Thunder Kid: Hunt for the Robot Emperor Review

Thunder Kid: Hunt for the Robot Emperor is set in the fictitious year of 201X where war has ravaged the continent and a rogue A.I. has rebelled against its creator by leading an army of robots to conquer Robot Empire; a portion of North America. It’s up to Thunder Kid to stand up and fight against the robotic army and stop them to conquer the world.

Thunder Kid: Hunt for the Robot Emperor is a 3D action platformer bullet-hell where the camera is behind your character and you can only move forward; you can’t move the camera. Our little hero can jump and shot his way through the waves of enemies that will stand in his way.

One of the game’s strengths is its boss battles. They are incredibly challenging and push your gaming skills to the test. The further you get, the harder and more challenging they become. Additionally, the further you get into the game, levels become a bit more complex with different paths to take; which sometimes can lead you to collectibles. Also, there’s also a checkpoint halfway through each level.

Typical to other Eastasiasoft Limited, the game features pretty easy and streamlined Achievements, making it an easy one (to a certain extent) for Achievement collectors looking for a quick 1000Gs. Simply kill a set amount of enemies, collect a few medallions and kill the game’s first three bosses.

The game does look great and colorful. Each area has its own color palette ensuring some visual diversity from one level to another. Enemy design is extremely limited however as most level have the same type of enemies; but they improve in terms of attack; either they can shoot in multiple directions or they move/shoot/move. The soundtrack is absolutely atrocious. It sounds like someone is banging their head against a keyboard; I’d either stop playing or having to put the TV on mute so my ears wouldn’t bleed.

The biggest problem with this game is it’s behind the character point of view. It makes it quite frustrating trying to gauge where enemy projectiles are coming from and whether or not you’ll get damaged or not. It also makes it even more frustrating when it comes to platforming; you need to rely on your character’s shadow, but it’s also very easy to mis-time your jump and fall to your death. It’s also quite the nuisance against the game’s third boss.

I’m not gonna lie, I wanted to like Thunder Kid: Hunt for the Robot Emperor. I really did. But the half-assed from behind camera perspective makes it incredibly frustrating as it can cause to unfair death or damage. It can cause players to mis-time their jump to avoid enemy projectiles or also make platforming unnecessarily frustrating. On the upside, it’s a short one. The only redeeming quality of this game is the boss battles; if you can tolerate the camera, the bosses are fun to fight. Otherwise, this is a pass.