Back in the early 1980s, Atari's Tempest was one of the best-selling games on both home systems and in the arcades.
Given the current prettier-means-better thinking in the computer games industry, it's no small wonder that Tempest 2000 has not followed the overly ambitious, let's-make-the-game-in-3D trend of some other recent video-game comebacks. Instead, Tempest 2000 tries to preserve the addictive fun while upping the "kinetic ante" of the original. In other words, it tries to compound on the original Tempest's specialty, which is fast-paced, in-your-face noise and action. To that end, Tempest 2000 succeeds-perhaps far too well.
As in the original the game allows players to manipulate a 3-D vortex while avoiding missiles and spikes. There are 3-D enemies, awesome weapons and many visual effects. The game is much, much harder than the 1980s original: webs don't just sit on the screen while you travel around them- they bob up and down and around, which sometimes means that one side of the web or the other is not always visible on the screen. All the original enemies in Tempest are here, plus you now get Mutant Flippers, Demon Heads, and UFO's, all much more aggressive and more elusive than the old enemies.
To complicate things, "power-ups" are now sometimes fired at you, and if you catch them, you can get extra points, extra guys, laser beams (which emit a cool noisy effect), and the power to jump in the air and fire down on your enemies. You can even get an AI-controlled robot buddy that will help you in your kill-everything cause.
Tempest was already fast-paced, but it's arguable that Tempest 2000 is just overly frantic. The game is definitely a much more difficult, noisier version of the original. I did get addicted all over again, though, what with the jumping, laser beams, and AI robots that greatly enhance gameplay And, in the end, Tempest 2000 is similar enough in gameplay to the original that it brings back a huge dose of nostalgia. You can even blast your friends in "Duel Mode," or team up in a "Team-Up Mode."
Both die-hard fans of the original Tempest and newcomers will have much to like in this souped-up version of the arcade hit, although they should be prepared for some serious thumb-blistering sessions. Two thumbs up!
Review By HOTUD
English 
Comments and reviews
To Moonbug: the original version on MAME is the first version of Tempest I ever tried, back in 1998. For that, I appreciate Tempest 2000 a lot more, thanks to its flashier graphics that increase immersion, additional game modes, and powerups that alter the flow of the game. The more things a game allows players to do, the more fun they will have.
For some reason I love all my Atari games donkey Kong,frogger,qbert,centipede,donkey Kong jr,pac man,megamania,astroids,dig dug ,burger time,mappy happy,galaxy,kaboom,post fiction, football,tennis,in etc,etc,but for some reason I can't seem to get my donkey Kong ,donkey Kong jr,in my tempest in those are the games I love in my kid to I can't afford an Atari game for him I only can get them on my phone but those 3 games never was hard to get but why now my son always cry about these games but I keep telling him I have to keep trying to get the games for him So with your help what should I do or can you help me with those games tell me what should I do so he won't keep crying he love those games I'm just reaching out help me please thank you so much
I love the game
i played this game on playstation
The FM music is pretty cool!
Well there's also a DOS version of this game. But I still prefer the original Tempest game that I played the hell out of on my Amstrad CPC. I don't think these vector games really benefit from being "enhanced". Try the arcade version in MAME and see for yourself.
Mac OS 9 only :-(
No new mac, no PC!
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.