Tempest 4000 is So Retro it Might be a Bad Thing

Llamasoft and Atari's Tempest 4000 is a brand new Tempest, but it looks and feels like the Tempest you know and love. Its got the same barebones design, same gameplay style, and even the same feel. Tempest 4000 is a modern retelling of a classic and, well, it feels that way. A combination of trying too hard, keeping things too simple, and failure to innovate makes it nothing more than well, nostalgia fodder.

The game has the same quick controls and geometric look as the original, but you do get three separate game modes to play around with. Pure, which is basically a pure Arcade mode –  you get three lives, start from the beginning, and go for as long as you can. Standard which gives you three lives, and you go as far as you can until those lives run out. However the next time you play, you can start from the last completed stage, with your previous high score. Endurance is pretty brutal, you get one life and survive as long as you can.

It is what it is, and what you see is exactly what you get, which can be a great thing. It can also be a little bit lame.

Now, if all you wanted was Tempest 2000 on a modern console, with updated but not detailed graphics, the same gameplay with a few small tweaks, and a kickass soundtrack, well. Tempest 4000 is all that, for better or worse. Personally, I just wasn't blown away. Then again, I wasn't very good at it.

Tempest 4000 will release in Spring 2018 for PlayStation 4 and PC. You can check out the official gameplay reveal below.