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Ah,
I remember the days well, Saturday mornings, down at the coast, playing on the
arcade machines, seems just like last year. Then suddenly Interplay release
Tempest X3 and you come down to earth with a crash.
This is
essentially the same as Tempest, the shoot-em-up that I used to play for hours
in the arcades 15 years ago. I can't remember ever completing the game, but I
recall a few high scores in my time.
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Tempest
X3 is a very simple, yet addictive, shoot-em-up which has moved through time
from the arcades to the Atari Jaguar and finally onto the PSX.
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If
you demand polygons and vast 3D environments from a game, then give this a miss.
The levels start off with a wire grid that is rather simplistically shaped with
a circle here and a square there, but move on to some bizarre, bendy shaped
webs. Apart from an assortment of shapes, there are basically very few changes
between each level.
It is not graphically impressive, but then these
type of games were all about gameplay. There is a hidden trippy mode, but these
backgrounds are nothing but a psychedelic distraction.
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The
music is an excellent mix of old style rave tunes which accompany the action
perfectly.
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The
concept is remarkably simple. You control a yellow ship that sits on the lip of
a 3D wire-frame web that stretches into space. Alien shapes appear from the
inner core of the grid and move up towards you. You must destroy them before
they reach the outer rim as this will kill you. As they move up the web, some
will fire shots while others will electrify parts of the web.
To
defend yourself, you have a pair of lazer guns and a superzapper, which is a one
shot per level smart bomb, that will destroy everything on the screen.
You
can enhance your lasers strength by collecting power ups that the dead aliens
leave behind and essential jump enabler which allows you to leap out of the web
and destroy those enemies that have reached the outer rim.
As with most
arcade shoot-em-ups, you can record your name and high score for posterity. You
also get to play the original game of Tempest that graced the arcades in the
early '80s, with the opportunity to take on a mate in the Dual player mode. In
a nutshell, that's it.
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For
those who were brought up on Space Invaders and Galaxians. Great fun to play,
over 100 levels, although can become repetitive. Beware if you demand polygons
and vast 3D environments.
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MARTIN |
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GRAPHICS: |
Poor |
Retro
revisited. |
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SOUND: |
Average |
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PLAYABILITY: |
Good |
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VALUE: |
Fair |
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OVERALL
7/10 |
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