Nov 7, 2013

Blastin' Away Lords of Thunder

Cold November currents come upon us and bring corroded winds. Something wicked begins to stir. Lords of Thunder must be near.

Time has come for rain, rigid cold, and tornadoes to instill fear. Kick-ass classic shooter action elevate this sphere.

Elemental Armour Awaken!


Released in 1993, Lords of Thunder is a shooter that has ascended to the pinnacle of classic 2D gaming. Are you ready for a furiously fast, ball-crushing, heavy metal ride, that will incinerate your mind?

In this side-scrolling shooter, you adorn a magical flying armour of your legendary ancestors. Have cool and rip through the skies to thwart your enemies plan to revive "The Dark One." No need for elaborate tales -- this is a 90s game tried and true.

Before blasting off, you can select from six stages and four different armours: wind, water, earth and fire. Each armour has different types of attacks and packs a massive screen-clearing projectile. Picking the right armour for a specific stage is key to smoothly progressing through this bullet grinder.

mojenintendo
The game has very distinctive and vibrant style influenced by medieval fantasy themes. While a bit static, the backgrounds are clear and smooth. And the varied enemies you'll encounter add another layer of visual flair to pull your eyes in. A whole kingly court of biological and technological life is here: fire dragons, wizards, knights, living vyvern gondolas, and huge armoured-clad demonic bosses all await your blade.

The game's pacing is fast, with hectic patterns of baddies stuffing the screen. Your armour has a weapon power/life bar, but those can be drained rather quickly in the harder stages. To balance the difficulty, you can collect gems from fallen foes to power up your main weapon, or buy additional lives and shields. The ability to shop for upgrades before each stage is a marvelous idea and a cool feature that injects strategy into this title.

nintendoworldreport.com
While most shooter games use various techno/industrial musical schemes, this game has a very dedicated and awesome soundtrack. All tracks in Lord of Thunder sound as if played by a professional band. Furiously fast rhythm guitars, pulsating bass, crushing drums and dizzying solos are all part of this game's repertoire of sound. No mere chip-tune music in this venture, just balls-to-the-wall heavy metal.

My only complaint is that the sound FX can drown out the music at times. Oh well, there's always music test in the option menu. If arcade style shooters are your thing, this is a game you'll definitely want to play often, and loud. For mere $8 bucks you can get this game on Wii Virtual Console, and establish your own thunderous hegemony. Go ahead, capture this lightning in a bottle. I dare you.

quebecgamers.com

destructoid.com

Developer: Hudson Soft, Red Entertainment
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Platform: TurboDuo, Sega CD, Virtual Console, PS Network
Released: 1993
Genre: Shooter

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