3D Thunder Blade

Genre: On-Rails Shooter

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Sega 3D Classics Collection Compilation on Nintendo 3DS, along with 3D Altered Beast, 3D Fantasy Zone II W, 3D Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa, 3D Galaxy Force II, 3D Maze Walker, 3D Power Drift, 3D Puyo Puyo 2, and 3D Sonic the Hedgehog).

Thunder Blade is an On-Rails Shooter originally released in Arcades in 1987 and later ported to numerous other platforms over the years, but as far as I can tell the 2015 release on Nintendo 3DS is the only time the game has seen release on a home console in decades. In this game, players pilot a helicopter in battle against tanks and other aircraft.

The visuals in this game look decent, using a faux 3D effect that works well enough for the purposes of the game, with decent helicopter noises and a largely forgettable soundtrack. Overall, this works, but it’s nothing special or all that memorable.

Unfortunately, the gameplay here doesn’t fare any better. There are multiple significant issues here. First, the controls are odd and take some getting used to. Making things worse, when you fly forward, your helicopter is blocking the view directly in front of it, meaning that you can’t see what you’re shooting at or what you may be about to run into. And then, just to make things extra frustrating, enemies can take you out with one hit… and they do.

The Nintendo 3DS release of the game adds a few extra features, such as save states, sound and display settings, and various control options, including the ability to use either the touchscreen or Circle Pad Pro as your throttle.

Unfortunately, they could throw all the control options in the world at me and Thunder Blade would still be a miserable experience. Poor controls, an obstructed view, and unforgiving difficulty all make this a game that’s best avoided

tl;dr – Thunder Blade is an On-Rails Shooter where you fly a helicopter taking down enemies. This is a good port with a decent selection of options, but that hardly matters when the underlying game is so terrible, with frustrating controls, an obscured view of exactly where you need to be looking, and enemies who can take you down with one hit. Don’t bother with this terrible game.

Grade: D

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