REVIEWS COURTESY OF ZXSR

Thunder Blade
by Leigh Christian, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Mark Tait, Ian Naylor
U.S. Gold Ltd
1988
Crash Issue 59, Dec 1988   page(s) 184,185

Rotor-wing arcade action takes Spectrum by storm!

Producer: US Gold
Kerosene: £8.99 cass, £12.99 disk
Author: Tiertex

One of the year's biggest arcade games has finally arrived on the Spectrum and thanks to some state-of-the-art programming it looks pretty darn good. The game takes place in a country where the government has been overthrown by rebels who plan to install an evil dictator. Fortunately the finest helicopter pilot alive, you, are still at liberty with the world's most powerful fighting machine all fuelled up and ready to go. Codenamed the Gunship Gladiator you hesitate hardly a second before climbing aboard and setting off to restore Democracy...

The Thunder Blade is armed with machine guns and air-to-ground missiles, but has no defences other than a bit of armour plating and your skill at dodging bullets. These skills have to see you through four levels of mechanised mayhem. Each level - except the final one - is split into three sections; two overhead, vertically scrolling sections and one flying into the screen section. Overall there are 12 sections grouped into several multiloads (four on the 128K, eight on the 48K).

On Level One the Thunder Blade is flying through a city heavily populated with tanks, helicopters and jet aircraft. Dropping in height on the overhead section makes the skyscrapers and roads grow larger in an impressive display of 3-D programming. The joystick controls left/right direction and height, speed is either by keys or joystick - hold down fire and forward.

Once you have battled your way through the city you must face a large battleship kicking out flak and missiles in all directions. When this is sunk an end of level bonus is awarded, depending on the amount of hits scored. The second level moves the player to another potential paintwork-scraping encounter - rotoring through a network of caverns toward another ominous enemy. Level Three finds our intrepid hero flying over enemy held jungles and waterways, now coming under fire from heavily armed ships. The final baddie here is a huge aircraft.

By the fourth and final level the ravages of battle are starting to show on your battered and dented chopper, as well as your battered and bruised body, but tough mercenaries like you don't give up, after all you don't think Arnie Schwarzenegger would say 'naff this for a game of soldiers, I'm off home' (in his Austrian accent). No, he'd fight on, in search of the ultimate goal - an oil refinery which should make a satisfying bang before you take on the last battleship.

I think US Gold have done a great job here, converting such a great coin-op to the Spectrum. The 3-D perspectives are used to great effect, especially on the first level with the tall buildings soaring to their lofty heights, and you vainly tugging at the joystick trying to avoid them. Although the sprites are monochromatic, they are all well designed, and serve their functions with a single-minded determination - for the most part this means blowing the socks off of the brave chopper pilot. I greatly enjoy playing the arcade version, and although the hydraulic chair isn't present on the computer version, the game is just as much fun. I think that US Gold are onto a big Christmas hit with Thunder Blade.

MARK [90%]

THE ESSENTIALS
Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: amazing 3-D perspective which changes as you climb and dive, giving a true sense of height
Sound: Good music on 128 with lots of effective explosions on both 48 & 128 machines


The only thing missing from Thunder Blade is the rudder and moving cockpit, everything else is here. The graphics are faithful to the arcade machine and full of detail, the 3-D perspective with trees, blocks of flats and tanks zooming past is excellent. These graphics give a feeling of realism that most shoot-'em-ups lack and even though there is an absence of colour, the targets are never cluttered by badly detailed backgrounds. There is a pretty drastic multiload system, so if you don't have a tape counter then you could be in serious trouble! Thunder Blade is yet another excellent arcade conversion - a must for the arcade machine lovers and helicopter simulation freaks alike.
NICK [92%]


At last it's here! And I can finally see what all the fuss was about. The innovative graphics techniques used for the changing perspective are really impressive - I especially like the cityscape overhead view sections where a definite sense of vertigo is induced as you dive towards the ground. But Thunder Blade isn't just impressive technically. In the playability stakes, it's tremendously addictive, even though it's limited mainly to simple blasting. Unfortunately there are the usual problems with the multiload which rudely interrupts play every so often. But despite this minor irritation, as a mixture of essentially two different shoot-'em-up styles, Thunder Blade represents very good value for money. It's not just another dull shoot-'em-up, but a technically impressive conversion from the brilliant coin-op and has inherited the great playability and high-flying atmosphere of the original arcade machine. What a great Tiertex treat, just in time for Christmas!
PHIL [91%]

REVIEW BY: Phil King, Nick Roberts, Mark Caswell

Blurb: On the first section, keep weaving left and right, while firing like mad. On vertically-scrolling sections, use missiles to destroy the ground installations. Try to eliminate as many installations on the vertically-scrolling levels to earn a bigger bonus. On the 3-D overhead-view sections, keep high to fly over the buildings.

Presentation91%
Graphics93%
Sound79%
Playability92%
Addictive Qualities90%
Overall91%
Summary: General Rating: A superb conversion of the great coin-op - US Gold and Tiertex have definitely pulled off what others said couldn't be done.

Award: Crash Smash

Transcript by Chris Bourne

Your Sinclair Issue 38, Feb 1989   page(s) 40,41

US Gold
£8.99 cass/£12.99 disk
Reviewer: Sean Kelly

Thunder Blade is probably the game which took most of your money in the arcades this summer, probably one of the most eagerly awaited coin-op conversions, and Carlsberg is probably (Get on with it. Ed).

Sorry. Your country has been invaded yet again, this time by someone more Merciless than Ming, more Horrible than Hagar, More Rotten than Johnny, the one and only... General Swindells. Bit of a lousy name for a baddie, really. I mean, if I (GET ON WITH IT! Ed.) The General's hordes have wasted no time in saturating the land, sea and air with all manner of craft, and so it is no wonder that your battle weary troops are being easily defeated by the onslaught. As a last resort. U.S. General Headquarters have ordered you into service, and given you the ignition keys to a Thunder Blade helicopter, the most awesome attack helicopter around. As you gibber pathetically in the corner, the bosses remind you that you are a distinguished veteran of many campaigns with more decorations than Habitat. So chest out, shoulders back, and here we go...

You begin the resistance battle, flying through one of the overrun cities. Watching from above, you see tanks rumbling through the streets, and taking every opportunity to fire deadly missiles in your direction. The tension mounts as the Thunder Blade swings wildly to avoid the buildings hemming it in on all sides, and dives low in order to destroy the tanks. Diving low makes the tanks easy to destroy, but also increases the likelihood of being destroyed. Flying high makes it easy to negotiate the buildings, but impossible to score any hits. The scrolling and graphics in this section are the best I've ever seen on the Spectrum - each building is ingeniously represented by a sort of stack of wafers, alternately black and white, creating the illusion of the building without significantly slowing down the action. On completion of this part, the Thunder Blade must be flown through the city again, but now it's viewed from behind.

This time round the city is much more treacherous, for as well as the tanks, helicopters also make their presence felt. As you are forced to swoop extremely low to hit any of the tanks, seeing the helicopters before they launch their deadly weapons at the Thunder Blade is nearly impossible. Once through the city your problems aren't over, for once you are over open land. Meercat jet fighters use the opportunity to launch their attack on you.

The quality of scrolling and the graphics are maintained in this section, and the way in which the tanks grow' as you approach them at speed is breathtaking - and it's almost worth getting killed just to see the tanks in full detail for a moment or two before restarting the game.

Should you survive this part, then it's back to the view-from-above playing style as you progress along an aircraft carrier, TRYING to destroy all the aircraft on board. This is made yet more hazardous by the rows of guns which run the full width of the ship and fire in unison, leaving you to dodge around eight missiles at once.

Next stop is a canyon, along which numerous tanks are running, just waiting to be bombed by the Thunder Blade. Again, this would be easy, if they didn't keep firing back, and if the canyon walls weren't so close to your rotors. This was as far as this humble pilot managed to get, so beyond this, who knows what horrors lie?

First of all, whoever is responsible must be congratulated for the best scrolling and graphics I have ever seen on the Spectrum. Admittedly this will involve a lot of multi loading for most Speccy players, but when this type of quality is the result, it is worth the fiddling.

Addictiveness is also there in abundance, and this is helped by the variety of gameplay - in the sections I played, the tactics varied from zooming along swooping at targets, to slow, deft and tricky dodging, which kept your mind one hundred per cent on the game. Although I have given Thunder Blade megagame status, I do have a couple of reservations. It sometimes seemed impossible to judge when you were about to be hit, which makes progressing a little random. I also wonder how long it will take the average YS reader to complete the game, and I suspect that the answer is not too long. Reservations aside, however, this has got to be the whammiest, most jaw-dropping game I have played this year.


REVIEW BY: Sean Kelly

Graphics9/10
Playability8/10
Value For Money9/10
Addictiveness9/10
Overall9/10
Summary: Brilliant scrolling and graphics combine to make an excellent shoot 'em up and faithful conversion from the coin-op.

Award: Your Sinclair Megagame

Transcript by Chris Bourne

Your Sinclair Issue 64, Apr 1991   page(s) 80

BARGAIN BASEMENT

RICH PELLEY and JON PILLAR are at it again and they want us to join on. Oo-er. (So bring along an extra lightbulb just to be safe.)

Kixx
£2.99
Reviewer: Rich Pelley

What have Noel Edmonds, Mike Smith and that bloke who flies the helicopter in Treasure Hunt got in common? That's right, they all fly helicopters.

And flying helicopters is what Thunder Blade is all about (luckily though with no sign of Noel Edmonds). The game consists of you flying about in a chopper, snooting and bombing things below as you go (Fire takes care of both of these). The first big stage is Skyscraper City, where you start with a bird's-eye view of your chopper, and solid 3D view of the buildings and tanks and other choppers below. Accelerating ahead, you either dive low (to increase the chances of hitting the tanks on the ground but also of getting hit back in return), or stay high (where you'll have more baddie choppers to contend with). Everything shrinks and grows very impressively as you get nearer/further away from them. However, it's all a little unpredictable because it's rather tricky to see the bullets heading towards you as they get obscured by your own sprite. You often find yourself plummeting back down to earth for no apparent (or avoidable) reason. The second and third parts of the first stage consist of the more familiar behind- view, again through skyscrapers, and then what's essentially a vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up over an aircraft carrier. In both parts the graphics aren't quite as stunning as the 'first' bit, but the gameplay's a lot easier.

There are 4 large levels in all, each divided up into 3 parts as in the first, and some spooky fortress thingie right at the end which you have to blow up although admittedly I haven't got that far yet. In fact, I haven't even got off the first level. But I know a man who has, so I can tell you that the graphics are equally varied - including a sort of cavern thing you have to fly through at one point.

The game isn't particularly fast-moving and requires a bit more thought than certain games I could mention, so you may find it a bit frustrating at first, although I can guarantee that it get's loads better after a bit of practice. The difficulty is pitched just right too, so you'll probably be playing quite a long time as it's quite easy to progress and pretty damned addictive with it. I'm not too sure how long term we're talking here though, but never mind, eh? An ex-YS Megagame, and a complete snip for a mere 2 pounds 99 pence.


REVIEW BY: Rich Pelley

Overall84%
Transcript by Chris Bourne

Sinclair User Issue 82, Jan 1989   page(s) 33

Label: US Gold
Author: Tiertex
Price: £8.99 cass, £12.99 disc
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Tony Dillon

Everyone who's been to an arcade in the last 12 months, or indeed anyone who went near the US Gold stand at the PC show this year will know that Thunderblade has you as the pilot of a lone helicopter, battling against endless hordes of enemy tanks and airborne defences with only one thing in mind - the destruction of a rebel force that's slowly over your country.

The coin-op itself was an impressive sight. The fast, colourful realistic graphics were a sight to behold, and the pumping soundtrack more than enough to drive you over the edge. The cabinet wasn't quite so impressive. Sega steered away from the hydraulic impressiveness of the full Afterburner cabinet, and opted for a manual leverage control system. That means you have to move the seat around yourself with the control stick, which is quite a weighty process, rendering the sit-down version a little unplayable. None of that with the stand up against the wall version.

Thunderblade on the Spectrum is an impressive feat. So what if it's monochrome, it's fast, it's a very close copy of the coin-op, and it's GREAT! The only real problem with the graphics is that in some cases it can be just a little too hard to tell which are the enemy bullets and which are yours. This does make the game a little difficult, but I love a challenge.

The game control changes through three distinct, wonderful and different types. The first is implemented on the first screen of each level, and is a top down view of the surrounding area in a full 3D environment, in which you are free to move around.

The second screen also contains a full 3D environment, but this time you are viewed from behind and are flying forward through a startlingly real landscape of buildings and skyscrapers. Later, you fly through levels of canyons and a river section. The third and final level on each section is the fight against the big bad mutha.

Each of the four muthas is about four screens long and is viewed in much the same way as the first section, except you can't move in or out of the screen. Hundreds of gun emplacements line these huge monsters of war, and have to be shot out. This is very hard to start with and gets progressively harder as you go along.

It's nice to see the same attention to detail in Thunderblade that is making Op Wolf and Afterburner sure fire hits in the conversion stakes. Thunderblade utilises the same 3D graphic environment generator as the coin-op which more than helps the feel along. Rather than trying to create solid buildings, for example, they have captured the 3D look by creating each image in planes, each plane holding it's position on screen via the laws of vanishing-point perspective. This means you get a very real look to the buildings, and it's a lot easier to manipulate large 3D objects than messing about with filled vectors.

Thunderblade is brilliant, and in all honestly, seems to be a real step forward for Speccy gaming. It's fast, smooth, quite playable and a darn fine conversion. It's not often I say this, but it seems that finally a US Gold game has lived up to it's hype.


REVIEW BY: Tony Dillon

Graphics94%
Sound74%
Playability75%
Lastability83%
Overall87%
Summary: Fabbo conversion of a good coin-op. It falls a little on playability.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

Sinclair User Issue 109, Mar 1991   page(s) 50,51

Label: Kixx
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £3.99
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Sega's mega coin-op landed with the impact of a Cruise missile in 1988, and the inevitable home computer conversions did a creditable Job of representing the sophisticated 3-D graphics of the original.

On the Spectrum version, though, the main problem is control. The game has four main stages; city skyscrapers, desert valleys, river delta and finally an oil refinery. The view alternates between top and front perspectives, and because you have to control the speed, left/right position, up/down position and firing missiles and cannon, from a combination of joystick and/or keyboard controls, it all gets a tad confusing, and you find yourself slamming info the ground or shooting off all your missiles until you get used to it.

Still, the action's fast and furious - a bit like Afterburner, though with more variety of ground and air defences. There's the obligatory mothership at the end of each level, and you get bonus points for destroying enemies as quickly as possible.

Now, you might be put off by the fact that Thunderblade win cost you £3.99, but despair not. Though the price hike for budget games was inevitable, the bitter pill is sugared by the offer of a free game (well, actually it will cost you 99p p&p) The offer's open until August and includes titles like 10th Frame, Black Beard, Side Arms, Hardball, MetroCross and Trantor (subject to availability) So as you blast away at Thunderblade, do this little sum; 3.99 + 99 = 498, /2 = 249 each, = a bit of a bargain.


GARTH'S COMMENT:
It was a great hit when it first appeared and has graced many a compilation - on budget it's well worth a go especially with the free game offer!

REVIEW BY: Chris Jenkins

Graphics79%
Sound70%
Playability78%
Lastability85%
Overall82%
Summary: It's not like anything you've seen before, unless you've already bought it! Well worth the dosh, especially if you plump for the special offer too!

Transcript by Chris Bourne

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 16, Jan 1989   page(s) 56,57

US Gold go to the rotors.

Top dog in the software chart battle last Christmas was US Gold's Out Run, and they're hoping to repeat the feat by taking to the air this year. The competition is much hotter these days though - so have they managed to come up with the gameplay goods?

To start with, the helicopter you fly is viewed from above. It sits on a roadway waiting to rise up and launch itself forward. Both speed and height can be controlled by the joystick, but it's easier to change speed using the keyboard. As you change height the chopper stays the same size, but the buildings, scenery and enemy weapons loom larger or shrink away - and very nice it looks too.

As you rotor-motor over the ground there are buildings that have to be avoided and lots of tanks and helicopters letting fly with shellbursts. Bombs and bullets will put paid to them, but violent evasive action in all directions is essential.

The second stage is just like the first, except for one crucial factor - the view is from behind the helicopter. Instead of everything passing by underneath it all comes straight on - bullets, buildings, trees and all. It's still a matter of weaving through the buildings and flak, pouring high-explosive death at anything in the way.

Stage three takes place out in the ocean, where the copter overflies a ship at a set speed. It can still be moved all over the screen, but the height remains at a set level. As the ship scrolls by, gun emplacements come into view and are dealt with in the same manner as ground objects in stage one.

Get as far as stage four and the controls are exactly the same as stage one. However, things have been complicated by having to fly down a canyon. Clipping the walls with the rotor blades isn't very healthy and results in a large lump of scrap metal on the ground.

There are 12 stages in all, and none of them are easy. Jets will fly across the screen, letting fly with everything they've got. Flotillas of boats will blast concentrated fire in similar devastating manner to the tanks. Head-on flights across open country will get increasingly hazardous for the health. Finally the target of your destructive aspirations will appear - an enormous fortress tooled up with lots of deadly weapons. Just getting this far will be tough enough, and taking it out even harder.

This is still a good shoot-em-up on computers as opposed to the coin-op. It lacks any strategy or depth, but you can't have everything. The switching of views and the types of problem that are thrown at you will provide no shortage of interest.

Reviewer: Bob Wade

RELEASE BOX
Atari ST, £19.99dk, Out Now
Atari ST, £24.99dk, Imminent
Spectrum, £8.99cs, £12.99dk, Out Now
Amstrad, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent
C64/128, £9.99cs, £1x.99dk, Out Now
IBM PC, £24.99dk, Imminent

Predicted Interest Curve

1 min: 88/100
1 hour: 90/100
1 day: 80/100
1 week: 70/100
1 month: 40/100
1 year: 10/100


REVIEW BY: Bob Wade

Blurb: SPECTRUM VERSION The graphics are fast and impressive. Loads of detail and meaty explosions. It's tough to see what's going on in the head-on sequences, and the collision detection is questionable at times. The chopper noise is acceptable and goes nicely with the bangs and booms.

Blurb: C64 VERSION Graphics are on the chunky side but move with speed. Much easier to tell what's going on than on the Spectrum. Good music and effects too. Graphics: 8/10 Audio: 7/10 IQ Factor: 1/10 Fun Factor: 8/10 Ace Rating: 800/1000 Predicted Interest Curve 1 min: 90/100 1 hour: 90/100 1 day: 80/100 1 week: 70/100 1 month: 40/100 1 year: 10/100

Blurb: RIPE FOR CONVERSION? Thunder Blade is another coin-op that relies heavily on physical effects for thrilling and shaking up the player. Once again that all goes out the window for the computer versions, resulting in a loss of much of the adrenalin rush from the arcade. Having said that, it isn't in as difficult a position as After Burner because there's more variety and skill required in the gameplay. The conversion is excellent, even on the humble Spectrum, but only time will tell whether coin-ops are soon going to be completely impossible to convert.

Blurb: ARCADE ACCURACY Faithful reproduction for all the arcade features and admirably close graphics and gameplay. Coin-op Score: 9

Graphics8/10
Audio6/10
IQ Factor1/10
Fun Factor8/10
Ace Rating793/1000
Summary: Bags of entertainment, blasting through the stages.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 87, Jan 1989   page(s) 22,23,25

MACHINES: Spec/AM/C64/ST/Amiga
SUPPLIER: US Gold
PRICE: Spec £8.99 cass, C64/Ams £9.99 cass, ST £19.99, Amiga £24.99
VERSION TESTED: ST/Spec

US Gold clinched the 1986 Christmas number one slot with Gauntlet, and a year later did the double with Out Run. This year they're hoping to make it a treble with Thunderblade - but they'll have to fight every inch of the way if they're going to beat Operation Wolf and Afterburner to the yuletide top slot.

Thunderblade, Sega's impressive helicopter shoot 'em up, appeared in the arcades earlier this year and followed hot on the heels of Afterburner. As with most Sega arcade games there are different models: a stand-up version for pubs and small arcades, and a deluxe sit-on version: a mechanical monster that spins the player as he moves left and right.

Although this was a novel idea (and cheap - the entire machine is fully mechanical and not hydraulic), it doesn't give as impressive and thrilling a ride as Afterburner. And to be honest. I always felt like a wally perched a-top the machine waggling the long joystick - give me the stand-up version any day!

The game itself casts the player into the role of a megalomaniacal pilot who's decided to take on a mighty enemy army single-handedly. Before anyone can stop him he's up and away in his fully-armed Apache helicopter and heading towards the nearest war zone...

There are four levels of action, each with three distinct sub-sections. The first is set in the city and is a vertically scrolling 3D shoot 'em up. Although this sounds odd, it's actually quite simple to explain. The helicopter can fly forwards, effectively scrolling the landscape downwards and is also able to move up and down, "into" and "out" of the screen - that's where the 3D comes in.

The city is comprised of - surprise, surprise - skyscrapers, and the helicopter is guided around or over these: hitting a building results in the chopper crashing to the ground in a twisted and flaming mess of metal and a loss of one of five lives.

Tanks patrol the ground, and fire white missiles at the chopper as it flies overhead. Nifty maneouvring is required to dodge these deadly items, especially as the collision detection tends to favour the enemy - a missile that looks like it's going to just miss the helicopter is often judged as a hit, which is a mite annoying.

As the chopper flies forward, it fires bullets and missiles automatically, destroying any tank or ground target that gets in the way.

At the top right of the screen is a distance meter, which ticks down as the chopper progresses. When the meter is diminished, the next level loads - in this case second city section. This is displayed in first person 3D, rather like Afterburner. Buildings whizz by as the chopper wends its way through this concrete canyon. Tanks make an appearance again, and fire white missiles. This time they're easier to dodge - the collision detection is more generous - although they're sometimes obscured by the large explosions of tanks as they go up.

Planes and enemy helicopters fly across the screen and are blasted out of the way; contact is fatal. The damage meter is again in evidence, and its depletion brings the player to the last of level one's sub-games.

This is another vertically scrolling section, but this time with no 3D.

The chopper flies low over a giant ship that's simply bristling with gun emplacements. These nave to be taken out very quickly - if they're left they fire volleys of missiles at the helicopter and make life very difficult. There are also targets on the ship which can be blasted for bonus points.

When the ship's bow is reached a points bonus is awarded tor the number of targets destroyed during the level and the time taken to complete it - the fast the time the bigger the bonus - and play switches to the next level.

This, as with the other two levels - is fundamentally similar to the first level, with the sub-games falling into the same 3D/scroll, formats. First is a canyon run, with the sides of a steep valley taking the place of skyscrapers. Tanks appear, and helicopters also enter the fray to add an extra degree of difficulty. The second sub game is a forest, with the chopper flying low over the trees attempting to take out tanks and planes, and the third section is a desert.

The third and fourth levels take place over the ocean and a refinery respectively, and each gets progressively harder, with increasing numbers of enemy forces.

The ST incarnation of Thunderblade has all the features of the arcade game, looks and plays almost identically, but suffers from a few minor flaws and one big one. The major flaw is with the game itself: let me explain. When manufacturers design a video game, they do so with one primary thought in their mind - to make the game earn as much money as possible. Sometimes this is done by making the game difficult, or by limiting the levels - after all, arcade owners don't want garners playing their games all day for 20p!

Unfortunately Thunderblade falls into the limited levels category, and has only four levels, each with three short sub-sections. And really it doesn't matter how good the conversion is, there still isn't enough to keep a games player addicted for a long period of time.

Looking at the ST conversion, US Gold's development house Tiertex have managed to squeeze in all the original arcade features, but the result is a sluggish and jerky game. The helicopter is slow to respond to joystick movements and the game speeds up and slows down depending on how much is going on - something I haven't seen for quite a while. Shooting ground targets is very tricky.

The arcade game was quick to respond, and the two joysticks on the machine meant that you could move in and out of the screen quickly. On the computer the chopper is so sluggish, by the time it actually responds to the joystick the tank has trundled past. This lack of precision also provides problems during the 3D sections: you can see an obstacle coming up, but the chopper just doesn't move out of the way in time - even though you're tugging the joystick like crazy.

The loading time between sub-games is long, and disrupts the flow of play, and there's an annoying end-of-game wait while a sampled soundtrack plays and the first level reloads.

On the positive side, the game is very colourful, with some gorgeous graphics and convincing 3D - if you ignore the jerky update. Sound is quite good with some harsh effects, but the sampled titled music is atmospheric, if a little scratchy.

Thunderblade will definitely appeal to those who love the arcade original, but I don't think it offers enough challenge and variety - I practically finished the game in an afternoon.

If you haven't played the arcade game and fancy the sound of it, I strongly recommend you try if out before parting with your money.

The Spectrum version is very good. It's monochromatic, and consequently dodging missiles is tricky because you can't see them, but the gameplay is slightly better and more challenging than the ST, and the movement and response is much quicker! Generally I found the gameplay addictive and enjoyable, and the game has more lasting appeal than the 16-bit version. Definitely recommended.


REVIEW BY: Julian Rignall

Blurb: UPDATE... The Amiga version is looking similar to the ST, but is a lot smoother and the sound is far better. Amstrad will be a more colourful rendition of the Spectrum version, and it is hoped that it'll be just as smooth and playable. Chris Butler, author of Space Harrier and Ghosts 'n' Goblins has converted Thunderblade to C64, and it's looking promising, if a little blocky.

Blurb: ATARI ST SCORES Graphics: 82% Sound: 79% Value: 62% Playability: 67% Overall: 66%

Graphics83%
Sound81%
Value78%
Playability87%
Overall82%
Transcript by Chris Bourne

The Games Machine Issue 15, Feb 1989   page(s) 56,57

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £8.99, Diskette: £12.99
Amstrad CPC Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99
Commodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.98, Diskette: £14.99
Atari ST £19.99
Amiga £24.99

LOUD PROUD 'N' DEADLY

Remember the movie Blue Thunder with Roy Scheider as the rogue helicopter pilot? It was the inspiration for Sega coin-op, Thunder Blade which in turn has become US Gold's hot new licence for Christmas.

Picture the scene - after driving your sleek Ferrari at breakneck speed around the sunshine state you decide to go back to your home country. Arriving in the capital you discover that evil dictator General Swindells has decided to invade your green and pleasant land.

As you are an all-round superhero and veteran helicopter pilot, your head quarters call you to take to the air in Thunder Blade to repel the invaders.

The rebels are fast moving and have already taken control of a city of skyscrapers, occupied mountains and deserts, taken over the river Delta and set up their HQ in a massive oil refinery. It's time to stop them.

Each of the four levels is played over three sections. The first section takes the form of over-flying landscape, the second is the more traditional 3-D flight, the final section returns to the look-down viewpoint as you pit your chopper against a mothership of gigantic proportions! On the final level Thunder Blade faces Swindells robotic command fortress in a climatic battle.

ROGER 'N' OUT

Don't get cocky if you manage to fight your way through helicopters and tanks on the first level: Swindells has jet interceptors, strike aircraft and cruisers at his disposal for later levels plus behemoth motherships.

Whereas Out Run was generally unsatisfactory in not achieving good graphic quality or playability, Thunder Blade certainly is not. It features a high level of gameplay with visual and sonic quality to suit the host machine.

There may not be an awful lot of depth to each section - the moderately shallow nature of the game being a fault of the coin-op, but Thunder Blade wins through due to its moreish gameplay.


Blurb: COMMODORE 64/128 Overall: 65% Chris Butler's Space Harrier influences the 3-D sections of Thunder Blade - hence its fast action. Unfortunately, presentation is disappointing with graphics literally wobbling past in the look-down sections and colours dull. Slightly inflexible in movement as your helicopter remains at a set speed for the first two sections of each level, but it remains playable despite all this.

Blurb: AMSTRAD CPC Overall: 54% For some reason the playing area window is not only restricted, but changes its vertical position with each new section. Look-down sections are fine but flight through 3-D skyscrapers can be a little tricky as tanks are the same colour as helicopters - the generous number of tanks on screen tends to make the action look very messy. The over-riding problem with this version is it's ease, too many lives and not enough enemy fire combine to destroy the challenge.

Blurb: ATARI ST Overall: 84% Graphically as close as it could be to the coin-op, featuring superbly faithful digitised graphics on the title page. ST Thunder Blade is also the toughest of the lot mainly due to the excessive number of bullets launched by the enemy. Speed isn't any faster than on 8-bit versions but the game is colourful with nicely detailed graphics.

Blurb: AMIGA Overall: 85% Near enough the same in graphic style as the ST version, and the closest to the coin-op original. This is the best 16-bit implementation, with speed greater than the ST's, although the music and sound effects are similar - no more than average. The accompanying tune is ported across from the ST - and it sounds like it.

Blurb: OTHER FORMATS A PC version is scheduled for a March release priced at £24.99.

Blurb: "High level of gameplay with visual and sonic quality to suit the host machine"

Overall87%
Summary: Graphics to the point of excellence - a shame the monochrome screen makes spotting the enemy bullets difficult. Play is fast and at least as good as other versions. Tiertex have done extremely well to convert the coin-op lock, stock and gun barrel to the Spectrum.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

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