Thunderstrike: Operation Phoenix Critic Reviews

Casual twitch gamers may be turned off by the flying learning curve and amount of strategizing required to complete each mission, but you can’t deny the hedonistic thrill of buzzing over a desolate desert landscape and letting loose!

The real problem is that the game won’t hold your attention for longer than a weekend, which is unfortunate.

Players looking for a detailed flight simulation will enjoy Thunderstrike's tactical gameplay, but fans of visceral action will find its strike-and-hide gameplay requirements a bit too rigid.

If a sim with action is what you are looking for, go for it. If you find the frenetic pace of an MTV music video too slow for you, then avoid this game entirely.

It is challenging and it can take some time to get comfortable with the controls, but it’s also refreshing to see a simulator that doesn’t throw away the first missions by giving simple goals or weak enemies.

Tolerate the fog, put-up with the controller and live with the repetition of dying over and over again, and you too will be hooked.

It features some of my least favorite shooter design elements, and it suffers from some kind of hideous memory caching woes that in turn spawn a few very frustrating interface issues.

If you are a helicopter sim fan and like games that are frustratingly difficult then pick up this game. Otherwise, either stay away or at your own discretion rent it because there are way better games out there.

A game that suffers from “could have been great“ syndrome. The weapons are cool and the missions are exciting, but the controls ruined everything.

Later sorties throw so much annoying crap at you—too many enemies who pop out of nowhere, too many mission objectives.

An interesting conundrum of challenging gameplay and flat out irritation.

Every component of this game is either mediocre or bad. Consequently, if you were to ask me what I thought of Thunder Strike, I would say that it sucks.

If it's beauty you're looking for, look somewhere else. Thunderstrike is a graphical plain Jane of a game, especially since so much of the action takes place at a distance.

The difficulty wouldn't be so frustrating if you could quickly retry the mission, but the load times are unforgivably long.

Why does the game look like crap?