Tempest 4000 is a psychedelic revival of an arcade classic
by Amr (@siegarettes)
- Tempest 4000
- Developer- Llamasoft Ltd (Jeff Minter)
- Publisher- Atari
- PC, PS4, Xbox One
By the time I’d got around to playing games, I’d associated Atari more with middling licensed Dragon Ball Z games than their early videogame contributions. By the time the last generation ended, Atari had pretty much become a company failing to capitalize on those early games with middling remakes and reboots. So it’s a trip to see the Atari logo on a new game, let alone a new Tempest. Doubly so, considering it was just three years ago that the previous incarnation of Atari had threatened legal action against Jeff Minter for his work on TxK for its resemblance to Tempest 2000, a Tempest remake he created for Atari.
Given that context, Tempest 4000 almost feels like an apology to Minter. It’s recognition of the absurdity of the situation created by the previous holders of the Atari name, and an invitation to make it good by paying Minter to return to the well. And Minter isn’t shy about returning to the source.
