Previous Next

It's 2063 and Gerry Anderson's most popular super-marionated puppets are GO! The super-rich Tracy family live on a Pacific Island, apparently doing nothing but getting a sun tan. But as all fans know, the truth is very different. Hidden beneath the island is the underground base of International Rescue. Retired industrialist Jeff Tracy and genius scientist Horatio Hackenback III (AKA Brains) have constructed five Thunderbirds for Jeff's sons; Alan, Gordon, John, Virgil and Scott.

The latest mission for Thunderbirds is split into four sections, separate games really, with the C64 versions each taking up the side of a tape. If you complete a section, a password for the next is given.

The first section takes place in the Santa Pueablo Mine where two miners are stranded below the surface. Brains has dug into the bottom of the mine with the Mole, while Alan has arrived at the surface. They must first repair a broken water pump, then find the miners and attach a grab to allow Virgil to lift them out with Thunderbird 2.

In the second part, Alan and Gordon are sent to shut down the nuclear reactor of a crashed submarine. While on the mission, fragments of a limpet mine are found. In the next section, International Rescue's British agents, Lady Penelope and Parker, attempt to find out who made it by stealing documents from the Bank of England.

The villain responsible for the mines turns out to be IR's old enemy, the Hood. He has announced that, unless he is paid four billion dollars he'll launch a nuclear missile at London. In addition, it turns out he has film of the notoriously camera-shy IR. The film must be recovered, and the missile disarmed.

Thunderbirds is essentially an arcade/adventure, with the unusual feature of being able to flip between two charcters. If either of the characters loses too much energy the mission is aborted.

Although it's an arcade/adventure romp, Thunderbirds is one of the best presented licences I've seen in quite some time. The Amiga's digitized pictures work a treat together with atmospheric speech and a wonderful start-up screen, although the slow pace of the characters is disappointing compared with the speedy C64 version.

The 8-bit game also benefits from a more colourful graphic style and a continuous tune. But on both machines, Thunderbirds is an excellent collection of four compelling adventures which should appeal to everyone.

After UFO, this is my favourite Gerry Anderson series and I'm glad it's finally got a computer game that does it justice. The arcade/adventure format may seem as dated as Supermationation, but flipping between two characters adds a surprising amount of playability: the puzzles make schizophrenia a necessity, and are generally very good.

Gameplay is virtually identical on both machines, with the C64 game being marginally superior as the characters move around so quickly. On the Amiga they're slower, and the graphics are surprisingly sombre, but some excellent digitized intro sequences help compensate.

Presentation 94%
Free stickers, posted and audio tape.

Graphics 82%
Blocky, but colourful sprites.

Sound 83%
Okay FX and an excellent theme tune.

Hookability 84%
Instantly addictive.

Lastability 90%
Four games packed with superb puzzles.

Overall 86%
Faithful to the TV series, FAB.

Presentation 94%
Same as the C64 plus excellent, digitized intros.

Graphics 85%
Lots of variety in the backgrounds.

Sound 67%
Okay FX and intro tune.

Hookability 72%
The first level is great, but the slowness makes retracting steps from the last go a bit irritating.

Lastability 87%
Plenty of puzzles.

Overall 86%
Four great C64 games are given the necessary polish to dazzle on the Amiga too.