Thunder Force III

Following the events of Thunder Force II, the Galaxy Federation are no closer to defeating the ORN Empire. The ORN Empire have installed cloaking devices on five major planets in order to keep the Federation from locating their base. The Federation dispatches the small, heavily armed ship Styx to destroy these cloaking devices and the ORN's main base. -summary

I still remember the excitement when this sequel made its way into my hands more than 20 years ago. It was truly amazing and ground breaking to me then, and even now it still holds up. Thunder Force III for the Sega Genesis which was originally released in 1990, is still a tough as nails game and although it feels kind of dated it's still a highly challenging experience.

Game Play:

Thunder Force III is a single player horizontal space shooter, and your objective is to blast through a certain amount of stages and destroy the end stage boss. This sequel kind of takes a step back in its game play to me, by completely abandoning the over head vertical element found in the secondary game play that was in the previous game. Personally, I enjoyed the secondary playing field in the last game, because it added a bit more variety in terms of game play and even in additional weapons. I always felt that the depth of this game took a blow to it. In addition, the weapons list has been shortened but I won't complain much here, since the weapons and upgrades you are given this time around are still incredible.

Thunder Force III gives you the option of choosing one out of five stages. There actually is a safe way of approaching this, but I think all players should come into this ignorant from that point of view. The stages are quite different in style, appearance, and even enemies; but the one element that stands out is the difficulty. Make no mistake, the game is hard and it's possible to die completely in the first stage, and each of the stages become more difficult with hordes of enemies and traps. As all games of this style, eye coordination and memory is key, with the latter playing the hugest role. Sometimes enemies will sneak up from behind and take you out easily, but if it happens once then chances are it won't happen again.

The ship is well equipped and begins with a twin blaster and a back shot, that fires a single stream of bullets to the front and rear. Other weapons can be picked up by blasting smaller weapon ships to reveal an icon. You can still pick up force fields as in the previous game, but this time, it doesn't go away on its own, instead you have to take several hits. The claw weapon returns and assists you firing the exact same weapon you're using. When your ship is destroyed, you do not lose all of your weapons as in the previous game, however you lose the one that was in use. The ship also returns after death, therefore you don't have to replay a stage unless you decide to continue. Like the last game you go up against well equipped bosses, but I don't think they're anywhere near as challenging. The bosses can be easily beaten, and if you have all of your weapons then the battles are even simpler. This doesn't at all take away the interest in the bosses though.

One boss battle is against a heavily armed battle cruiser with all types of gun fire coming into your direction, once part of the ship is destroyed, it reveals more weapons making the battle slightly difficult. Another battle takes place against a giant robotic fish, that fires attacks in many different directions almost cluttering the screen, once it's close to defeat it picks up in speed increasng your chance of being killed. There's something cool to see with each of the bosses. Length also plays a negative factor, as the game is pretty short and can probably be beaten in about 25 minutes or so.

I definitely enjoy the stage set ups, as each of them have their own distinct setting and specific enemies. For example, the fire stage is engulfed in flames and some of the enemies are made of fire, such as flaming birds hovering through out the stage. There's also a water and a snow stage with some amazing enemy craft. Unfortunately, you will die a lot of cheap deaths and frustration will begin to set in. Thankfully, the stage enemies do follow a certain pattern, and eventually the game will be figured out and it becomes very possible to beat it without dying once.

Controls:

The controls are responsive and it's easy to switch between weapons as well as move the ship during the tightest fights. The ship can also increase and decrease its speed. There's nothing negative to point out in this area.

Graphics/Sound/Music:

The visuals are amazing with some incredible backgrounds. The fire stage, Gorgon, looks really good with pillars of flame waving in the backgrounds. For a 16 bit game, Thunder Force III is still amazing. The boss designs are very good also and some of them have nice animation. I think the sound is indeed lacking when compared to the last game. The voice over when weapons are picked up really isn't as clear, it sounds pretty dull and uninspired; but the soundtrack is where this game rules. Thunder Force has become legendary amongst old school gamers and the BGM is responsible for that. There are just some amazing pieces of techno music that delivers a very energetic vibe, and it also helps that each boss has their own specific theme. I some times go on youtube and listen to the themes over and over. The music gets a lot better in the next game.

Replay:

I think this area is actually weaker than the last game.The last game had portions of it that was timed, and trying to beat your previous time was a challenge. There was also the challenge in trying to beat it without dying once. This game on the otherhand is too easy in comparison, and since it lacks the second playing field; I can't think of any reasons outside of the soundtrack to keep coming back.

Final Thoughts:

I have loaned this game to several people and they gave up on it because of the difficulty. Some folks I know didn't get pass the second or third stage in any order they chose. Others I know encountered that problem as well and so did I, but it became a breeze with little practice. I think this is the easiest game in the series despite its difficulty. In any case, if you can download it then I recommend checking it out. The game play is pretty good and the sound track is just amazing to bump.

Overall Rating: 7/10

Pros:Incredible sound track, intense graphics and backgrounds, pretty tough

Cons:Lacking depth of 2nd game, length, boss battles