Tempest 4000

The least revolutionary variant of Tempest, and arguably the first to feel less than essential. It’s a high-class psychedelic retro shooter, but no Resogun or Nex Machina.

It's quite the barebones package, despite being an uproarious amount of fun in small doses. Some small control tweaks, additional content, and other changes might make this the best Tempest out of the rest, but for now it's still a great diversion and addition to the series' portfolio.

I have spent countless hours playing TxK on Vita and it’s one of my favourite games, so I’m disappointed that Tempest 4000 doesn’t really add anything new, especially considering the higher price. It’s still a great game and hopefully a patch will tone down the overzealous use of effects. This is worth a look if you are bored of cut scenes, collectables, and other frippery that clog up video games and want some serious old school arcade action.

Tempest 4000’s time-tested gameplay still rings true, but some of the visual and design elements in this release add some unintended challenge. For what is ultimately an updated quarter-muncher, it has a steep price, but those looking to relive the past in 4K could do far worse than this title.

We want to love this update to the Tempest series but we've seen it all before and it's just not as impressive or fun as we had expected.

Look, it’s a fun game, filled with flashing lights and so much digital detritus you'll need a shower after one run. But the thing is, you’ve played this before – not in this form in 4K on this particular format, but Tempest is Tempest and Tempest 4000 doesn’t really try to be anything else. Which is fine, but we just wonder whether hidden messages to Chuck E. Cheese founder Nolan Bushnell and a few extra visualiser effects are enough here. Minter’s schtick, for as much as we love it, feels like it’s outstayed its welcome for the first real time. Maybe Atari’s lawyers would have been better off keeping this particular project locked down?