On the list of games that should never have been judged at 2600, the storm should be at the top. Why Atari decided they could render a 3D vector game at 2600 is beyond me, but the results were disastrous. Luckily, Atari killed this experiment and it went wrong before it could hurt.
I said it once and I will say it again; if there is one thing, 2600 don't do it diagonally. Unfortunately Tempest is full of diagonal, tube-like angles from the center of the screen to form intricate geometric patterns. This brings us to the next problem, if there is a second that 2600 are not complex geometric patterns! The 2600 version gets around this by not having 3D jams, but rather flat view shapes with enemies on one side and the player moving on the other. Somehow the "shapes" seem to flow and change a bit in how everything moves around the screen, this is probably the result of a programming glitch. The "shape" is segmented into what might be called pipes (if you use your imagination), but these "pipes" don't seem to correspond to where the real plugs (which are inconspicuous) are.
This brings us to the next problem, if there is a third one, that the 2600 doesn't do it in 3D perspective. Atari couldn't get past that one; 3D perspective is what makes the storm "storm". Atari tried to mimic this by changing the opponent's size to make it look like it was closer. Unfortunately, there are very few animation frames for this, so the enemies then jump forward in an awkward fashion. The enemy graphics are very blocky and become even more obvious as the size increases as you approach the outer edge of the tube. This combined with the very angular looking "shape" on the board makes for one nasty looking game.
Surprisingly there are four different types of enemies in this version.
Flippers: These little bow tie shaped guys are the main enemy of the game. They are not dangerous until they reach the top of the tube and start coming after you.
Flipper Tankers: These will split into two flippers on impact.
Pulsars: These guys are very dangerous! They'll shock the tubes they're in every now and then they'll kill you if you're into it. In this version, the plug does not light up when in the electric chair, but Pulsar itself will glow a second before, I warn you, beware.
Fuseballs: These little fun guys are like flippers, but they only zip up and down the tube they are.
The controls in this early version are very frustrating. There is a set of places where your blaster can move to (pipes hidden), but they don't seem to match the shape on the screen. It wouldn't be so bad if they were on a regular basis, but they seem to be very close to the center of the screen and very far apart near the edges. This makes lining up your shots with incoming enemies very difficult because you're not quite sure where the next "hidden pipes" are. This combined with the fact that the "jumping" enemies move very quickly to the nearest "pipe" makes for a very challenging game. Shooting is a bit not as good and it seems like your blaster will fire from the left side of this graphic rather than from the middle. It wouldn't be so bad if the bullets didn't have a bad habit of disappearing when there are too many objects on the screen (probably due to flickering), this can lead to some mysterious deaths from invisible bullets. Luckily you have your Super Zapper in this version, which can be activated with the Up and Fire buttons.
In the programmer's defense, they've done a wonderful job on Tempest considering they've been asked to do the impossible. Since this version is not complete, it's really not fair to start judging it yet. For a while, I'm sure a much more playable version with improved graphics and stifled gameplay could go together. While probably not always looked at as its arcade counterpart, the prototype proves that Tempest can (very limitedly) be made on the 2600. There was a later version with some extra features, like the title screen reviewed in Ultimate Gamer Magazine, but it is unknown what happened to the prototype.