innovative features to already great game play and throw in some new eye candy with some really intense music as well and boom: instant great game. Sadly, other arcade classic like Galaga and Centipede also for the Playstation failed on their upgrade attempts because they played almost nothing like their originals. If your dying for some old school arcade action, Interplay's Tempest X3 will impress the heck out of ya and hopefully you can still find one fairly cheap too at around 10 bucks!
Tempest X3 overall rating: 74/100
For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 7/10
sound: 10/10
gameplay: 8/10
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