Thunderbirds

Written by Tom Clare in PS2 Game Reviews, Saturday 7 June, 2008

Released: 2007
Developer: Pukka Games
Publisher: Blast!
Genre: Action
Platform: PS2

No Strings Attatched

In theory at least, the sixties TV series Thunderbirds has the potential to make for a fantastic video game. Just picture the scene - a free-roaming, sandbox style environment allowing you to explore Tracey Island pouring over all the crafts, gadgets and hidden areas whilst selecting missions designated to each of the TB vessels. It would be nostalgia-fuelled bliss, and a small part of me was praying for such a game when it emerged that Thunderbirds was to get its first console outing for over a decade in 2007, but what you actually get for your £10 is just about the biggest waste of a licence in gaming, ever.

Thunderbirds has gameplay mechanics that would have seemed simplistic on a Super Nintendo and graphics that look like a PSOne game in slightly higher resolution. Budget games can be a lot of fun if approached with realistic expectations, but whichever way you look at it, this is a missed opportunity.

For the most part, this action game that lets you pilot (I use the term loosely) the much-beloved crafts of TB1 and 2 from an overhead perspective similar to that of EA's Strike helicopter series popular in the nineties. Problems are numerous - the ships are ridiculously slow and the controls convey absolutely no sense at all that you are at the hands of a machine in flight; both have some really crummy missiles and other than that the only 'asset' TB1 can execute is landing, which requires balancing thrusters against a wind gauge, whilst TB2 is used to winch and then transport an odd mixture of barrels, cows and wreckage, which is even less exciting than it sounds. The game claims to contain over 50 missions, though in reality its seven levels each with a number of short tasks.

Be it hauling around hazardous materials, blasting identical looking ships in what must be the least stimulating dog-fights ever committed to media, or rescuing people by 'landing', the fact is once you've seen one level, you've pretty much seen them all. The difficulty range (but for the occasionally unforgiving time-limit) doesn't really vary and nor do the missions objectives, offering almost zero variation in the challenges they pose, thus the inane repetition of tactics the player can employ is usually enough to get by.

I found the Thunderbird 3 and 4 sections the most fun, even if they too were disappointing. Showing a rather worrying lack of invention, both offer mini-games that are virtually the same, despite one craft being a spaceship and the other a submarine. In both cases, you are placed in the centre of a screen and must rotate and fire at various debris that floats around you in what is, truth be told, nothing more than a tarted-up (and somehow even simpler) version of Asteroids, though a bit of mindless enjoyment for a nonetheless.

It's dull and undemanding in the main, though the Thunderbird 2 transporting sections at least make occasional use of the scenery mapping, as you are forced to manoeuvre around higher ground or else risk losing your payload which hangs from the winch. The rather tight time-limits add some frustration into the mix - often you will be given three minutes or more to fulfil a number of collect-and-deliver scenarios but it leaves little room for error and more often than not, one slip up leaves you no chance of finishing the task in time. As tricky as these sections can be, the shooting bits are ludicrously simple - giving you as much as four minutes to shoot down a small handful of brain-dead crafts that don't even fire back at you and only cause damage if you fly into them.

The best thing that can be said for the games graphics are that they are in colour. The cut-scenes depicting the crafts launches will make you weep they are so ghastly; a million-miles from their TV counterparts, they are plagued with poor texturing, lurid colours and a complete lack of PS2-standard detail - even the smoke effects look like steam, and more annoyingly still, they couldn't even be bothered doing launch sequences for Thunderbirds 3 or 4. In-game the visuals are well below par though at least come across as functional, limiting any tearing or camera troubles to a minimum and the map designs are at least varied in appearance, though it screams 'budget' in every sense of the word.

Thunderbirds' single redeeming feature is its sound. The effects are a bit of mixed-bag but the classic TV series tune undoubtedly helps matters, however the variety of music used is extremely limited, meaning it does become repetitive - though it is unlikely you'll play it long enough to notice.

It may have been made with a younger market in mind, but that doesn't excuse Thunderbirds' endless shortcomings and the fact that the gameplay is so primitive, it feels like it was designed in an age where it is twenty years past its sell-by date. Don't let nostalgia cloud your judgement; this is one trek down memory lane you won't want to take.

Leave a Reply