Catalogue No. - T-6006G

The original Thunder Hawk was a Mega CD game also by Core Design and just like this Saturn version it was very good especially considering it was running on a Mega CD. This Saturn version improves upon the Mega CD version in every way possible. The areas are now far more populated with enemies, mountains, trees and so on plus the helicopter's cockpit view is actually made of polygons instead of a 2D drawing like most companies do. This really adds to the 3D feel of cockpit action as the shadows move around it and missiles make it shudder when they hit. So, graphically the game does look good and moves quite smoothly as well. Don't forget that this is an early Saturn title. There is quite a lot of polygon pop-up but it's not that noticeable thanks to a very nice trick by Core. What they've done is actually built the polygon areas over mode 2D flat models. This gives an infinite view distance which takes your attention away of things popping up. It's not perfect but certainly a good idea.

Game wise I really like Thunder Hawk II. The controls are tight and responsive unlike that awful Black Hawk game and also quite easy to learn after a few minutes of play. The missions are varied enough to keep you entertained over and over again and are packed with nice little touches such as when you blow up a tank or truck the driver will run from the vehicle allowing you to follow him in your helicopter and gun him down in cold blood. I like to nuke the little sods but that's because I'm evil.

There are quite a few western developed games like this which necessarily don't use helicopters but still fall in to the same style of game play. Titles such as Ghenwar, Black Hawk, A+M+O+K as well as others. However Thunder Hawk II beats them all to the ground (well A+M+O+K is pretty good) making it well worth your money if you can find it.