To be honest, it hasn't all been top reviews and awards with T2K. Some fans of the original have complained that the Classic mode in the game isn't really that close to the gameplay of the original arcade game. It's about eighty percent there, but there are enough differences to be annoying to a purist. The trouble is that at the time I wrote the game I hadn't been near a functional Tempest arcade game for about seven years, and although the essence is there, there are a few errors. Looking back, I really wish I'd had the Microsoft Arcade pack for Windoze while I was working on the game - they had videotapes of the game to work from, and their version is accurate enough that I could have refreshed the gaps in my memory and made my version a lot more faithful.
Anyway, Classic mode was only really in there as a gimme; the main objective was to do a 2K version which updated the game and made it accessible to a new generation of players, many of whom might never have had the privilege of playing the original arcade game. I'm pretty satisfied that that objective was achieved.
There's a happy tale attached to Tempest, as well. Shortly after the game was released I started exchangine Email with a guy called Tal Funke-Bilu, who was utterly hooked on the game. For a couple of weeks it seemed like he didn't do a lot else... but during those two weeks, he got further than anyone I've encountered; he racked all 100 levels and then racked the 100 levels again in Beastly Mode. Anyway, I happened to be at Summer CES in Chicago, and so was he; anyway, I introduced him to John Skruch, and at that time John was looking for a new tester... and anyway, Tal's now at Atari as a full-time tester, and having a great time! As a matter of fact I'm making a point of passing him new versions of D2K, as anyone who's that good at games is someone whose opinions about gameplay I would value hearing. It's kinda cool when something good like that happens...
Of course it also means that he'll be making my llife hell come final test time for D2K, but there ya go ;)
By the way, on Bonus Level One, the level always completes before the music has cycled around, and because of that you miss something excellent which the Imagitec guys put in there especially for me. Next time you're on that level, pause the game and then bring up the music volume select so you can hear the tune playing. Just sit there and listen to it and eventually... listen carefully... you'll hear the distant melodious bleating of sheep.
Of course you could just get the soundtrack from Atari... yeah, that's right, there's a CD of the Tempest tunes remixed. There are a bunch more tunes on there too, which were made for the game but which had to be left out 'coz of memory constraints. If you like your techno it's a cool album. And it mentions llamas on the cover.
Also by the way... Tempest 2000 for the PC is almost finished!
Alright, I'll stop plugging the Tempest stuff. Don't want this to start sounding like an advertisement. But you really owe it to yourself to go out and buy a Jaguar and a copy of Tempest 2000 this instant because it's just so cool and you'll have so much fu
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