A hidden gem which calls on those old feelings from the low-poly era of video games and combines it with tight controls and short but well-made levels for a fun overall experience. If you miss the days of skill-based gameplay, and want to try something fun no other game has done before, this is your game.
longer, potentially spoiler-y review below:
Thunder Kid is a one-man love letter to the console wars era, where video games were still trying out all sorts of new things. I've never seen a game like Thunder Kid, so it's definitely trying something new - and it works. The core gameplay of Thunder Kid relies on jumping and moving around a semi 3D space to dodge bullets and shoot bad guys. And this is really where it shines - there are no upgrades, no lives, nothing except you and some responsive controls to master. It isn't too hard to beat the game, but it is hard to beat the game fast - it takes many attempts for an amateur, but just one go with precise movements for someone with more skill than me.
The storyline isn't complex, but it's serious yet funny in the same way as old TV show villains - genuinely villainous, but also kind of hilarious to hear talk. I enjoyed fighting the bosses, especially, to hear their little quips and quotes. My only gripe is that, since it took me several tries to beat each boss, it would have been nice to have a 'skip all text' button that I could use to get right back into the action instead of reading the same lines five times over after each attempt.
The graphics are... kind of like a rough draft, in my opinion. There's a fine line between charming and disappointing when it comes to graphics these days - they can be simple yet sweet, or they can look kind of rushed - and Thunder Kid really toes the line. Thunder Kid himself is great, with a solid design and bouncy animations. The enemies are fairly monochromatic - all being various shades of purple, red and gold - but it works well enough and their animations and designs are also well made (though I would have liked to see a few more interesting designs, especially for the emperor). The stumbling point is the environment. It's... plain and same-y, with the same elemental designs that have been in every game ever, with little to no cohesion. I liked the final area leading to the emperor the most, but even that was... meh. It was a background. There was no character to these areas, character they really could have used. Also, the text boxes were atrocious. It was difficult to see what they were saying against that checkerbox background.
Level design was very good, but I think there's a lot more that could be done with it. Nothing bad, just nothing that really wowed me with what could be done in this new perspective environment.
Speaking of which, the perspective. It's rigidly locked behind the player to give them a sense of depth and to let them know where bullets are, which is important in this game, but it also caused some graphical oopsies and made it a bit tougher to see. Due to this rigidity, the game stuck almost religiously to a three-abreast level design for most of the non-boss levels, and the boss rooms were (with the exception of the final boss) always plain squares. I really want to see a bigger playing field. Large areas with little defense lines, running between them to dodge bullets, maybe. Or pitfalls, large climbs like the taster from the snow levels, and even diagonals. I'd love to see that.
I have not yet played the second game in this series, but I have bought it and hope to play it soon. From the screenshots I'm eager to see how the game design has developed since.
Overall? I really enjoyed Thunder Kid. It was a short but sweet experience and it really stretched outside the box to build something that was both new and fun. Most importantly, it has a lot of room for improvement. If it were me, I'd take this game and run to the moon with it. There's so much potential here. Someone should give this guy a small but skilled team and some funds and tell him to go nuts with the concept. I want to see where it can go given the time and money to succeed.
