Tempest 4000 on PC....oh dear

[catmando]

Bought Tempest 4000 on PC yesterday (on the day of release), sad to say it's not what I was hoping for, lack of control choices and general shoddy conversion to PC platform. Subsequently asked for a refund

Here's some of the reviews (less than 24 hours after release)

Tempest4000_PC_Reviews1.jpg

[leech]

Anyone know if/when the Linux port is going to be released? How is it fairing on other systems? I am still waiting for a port of Polybius, which is practically the same as Tempest anyhow.

[RoadRunner]

Don't think the jag version will ever be topped

And I still have it

[leech]

Don't think the jag version will ever be topped

And I still have it

Same here! I should track down a rotary controller...

[simonsunnyboy]

I bought it and played for 3 mins sofar. It works okay and I think it is about what I expected.
I will play more until I decide if its crap or not.

Nothing brainblasting high tech, just as expected. Otoh I couldn't track down any other decent PC remakes of Tempest that work well. There was one around 2007 but it crashes for me with Windows 8 which is a shame.

So if Steam has another playable Tempest clone, please recommend.
Until that, I won't totally giveup on Tempest 4000.

[alexh]

The reviews basically say if you've not played anything since Space Giraffe then it's cool (but pricey) but if you played TxK on any platform it is little more than that game re-branded.

Anyone played Polubius PSVR?

[leech]

The reviews basically say if you've not played anything since Space Giraffe then it's cool (but pricey) but if you played TxK on any platform it is little more than that game re-branded.

Anyone played Polubius PSVR?

I haven't played it in VR, but I do have a 3D TV and it is pretty amazing there (of course with anything on a 3D TV you have to be in the 'sweet spot'). I can guess it is about the same except you are always in the sweet spot. I know this because I do have a Vive, and pretty much that is how it works when you basically have something that is flat in VR. Perfect 3D. Unless he put in things like being able to turn and such, but PSVR is mostly a 180 degree thing from what I have read.

Polybius to me is the new Tempest 2000.

[TheNameOfTheGame]

I have Polybius VR for my PSVR. It's really fun and my kids loved the game play.

Fast-paced with incredible VR visuals and amazing sound effects.

[Stefan jL]

I have not played Tempest 4k or TxK but judging from videos so do enemies look much better in Txk... in T4k they look so static/stiff. Well... thats all i had to say about this game... i will probably buy it it eventually, i am hoping for a Nintendo Switch version

[ggn]

Bought Tempest 4000 on PC yesterday (on the day of release), sad to say it's not what I was hoping for, lack of control choices and general shoddy conversion to PC platform.

What on Earth are you talking about? Both txk and t4k were developed on PC so it's not a conversion! I did read though that it doesn't offer keyboard controls which is a no-go for me, that's why I haven't bought it yet. If anyone can confirm that keyboard input works I'll happily buy it.

Here's some of the reviews (less than 24 hours after release)

Tempest4000_PC_Reviews1.jpg

Yeah, and then if you scroll down the steam page you'll find an equal amount of praises for the game. Minter's games are kind of niche these days - people do not play arcade style games that aren't forgiving or cuddling the player so there's bound to be quite a few negative reviews there. I'll probably update my views once I get to try it myself but for now I wouldn't trust neither a positive or a negative Steam review.

[leech]

Bought Tempest 4000 on PC yesterday (on the day of release), sad to say it's not what I was hoping for, lack of control choices and general shoddy conversion to PC platform.

What on Earth are you talking about? Both txk and t4k were developed on PC so it's not a conversion! I did read though that it doesn't offer keyboard controls which is a no-go for me, that's why I haven't bought it yet. If anyone can confirm that keyboard input works I'll happily buy it.

Here's some of the reviews (less than 24 hours after release)

Tempest4000_PC_Reviews1.jpg

Yeah, and then if you scroll down the steam page you'll find an equal amount of praises for the game. Minter's games are kind of niche these days - people do not play arcade style games that aren't forgiving or cuddling the player so there's bound to be quite a few negative reviews there. I'll probably update my views once I get to try it myself but for now I wouldn't trust neither a positive or a negative Steam review.

"OMG 2 HARD" - wussy gamers
Tempest is old school difficulty where sucking down coins was its job. If he releases it for Linux I will buy it. Trying to move away from needing Windows as much as possible

[DarkLord]

"OMG 2 HARD" - wussy gamers

Tempest is old school difficulty where sucking down coins was its job. If he releases it for Linux I will buy it. Trying to move away from needing Windows as much as possible

This! +1

[catmando]

Bought Tempest 4000 on PC yesterday (on the day of release), sad to say it's not what I was hoping for, lack of control choices and general shoddy conversion to PC platform.

What on Earth are you talking about? Both txk and t4k were developed on PC so it's not a conversion! I did read though that it doesn't offer keyboard controls which is a no-go for me, that's why I haven't bought it yet. If anyone can confirm that keyboard input works I'll happily buy it.

Here's some of the reviews (less than 24 hours after release)

Tempest4000_PC_Reviews1.jpg

Yeah, and then if you scroll down the steam page you'll find an equal amount of praises for the game. Minter's games are kind of niche these days - people do not play arcade style games that aren't forgiving or cuddling the player so there's bound to be quite a few negative reviews there. I'll probably update my views once I get to try it myself but for now I wouldn't trust neither a positive or a negative Steam review.

Here's a thought, why don't you purchase the PC version yourself and then give it a try before speculating an opinion.

[ggn]

Bought Tempest 4000 on PC yesterday (on the day of release), sad to say it's not what I was hoping for, lack of control choices and general shoddy conversion to PC platform.

What on Earth are you talking about? Both txk and t4k were developed on PC so it's not a conversion! I did read though that it doesn't offer keyboard controls which is a no-go for me, that's why I haven't bought it yet. If anyone can confirm that keyboard input works I'll happily buy it.

Here's some of the reviews (less than 24 hours after release)

Tempest4000_PC_Reviews1.jpg

Yeah, and then if you scroll down the steam page you'll find an equal amount of praises for the game. Minter's games are kind of niche these days - people do not play arcade style games that aren't forgiving or cuddling the player so there's bound to be quite a few negative reviews there. I'll probably update my views once I get to try it myself but for now I wouldn't trust neither a positive or a negative Steam review.

Here's a thought, why don't you purchase the PC version yourself and then give it a try before speculating an opinion.

As a matter of fact I did, last night.

Yeah the controls were a bit awkward and took me all of 5 minutes to get used to them. I played the game at 1440p running at full 60Hz on a 2008 PC, so Jeff and Giles get top marks on engineering - this runs buttery smooth. It's also such a joy to watch I almost wished I wasn't playing it. But as these things go I pretty quickly zoned in and my fingers did the work on their own while my eyes were absorbing all that geometry transform goodness. It doesn't mean I'm good at it yet, goodness no I suck. But I'm slowly building up to it. So far the only thing that's bothering me is that the first music track used is a reworking of the T2k one, I always found that pretty annoying. But it just gives me incentive to push on so I don't have to listen to it on later levels!

Shoddy port? Nope, not really. Unless you have some counter argument against it except a generic"shoddy"?

And then after playing it for about 40 minutes I booted T2k on the Jaguar because it so happened that it was set up right besides the PC.

And I LOL'd hard at the claim of "t2k can't be bested". Choppy frame rate, inaccurate geometry, janky audio... Nope, sorry. Games like these are supposed to be 50/60Hz or nothing. Minter's been perfecting tube shooters for at least 20 years after t2k and he did do much much better with t4k. I dunno, maybe you guys are feeling sad he's not coding for Atari platforms anymore or something?

Bottom line: I liked it a lot. It's your right to ask for a refund if it didn't meet your expectations of course. Just don't assume that the majority of people will agree with you.

P.S. I never played T2k that much, I just don't like Tempest too much. But I do like t4k so that's something

[mlynn1974]

I think it looks good based on the YouTube video. A bit like the on rails shooter Rez on the PS2 and sharper than Tempest 2000 on the Jaguar.
It might be a good justification for me to get a PS4, that and Shenmue 3.
I'm not really a great fan of Jeff Minter games although Revenge of Mutant Camels was fun for a while on the ST. I think I'll play that tomorrow!

[leech]

What on Earth are you talking about? Both txk and t4k were developed on PC so it's not a conversion! I did read though that it doesn't offer keyboard controls which is a no-go for me, that's why I haven't bought it yet. If anyone can confirm that keyboard input works I'll happily buy it.



Yeah, and then if you scroll down the steam page you'll find an equal amount of praises for the game. Minter's games are kind of niche these days - people do not play arcade style games that aren't forgiving or cuddling the player so there's bound to be quite a few negative reviews there. I'll probably update my views once I get to try it myself but for now I wouldn't trust neither a positive or a negative Steam review.

Here's a thought, why don't you purchase the PC version yourself and then give it a try before speculating an opinion.

As a matter of fact I did, last night.

Yeah the controls were a bit awkward and took me all of 5 minutes to get used to them. I played the game at 1440p running at full 60Hz on a 2008 PC, so Jeff and Giles get top marks on engineering - this runs buttery smooth. It's also such a joy to watch I almost wished I wasn't playing it. But as these things go I pretty quickly zoned in and my fingers did the work on their own while my eyes were absorbing all that geometry transform goodness. It doesn't mean I'm good at it yet, goodness no I suck. But I'm slowly building up to it. So far the only thing that's bothering me is that the first music track used is a reworking of the T2k one, I always found that pretty annoying. But it just gives me incentive to push on so I don't have to listen to it on later levels!

Shoddy port? Nope, not really. Unless you have some counter argument against it except a generic"shoddy"?

And then after playing it for about 40 minutes I booted T2k on the Jaguar because it so happened that it was set up right besides the PC.

And I LOL'd hard at the claim of "t2k can't be bested". Choppy frame rate, inaccurate geometry, janky audio... Nope, sorry. Games like these are supposed to be 50/60Hz or nothing. Minter's been perfecting tube shooters for at least 20 years after t2k and he did do much much better with t4k. I dunno, maybe you guys are feeling sad he's not coding for Atari platforms anymore or something?

Bottom line: I liked it a lot. It's your right to ask for a refund if it didn't meet your expectations of course. Just don't assume that the majority of people will agree with you.

P.S. I never played T2k that much, I just don't like Tempest too much. But I do like t4k so that's something

Any idea if it supports the Steam Controller?

Also... still waiting for Polybius. Dying to try that on the Vive!

[simonsunnyboy]

I works 100% with Xbox 360 controllers so it should work with the Steam controller too.

[TempestNut]

I have a modded Tempest4000.exe file that someone hacked for mouse & USB spinner support AND when using a mouse or USB spinner the fake inertia is disabled, It works with windows 7 and 10.

To anyone who wants it just message me and I'll email it to you and I'll make sure it works right on your computer but you'll need an "outlook" or "hotmail" email for me to send it to...

[penguin]

The reviews basically say if you've not played anything since Space Giraffe then it's cool (but pricey) but if you played TxK on any platform it is little more than that game re-branded.

Anyone played Polubius PSVR?

I have T4K on the PS4 and yes, it's basically TxK rebranded and in higher res with the T2K music added (you can switch between T2K and TxK music). It's a fine game, although I hate the high-pitched sound effects of one enemy type. AFAIK TxK is only available on the Vita - Minter was working on a PS4 port when Atari stepped in.

Polybius is great in VR, anything set in a tube or fixed track works well in VR

[TempestNut]

I've noticed something that the "spinner" version of Tempest 4000 has over on the "Game controller" version that I believe gives it an advantage, Claw speed, The spinner version's claw speed is significantly faster than the controller version !

Here is a comparison of the two versions with the claw going around the first level at max speed in both versions...

Controller version takes 1.10 seconds to go around once...

https://youtu.be/wwzjeDmRBH4

Spinner version takes 0.67 seconds to go around once...

https://youtu.be/emF18tgm2gU

That's just 0.24 seconds from being twice as fast !

[TempestNut]

Although the two versions are not any dif in that if you use a controller with the "spinner" version it goes as slow as the "controller" version, So it's being able to use a spinner in one vs the other, Not one version over the other...

If that makes sense?

[TempestNut]

I AM THE FIRST Ultra Atarian in Tempest 4000 !!!

[leech]

I AM THE FIRST Ultra Atarian in Tempest 4000 !!!

How Sheepish of you.

[DarkLord]

All I can say is "Ewe.....!".

[TempestNut]

This is where I'm at with my high scores these days...