Thunderforce 3 - Sega Megadrive

Although it's been available on import for over a year, Thunderforce III is still one of the most technically stunning Megadrive blasters around. From the shimmering fiery backdrops of the volcano planet to the super-smooth parallax scrolling on the ice world, it's a graphical treat. It's not just a pretty face, either. Thunderforce III is tough and challenging. Obviously not on the easy level - any half decent blasting fan should be able to shoot their way through to the end of the game in a few sessions - but on the more difficult levels, where the action is bonkers and you have to fight through a constant barrage of bullets and baddies! If you're after a good shoot 'em up, check this out. Along with Hellfire and Gynoug, it's one of the best blasters available on the Megadrive.

I first played Thunderforce III on import when I started at CVG, and thought it was a megablast that simply demanded purchase. Well, that was over a year ago. Since then Thunderforce has ages quite a bit and isn't quite as good as some of the shoot 'em ups that followed (Gynoug and Hellfire spring to mind). There's no denying that the graphical quality of the game still remains superb, and the sound is pretty good, but it's playability that counts, and though Thunderforce is good, it could have been better. People out for the best blast on the Megadrive should go for one of the other games I mentioned earlier, but it you can't get your hands on either, Thunderforce III is a worthwhile substitute, packing a powerful punch in the shoot 'em up stakes.

Having never heard of the Thunder Force before (and sinfully not really interested in the review for Thunder Force 2), I was not only highly impressed with the title screen that greeted me along with the fantastic tune which accompanied it (which I am humming as I type), but the first level almost blew me out of my seat.

Composing myself to try the game again (after being mercifully slaughtered in the underwater level as the first choice), I was rewarded with eventually progressing to the next level to enjoy the lovely visuals and thumpy tunes which accompany it.

I can go on about the vast imaginative landscapes ranging from the Firey volcano to the lush green forest and not forgetting the massive battleship (which was more than a nod to level 3 from R-Type), to the final level where things got frantic to say the least!

There was little room to take a breath and the speed, combined with the quick thinking required (especially for the bosses) really made you a better gamer (should you survive the onslaught) - I'd always like to see a decent end of game sequence and Thunder Force 3 does not hold back in giving a pretty decent one which made me feel rewarded for the effort.

Make no mistake about it, for me this was the best shooter for the MD, (at least until Thunder Force 4 came out). Very rarely does a shooter stay in my MD until I crack it and the fact that R-Type was clearly absent on the MD, this more than made up for that void.

I know there are many other MD shooters flying around and a lot of them deserve praise (such as Hellfire, Gynoug, Zerowing to name a few), but for me there is something about this that makes me not feel ashamed to go back to for a play.

The series has since appeared on the early in the Playstation's/Saturn's timeline (as I stumbled into them when I was visiting CEX (before they stopped doing imports (Booo)), but I never got the chance to play these incarnations - also suspect whether or not the creators of this series are still around.

Since these types of shooters in general are being shunned in favour of Halo and Quake type 1st person ones these days, it would be very hard to see this selling well should it be revived - a classic case would be how R-type Final did in terms of selling power (i.e. not very well at all).

I wonder how many people in ten years time will remember how great side shooters were or will it be forgotten?

- Jim Wai