Thunder Spirits Review

The Thunder Force series was a Shoot em' Up series that saw a very choppy existence in the US with Thunder Force II and V being the only games with the official name tied to them in their US console releases and the fourth game, Lightning Force, carrying the most bewildering of them all. Well, Thunder Spirits here is the third game and, before V's port to the PlayStation, was the only game in the series released on a non-Sega endorsed system.

Thunder Force III... sorry, Thunder Spirits took the first step in bringing the Thunder Force series into being a bigger success than it all ready was by eliminating the multi-perspective game play that its predecessors had and keeping the game entirely as a Horizontal Scrolling Shoot em' Up. The game succeeds in making the graphics distinct so you can tell what you can crash into (mostly) and what's merely apart of the level decoration, but compared to most games on the SNES, Thunder Spirits is weak in its detail; funny enough, they graphics actually look like the belong on a Sega Genesis. Enemy explosions resemble thumb prints at times, explosions that can actually hurt you appear harmless and slow down and sprite break-up are eminent.

The game play has its ups and downs as you can control the speed of your ship and you can pick up five different weapons to use at your disposal and you've got a lot of enemies to fight. The only problem is that most of your enemies are down right easy. The second stage is actually the hardest level in the game; no matter what the difficulty is, you will find beating this game to be nothing short of easy. Some of the boss battles are so painstakingly easy that at times its almost insulting. Their only advantage is shooting you or colliding into you when they first come on screen. Symbolically, you are playing as a wildfire and your enemy is foliage. Your weapons are so incredibly powerful it wouldn't have hurt if there was one weapon that was an enormous laser beam that destroyed half the level.

The sound is a little weak at times almost to thepoint where it feels severely downgraded to the pint where it would be optimum for an NES title. The music is probably the best aspect in the game. The soundtrack offers some undeniable catchiness that ropes you into the game, but sometimes you'll encounter songs that just don't really fit. The worst (but funniest) of the songs has to be the song that plays when you're in the fifth level that can only be described as listening to Vangelis under very heavy sedation.

I guess if you're looking for an excursion into the Thunder Force series, want some more shooters for your Super Nintendo or don't want a really challenging game, then Thunder Spirits is your game.

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