Chrome Web App of the Week: Tempest

Posted 03/10/2011 at 11:39am | by Seamus Bellamy

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Sometimes the old school is still the best school where gaming is concerned. Tetherball and the Dungeons & Dragons Red Box are great examples of this, and for this edition of Chrome Web app of the Week, Atari's Tempest fits the bill. Released in 1980, this paddle-controlled monster saw arcade-goers run through quarters faster than poop through a goose, and no wonder: 31 years later, with its simple vector graphics and frantic gameplay, Tempest can still hold its own against any modern action game you'd care to name.

Like its quarter-gobbling counterpart, the free Chrome edition of Tempest offers one player or two player hot seat gameplay. The goal of the game? Simple: Survive as long as possible and rack up as many points as possible by moving your ship around a variety of geometric shapes while shooting up a myriad of baddies. Achieving that goal? Not so much.

If you managed to dodge and shoot your way through Tempest’s constant onslaught of enemy fire and kamikaze attacks long enough to rank on the game’s high score list, and you’ll feel like you’ve really accomplished something. Be warned: Tempest is a gateway drug of a game. No matter whether you’re playing this classic for the first time or revisiting a chapter from your misspent youth, playing this one’s only going to make you hungry to explore the rest of Atari’s online catalogue.

Fortunately, that catalogue can be accessed via a handy web link found in the bottom right corner of Tempest interface. Be sure to check in with us next Monday for the Chrome Web App of the week. No doubt we'll have something even juicier waiting for you.