Thunderbirds (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

I grew up with Thunderbirds and at the time it really was one of the most exciting things on television. Yes, really. Conceived before computer graphics, there was even talk of completely redesigning televisions so that the line redraw would hide the strings although I'm sure this was an urban myth. The fact is that the strings, wobbly puppets and fantastic storylines was the reason everyone watched it and the reason that Hollywood have decided to remake a TV classic is because they've clearly run out of ideas. That's probably not entirely fair though as this latest 're-imagining' is a full-on live action feature with only the series' ethos and main designs surviving. This has caused creator Gerry Anderson to fall out with producers due to creative differences namely the redesign of Lady Penelope?s car. The film too had a bit of critical mauling although I have yet to meet a pre-teen who didn't enjoy it. Then there's this GBA tie-in slipped in from almost nowhere (usually a bad sign) onto an unsuspecting public. Is it worth your money? We'll let you know...

Gameplay

Not having seen the film I can't actually comment as to whether the game follows the plot of the movie or not but let's assume it at least has a similar 'feel' otherwise there'd be little point in producing it. You attack the action in two ways: by exploring Tracy Island whilst solving a selection of puzzles or by piloting any one of the Thunderbirds fleet. The exploration section involves utilizing three members of International Rescue to solve a succession of puzzles ranging from pushing boxes to opening doors. This is much like the classic Lost Vikings, recently re-released by Blizzard, with each member of the trio possessing different skills and abilities. One, for example is stronger so moving large objects is no problem while another has Telekinetic powers allowing you to move objects that would normally be out of reach. While these sections are reasonably large they are somewhat repetitive with the first challenging you to find a key, move through several areas and then backtrack in order to open a door.

Next up is the flying section, which is definitely the weaker of the two gaming modes, as well as being incredibly mundane in construction. This is simply a case of flying from 'A' to 'B' whilst avoiding some objects, picking up others, putting out fires and disposing of the enemy. The action is played out in an isometric environment much like Zaxxon with the developers one again 'borrowing' heavily from existing game ideas. Yes, that's it and with only nine levels you're likely to complete the game in no time at all with little incentive to relive the experience. What does actually lengthen the game are the rather sparse save points where you are presented with a pass code. It is only three digits but even something as user friendly as this cannot save a GBA title with so little in the way of redeeming qualities.

Controls

Clearly with two very different styles of gameplay there are two types of controls. We'll start with the more complicated puzzle section which remarkably has been kept very simple thanks to the inclusion of 'pop up's' whenever a new move is introduced. The flying section is similar though a lot simpler and whilst the criticisms of this game are numerous thankfully the control system isn't one of them.

Graphics

Saffire's game engine is becoming a little tiresome now, having only recently been used in both Around the World in 80 Days and Van Helsing, although history aside it is a reasonably competent base for a GBA title. For anyone who's unfamiliar with the developers work, levels consist of rather drab backgrounds with sprites drawn with a rather heavy black outline. While this works with the characters it is positively ugly when the same effect is transferred to the on screen text linking the levels. This is overlaid on some of what should be the visual highlights (if you saw the film that is) so that you only catch a fleeting glimpse of the stills before they are obliterated by bold and blocky text. To make matters worse the stills in question actually feature likenesses of the stars (a rarity in movie tie-ins), which you'll no doubt want to see if you've actually shelled out for the game. On the positive side the character animation is still outstanding and, to be fair, some of the best currently around on the GBA but this is a small highlight in a less than pretty game.

Sound

As GBA audio goes this really isn't too bad. It's not the classic Thunderbirds theme though and the looped soundtrack is woefully short but it also doesn't make you want to throw your GBA against the wall. The other audio aspects are as expected but mysteriously there are no voice samples snatched from the film. Mysterious because if the actors licensed their faces why not their voices too?

Final comments

The first thing that occurred to me when playing the game is that I always imagined that piloting one of the many Thunderbirds would be great fun in a computer game. That's not the case here though, instead the 'walking around' section is much more satisfying which does raise the question 'Do the developers actually know what the film is all about?' The puzzles are probably the only things that save this game although this co-operative puzzle-solving mode has been used several times recently most notably in Activision's Shrek 2. Overall though there's little to recommend this current Thunderbirds title and if you're a real fan of the original TV series then you'd be far better served by SCI's International Rescue release several years ago but no doubt available again thanks to the movie's release. Ironic really.

Pro: Some Good Puzzles
Con: Bland Shooting Sections
Final score: 4.5

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