The ThunderCats cartoon first aired way back when I was a kid. It was a show that my brother and I watched every Saturday morning, so I am quite familiar with the look and feel of the series. Of course, the new DS game ThunderCats is based on the new ThunderCats series that first aired a year or so ago, but I’ve been watching that one too, so I am familiar with it as well.

I have played some beautiful games on the DS and some that skimped in the graphics department. I’d say that ThunderCats falls a bit on the skimpy side. The graphics are very simplistic with a minimal amount of colors. While the cutscenes do look more like the new series, the actual gameplay characters and scenery look like the original series due to the lack of sharp coloring. In a lot of cases, they didn’t bother to change the enemies up much other than changing their colors. The overall look and feel reminds me of something I would have been playing 10 years ago rather than a new game.

The music confused me as well. I liked the background music overall, but it usually did not seem to fit the areas. It was slow when I expected fast and fast when I expected slow. The characters didn’t speak, so you have to rely on reading text to find out what is going on in the story. If you’ve seen the new series, you will recognize it all though, as the game follows the series exactly.

ThunderCats is a 2D sidescroller that follows Lion-O as he attempts to lead the few remaining survivors of his father’s kingdom. Fighting with Lion-O are his brother Tygra, Cheetara, Panthro, WilyKit, and WilyKat. These few are fighting against Mumm-Ra and his minions. These include the mutants and Grune, an ex-ThunderCat. The story follows the new ThunderCats series exactly through all of those adventures in Story Mode. The game is divided into Stages and each Stage has several different areas. You can replay any Stage you have already made it to from the Main Menu by choosing Stage Attack Mode. You can also see how you did on any Stage that you have competed from choosing Result Viewer Mode.

While you are going along, you are going to need help from your friends. Pick up ThunderCats symbols so that you can call in your support character to help Lion-O fight. WilyKit and WilyKat come in and drop food to heal you and other items. They also temporarily stun enemies, which can be very helpful! Tygra uses a gun and shoots in a pattern. He’s good when you’re surrounded by enemies, but since he’s not aiming at anything in particular, you have to be careful when you use him. Cheetara flies down from above using her staff and hits any enemies on her way down. She’s quite useful for taking out any flying enemies. Panthro is the last support character unlocked. When you choose him, he will use the Thundertank to put several crosshairs on the screen and will fire on them. Unfortunately, he doesn’t lock on any specific target, so overall, I didn’t find him to be as useful as he usually missed the enemies. Hopefully with the help of your friends, you will be able to complete the final Stage.

Often times, when you come across a game based on a movie or a TV show, they’re exceedingly easy. You can tell that they’re just thrown together to capitalize on the show and no one really cares to make it difficult. ThunderCats definitely does not fall into that category. If anything, it feels more like a throwback to the original 2D sidescrollers where you would have to replay a single level several times before you could get past everything. There is no difficulty setting in ThunderCats, so you’ll have to just tough it out. I can tell you that when you do fail a level, it feels like it is just a slight bit easier the next time if you choose to Continue to replay it. Of course, that could just be because you (hopefully) have figured out the trick to that particular boss battle, but it did seem like they will give you just a bit more food to heal on the second try. If for some reason you think the game is too easy, then you can play without calling in any support characters!

One of my real complaints about ThunderCats is that you can’t choose to save at any time. The only time the game will save is in between Stages, most of the time. As I mentioned earlier, each Stage is made up of several areas that you have 500 seconds to complete. On average, it took me about 250 seconds, which meant that it was usually at least 12 minutes in between saves. While this doesn’t sound like a long time, when you’re on a handheld console, you tend to be playing games that you are going to need to put down and pick up. We don’t usually choose handheld games that you’re going to sit and play for hours at a time. Not to mention, if you fail on say the third area of a stage, you will have to go back and play the first two again just to get back to where you failed. Of course, I did say that is true most of the times. In some places, you will be given the option to Continue and will start just before the last boss that you died on. If, however, you don’t have time to Continue right then and choose No, you will have to start that stage all over again. I wish there had been some consistency to at least knowing when the game had saved and where you would restart.

The controls in ThunderCats are quite simple. You move forward or backward using the D-pad or the stick. (B) uses the Sword of Omens, (A) is your attack button and (Y) is for jump and double jump. You can combine these attacks with movement to do things like slide or attack from the air. (X) calls in the support characters and (L) and (R) swaps between support characters. You can also use the touch screen to select and call your support characters. If you forget these, you’ll have to consult the manual as they are never explained anywhere in the game. There is no concept of a tutorial in ThunderCats. You might also have noticed that there is no button for blocking. The only way you can avoid attacks is to try jumping away from or over them. You might also be able to slide or duck under them by pressing down while attacking. Otherwise, you just have to get hit and hope you find food to heal.

Overall, I felt that ThunderCats is an ok game, but just a few improvements would have made it a lot better. Of course, those of you who miss the old days of 2D sidescrollers will absolutely love ThunderCats. Everyone else might find themselves a bit disappointed or frustrated from the things that are lacking.