Welcome to GamesRadar's daily blast of all things pertaining to the ever-growing field of game music. Each post will introduce new sounds, games, composers and fan-made remixes of gaming's greatest aural achievements
March 25, 2010
Game: Tempest 2000
Song: Mind's Eye
Composer: Ian Howe, Alastair Lindsay, Kevin Saville, Julian Hodgson
Above:Mind's Eye from Tempest 2000
Microsoft Game Room opened to the public yesterday, enabling Games for Windows and Xbox Live members to shuffle around virtual arcades stacked with classic games of the '70s and '80s. The list of titles is a little wanting, but high on our list is the original Tempest, ahallucinatorytwitch shooter that paved the way for 1994's Tempest 2000.
"Mind's Eye" is just one of 12 songs weaved together for this acid-trip of a game, though it's easily the most recognizable. If it grates on you as a standalone track, imagine it blasting out of a game that has you floating in a black void, defending glowing lines from aggressive geometric shapes that explode into shards of rudimentary polygons. We can't imagine a better fit.
That's just the first few minutes. It only gets trippier as you advance, quickly escalating into a rainbow of drug-induced dreamscapes that you feel compelled to protect at all costs. Shame Tempests' spiritual successor, Space Giraffe,wasn't as good.
"Back to the Old Temple" by Tom Salta
Beautiful music blatantly ripped off from existing tunes
