Tempest 4000

Jeff Minter’s latest evolution of Tempest will feel familiar to anyone that played TXK. Sure, there are additional Atari logos, 4k visuals and the inclusion of the Tempest 2000 tunes, but make no mistake, this is still the same brilliant blaster from 2014, but it’s had a few tweaks, not all of which we’re keen on. Weirdly, the claw feels like it has a little more inertia than it did in the original TXK, which does take a while to adjust to. There’s a bigger focus on onscreen pyrotechnics as well, which makes it tougher to get ‘into the zone’. The price is the killer however, which is bound to put off some. We’d argue it’s still worth it though, as few coders manage to deliver this sort of blasting bliss.