The concept is fairly simple. You are a claw at the end of a web. Your mission: keep the enemy from reaching your end of the web. Sound easy? Perhaps, but Tempest 2000 will suck you into its web of addicting game play. Once you start, you'll know why Tempest was one of the most popular arcade games of all time.
Fifteen years (and hundreds of thousands of quarters) later, Tempest 2000 revives the legend with evil enemies, bonus levels, awesome weapons, dazzling visual effects, and a techno-rave soundtrack. You can even get your friends addicted with two-player cooperative or competitive modes. Prepare yourself for a violent storm!
After 15 years the Tempest legend continues. You're back--this time with more firepower, more maneuvers, your trusty artificial intelligence droid, and a slew of new enemies--to save the web or die trying. With over new 90 levels on which to do battle, dazzling special effects, and an awesome technorave soundtrack, keep this 3-D-style galactic battlefield fast-paced and quite deadly. Invite a friend using the two-player mode and either play nice by teaming up to pulverize aliens, or see who's best by battling it out against each other.

Of all the "classic" arcade games of the early 1980s, Tempest is my favorite. I've always loved the simple premise (shoot everything), the never-ending parade of increasingly intense levels with just enough time to catch your breath in between, and the odd combination of strategy and mindless shooting required to advance in the game. So needless to say I was excited to hear that Tempest had finally made it to the PC in the form of Tempest 2000, an updated version of the original.
Tempest 2000 adds a slew of new features to the original game, including wavy, fluorescent graphics, a surprisingly good techno soundtrack, multiple power-ups, level warps, an "AI" droid who helps you in battle, and a two-player battle mode in which you try to destroy your opponent. Those who loved the original title just as it was will prefer the "Tempest Plus," mode, which is much closer to the arcade classic. The configuration menu also offers a wide range of gameplay and display options; you'll find the version of Tempest that's right for you.
Although the new graphic flares of Tempest 2000 are wild and colorful, they aren't all that impressive. Explosions tend to be a collection of small square pixels flying across the screen, and power-ups look clunky as they fly towards you. There's also a lot happening on the screen at once; display-hogging printed messages like "Excellent!" and "Zappo" can cloud your view. All these explosions and messages make it hard to see enemy fire coming towards you. If you own a Saturn or a PlayStation, consider buying Tempest for your console system; either version of Tempest available for these systems is graphically superior to the PC version.
Luckily the gameplay of Tempest 2000 retains the feel of the original with great success. A keyboard or joypad is no match for the elegance of the original's paddle control, but after a few minutes of practice you'll feel comfortable controlling your movements. Tempest 2000 offers older gamers a chance to relive the adrenaline rush of the arcade game, and younger gamers the chance to discover the beauty of a classic. --John Broady
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