Review #571: Thundercats

 This pussy's got no roar.

 While Thundercats was one of the greatest series in the 80s(Fight me on this, I dare you.), it hasn't aged all that well... which isn't too bad when you remember that it got an amazing reboot back in the 2000s. That happiness quickly fades when you discover that it was cancelled because the toys didn't sell well and as of 2018 we're gonna get a huge pile of vomit under a Thundercat fur-coat in the form of Thundercats Roar. But I digress, besides toys(Which were pretty great and it's a mystery why they didn't sell), Thundercats 2011 also gave us a videogame, often touted as one of the worst licensed games out there. Well, I can safely say that the game is better than anything that will come out of Thundercats Roar.

 The game covers the first half of the series, which means it starts from Grune's betrayal and Thundera's destruction to Lion-O and the cats climbing the ancient tower of trials and retrieving the Book of Omens. It's a decent chunk, although it's been compressed and shrunk to a measly 5 levels. The story is told via  heavily pixelated stills from the series that does the show no justice. Newcomers won't get a good idea of what the show is about, but fans will be able to follow the story through. After finishing the game, which shouldn't take more than an hour and a half, you can play 'Stage Attack', which is basically a Score run through any stage you pick. Lame. Performing certain feats, like finishing a stage in less than X amount of time, will unlock stills and concept art from the show, sadly, they are very pixelated.

 Thundercats on the DS is a 2-D beat'em up game, and boy, does the license lend itself to one. Featuring a decent amount of heroes with unique abilities and fighting styles, this could've been phenomenal. But instead, you only get to play as Lion-O. Lion-O has a 5-hit combo attack with the A button, a Jump with B, an aerial attack and an aerial downwards strike, he can also crouch(Which has no use in the game), do a crouch attack, slide and charge the attack button for a charging stab. By hitting enemies you can also fill a blue gauge below you health bar, and once it's full you can tap the screen for a powerful beam attack. Collecting Sword icons allows you to strengthen Lion-Os attack for the duration for the stage. Lastly, you can collect Thundercats icons, up to three of them, and use them to summon the other cats(Panthro, Tygra, Cheetahra and Willykit&Willykat) for a special attack.

 It's very basic, but better beat'em ups have done more with less, just look at the timeless Final Fight. But the problem is... well, there're many problems. Let's start with the summoned 'cats, there's no reason as to why you'd summon any other than the Willycats. Willykit and Willykat enter the screen and shower you with 3 random items, which can include MORE summon icons(If you're lucky you'll get an endless supply of them), healing items or power-up swords.These two make the unbearably long boss fights fair, and maybe, too easy. These two make the other three cats, whose summon attacks are basically interchangeable, useless. Besides stages three that has animal enemies, the rest of the stages have four types of enemies: Melee lizards that are easy to kill, annoying projectile lizards, flamethrower lizards, which are easy to take down but take too long since they soak up damage, and huge mechas that you can just spam attack and defeat.

 The biggest issue with the game is how sloppy combat is. For a feline, Lion-O sure ain't nimble, as once you commit to your attacks you can't cancel out of them, which is really weird since a few bosses, like the drill boss, require twitch reflexes. The end result? You'll press the A button about three times and then retreat, since you can't block incoming damage, you can only jump to evade, and you can't jump mid-attack to cancel Lion-o's slow animations. There're a few nasty design choices here too, for instance, when stages properly end can be a bit tough to pin point, and if you exit the game, say, on stage 4-2, when you next turn on the game, you'll have to redo 4-1 again. There're no checkpoints mid level either, so if you die on a boss battle it's all the way back to the start of the stage.

 Thundercats is a letdown. A huge letdown. The franchise deserved so much better. And they could've done so much better. The game commands 10 bucks nowadays, and for that money you could do much worse than Thundercats, but there's no reason to play this game besides trying to keep your memories of the series alive.

4.0 out of 10