Thunder Wolves Review

Air headed.

→ May 27, 2013 During a rare moment of calm just before we further obliterate the smoldering remains of a chemical weapons silo with a volley of homing missiles, my partner, the wise-cracking veteran Max, shares the following insight: “It’s not rocket science, kid. It’s just rockets.” He was, of course, referring to the task at hand, but he just as easily could have been describing Thunder Wolves as a whole. This souped-up, single-minded air combat game is good for one thing and one thing only: blowing up an ungodly amount of stuff.

As long as intense albeit mindless action is all you’re after, Thunder Wolves’ roughly four-hour campaign delivers with gusto. With infinite chaingun ammo (and no overheating), a regenerating missile supply,

Scott Butterworth Says

More glorious destruction:

generous health, and a high-five worthy nitro boost, mercenary Max and his partner Blister’s fleet of cartoonishly badass helicopters seems to have little interest in anything else. Like, you know, strategy, or graphics that are ever more than lackluster. Even the flight controls are remarkably forgiving in an arcadey sort of way, which is actually a relief since aerial combat so often feels distractingly awkward. Here I was able to simply abandon my brain and allow myself to become fully absorbed in the wanton mayhem. The screen often felt so crowded with random explosions, crumbling buildings, enemy icons, damage indicators, combo counters, and glowing bullets whizzing past from every conceivable direction that it actually rivaled bullet-hell shmups in terms of glorious sensory overload. The visuals are compounded both by the driving hard rock soundtrack (non-stop shredding!) and the absolutely relentless, breakneck pace of every mission. Sure it’s a little overwhelming, but it’s also so genuinely gripping that I literally blinked a contact lens out of my head one time. Never forget to blink continuously, kids.
A major downside to all this chaos, though, is that I sometimes felt like I was just along for the ride – merely a passenger on Thunder Wolves’ simplistic rollercoaster of explosions and dudebro chest bumps. Gameplay always boiled down to “point and kill,” even when missions tossed in curveballs like sniping and rail-shooting sections. I mostly just shot at whatever glowing icon was closest to me even if I couldn’t actually tell what it was, and missiles pretty much just had to whisper at my targets as they cruised past for everything to go boom. I didn’t even die until about halfway through the campaign, and even that was sort of a fluke. I did have to judiciously pop defensive flares to avoid missile fire, but even if I’d been a bit more reckless, I imagine I still would have prevailed. If you want any challenge at all, I’d recommend skipping straight to Hard.

Sick of your mission? Just fly around and blow everything up.

Even then, the action gets repetitive quickly – especially annoying considering the campaign is, as I mentioned, only about four hours long – and its thin, vaguely incoherent story does little to break up that repetition. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I grew to like the cast and their constant banter, but the plot was some forgettable pablum about a mysterious drug lord/terrorist leader/evil jerk. And in a way, that’s actually fine. Feeling totally empowered in a fast, fun, consequence-free environment is an adrenaline rush, and sometimes that’s enough. Local co-op and online leaderboards help flesh out the otherwise bare-bones package, but only slightly. Thunder Wolves isn't a game that's built to provide much lasting entertainment – just a short burst of simple, explosive fun.