Tempest 2000 (JAG/SAT, 1994/1996)
Graphics-7 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-8 Story-N/A
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-7/?* Originality-6
Overall Score-7
*2-player
+
Four games modes (Original, Tempest plus - arcade original with updated visuals and AI or human co-op, Tempest 2000, Tempest Duel - 2-player vs on separate playing fields) plus an unlockable hard mode/beastly mode
New power ups (cpu ally/AI droid - moves on its own and shoots enemies, jump - jump backwards off the tube/grid to avoid enemies that have reached your edge of the level (you have manual mid-air control and you can shoot as well))
Three kinds of bonus levels (collect 3 of a certain power up; fly through circles - meh, stay on the green track in a round tube - decent, fly through circles variation - meh but trippy visuals)
Many new level layouts (the original loops after 16 levels and makes the grid invisible at levels 65-80 plus it stops becoming harder after level 99)
Textured polygons and particle effects+3D camera (two zoom levels where the far one also stops the 3D camera - SAT only?)
Impressive music, new enemy types, smart bomb/homing lightning which hits enemies on your edge - one per level? (Tempest 1, can also get one that triggers when touched here), decent length for this kind of game (1h20min if you don't die), level select (beaten levels, can pick between the first 8 from the get go),
SAT ver.: Smoother framerate (still has minor dips here and there though), remastered redbook music (very good but not necessarily better than the .mod music on Jaguar)
+/-
Short levels
Traditional mode is easier than the arcade original
The menu and text effects look very Amiga demoscene-like (kind of cheesy)
Somewhat slower transitions between levels than in the original but they look better
"yes, Yes, YES!"
Power ups are lost in-between levels - would've been nice to have an easy mode where they carried over, can move through regular enemies while they move between lanes however you need to be at max acceleration to pull it off so it's rather tricky (takes 2-3 lane switches to reach max) - can also shoot them as they try to move into you while still but it seems to not be 100% reliable?)
-
Some control issues (hit detection issues when trying to catch a power up in a lane shaped like a crevice (see the star-shaped level for example), some delay when moving between columns if you just tap the d-pad (your avatar twists to "hook onto" each lane and there are 3 steps to this movement if you just tap the button - there's a slight delay even if holding the direction or when switching directions as well due to these steps (not sure what the point of them is))
Repetitive
The particle effects combined with the shattering text effect are a bit distracting - particulary the 1-up and 2k points ones (notification texts should've always been displayed above or below the playing field, the HUD can also be a bit distracting once you've accumulated more than ~3 lives since the icons are big and appear above the playing field)
Original/traditional mode is smoother?
Lame endings ("congratulations, now beat hard mode!"/"congratulations, have six cups of tea dude!")
The game doesn't tell you what level you're on, no difficulty options besides the unlockable hard mode, can only change sfx/music ratio before starting a game, the game doesn't tell you which level you're on (have to die and check the level select to see), sometimes neither zoom level is quite good enough - the close one makes you not see the whole playfield and the far one makes it too hard to make out some enemies and projectiles, too hard to see hazards/enemies in the small star shaped level,
SAT ver.: missing the third bonus level (not a big loss), some voices are too quiet here
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-7/?* Originality-6
Overall Score-7
*2-player
+
Four games modes (Original, Tempest plus - arcade original with updated visuals and AI or human co-op, Tempest 2000, Tempest Duel - 2-player vs on separate playing fields) plus an unlockable hard mode/beastly mode
New power ups (cpu ally/AI droid - moves on its own and shoots enemies, jump - jump backwards off the tube/grid to avoid enemies that have reached your edge of the level (you have manual mid-air control and you can shoot as well))
Three kinds of bonus levels (collect 3 of a certain power up; fly through circles - meh, stay on the green track in a round tube - decent, fly through circles variation - meh but trippy visuals)
Many new level layouts (the original loops after 16 levels and makes the grid invisible at levels 65-80 plus it stops becoming harder after level 99)
Textured polygons and particle effects+3D camera (two zoom levels where the far one also stops the 3D camera - SAT only?)
Impressive music, new enemy types, smart bomb/homing lightning which hits enemies on your edge - one per level? (Tempest 1, can also get one that triggers when touched here), decent length for this kind of game (1h20min if you don't die), level select (beaten levels, can pick between the first 8 from the get go),
SAT ver.: Smoother framerate (still has minor dips here and there though), remastered redbook music (very good but not necessarily better than the .mod music on Jaguar)
+/-
Short levels
Traditional mode is easier than the arcade original
The menu and text effects look very Amiga demoscene-like (kind of cheesy)
Somewhat slower transitions between levels than in the original but they look better
"yes, Yes, YES!"
Power ups are lost in-between levels - would've been nice to have an easy mode where they carried over, can move through regular enemies while they move between lanes however you need to be at max acceleration to pull it off so it's rather tricky (takes 2-3 lane switches to reach max) - can also shoot them as they try to move into you while still but it seems to not be 100% reliable?)
-
Some control issues (hit detection issues when trying to catch a power up in a lane shaped like a crevice (see the star-shaped level for example), some delay when moving between columns if you just tap the d-pad (your avatar twists to "hook onto" each lane and there are 3 steps to this movement if you just tap the button - there's a slight delay even if holding the direction or when switching directions as well due to these steps (not sure what the point of them is))
Repetitive
The particle effects combined with the shattering text effect are a bit distracting - particulary the 1-up and 2k points ones (notification texts should've always been displayed above or below the playing field, the HUD can also be a bit distracting once you've accumulated more than ~3 lives since the icons are big and appear above the playing field)
Original/traditional mode is smoother?
Lame endings ("congratulations, now beat hard mode!"/"congratulations, have six cups of tea dude!")
The game doesn't tell you what level you're on, no difficulty options besides the unlockable hard mode, can only change sfx/music ratio before starting a game, the game doesn't tell you which level you're on (have to die and check the level select to see), sometimes neither zoom level is quite good enough - the close one makes you not see the whole playfield and the far one makes it too hard to make out some enemies and projectiles, too hard to see hazards/enemies in the small star shaped level,
SAT ver.: missing the third bonus level (not a big loss), some voices are too quiet here