Last week I reviewed the first Thunder Hoop game, which turned out to be a game that includes genres such as run and gun, platforming and action. Being a set of elements very well raised, so it turned out to be a very entertaining and highly challenging game in many of the occasions. This time I bring you the sequel to that game, TH Strikes Back or also known as Thunder Hoop 2, for simpler terms. Which is a direct sequel to the first game which brings back its previous protagonist, but this time with a different appearance, as several years have passed since the first game.
Ten years have passed since the events of the first game, so our protagonist is now an adult and now looks like the adult Goku everyone knows, equally muscular and aggressive. This sequel brings with it a fairly recycled plot, as Doctor Daniel Genbreak, which we had defeated in the first game, returns. Genbreak wants revenge for his previous defeat, that is why he once again gathers a huge crowd of mutants to wreak havoc and chaos. That's why our main character will also get into action to defeat this threat once again, and this time for good. Although luckily we can count on the help of a companion who will assist us and help us in this mission (all this if we decide to play two players).
Graphically it improved a lot with respect to the first game, this time we can see that the sprite of our main character is bigger and with more details, besides having a totally different design, logically being now an adult. In terms of design, this sequel presents much more "adult" characteristics, that is to say, most of the designs of the mutants that were in the first game, many of them presented designs of childish character, being creatures that in some cases seemed to come from children's games (although they were quite well), but in TH Strikes Back, the designs of enemies, besides that of our protagonist changed completely, now the designs of the mutants could be considered as "real mutants" that visibly are a latent threat.
As I already mentioned the design of our main character also changed completely, now we are facing an adult protagonist with a lot of muscles (Goku Low Cost), but it's pretty good. Besides having a new design, Thunder Hopperr also has new animations, much more fluid than those seen in the previous game and with more variety. The scenery design also improved a lot, we are presented with futuristic themed scenarios, with electronic elements, industrial and with many details, although unfortunately there is not much variety of places to go, some of the scenarios are very similar and do not really add much to the game itself. PS: I like the detail that in the upper left part appears the face of our character and when he performs an attack or moves, he has a set of animations. I think it is a clear reference to Doom.
As for the sound aspect I do not think there has been a considerable improvement over the first game, that is, I'm not saying that it is mediocre or much less, but at least I expected some improvement in this aspect, since graphically the difference is quite noticeable. However, TH Strikes Back still maintains the same theme in its soundtrack, with music with energetic tones and very consistent with the moments of action that we will live during this adventure.
TH Strikes Back is much more energetic and frenetic than its prequel, with a lot of action from start to finish, with many enemies on screen, so we will be in constant movement by having to eliminate them before they eliminate us. This sequel maintains almost all the features and elements of the first game, so again we are faced with a horizontal scroll run and gun, with some elements of platforming and lots of action. This sequel is not far away from its prequel, but I consider that it has even more action and epic moments if compared to the sequel. However, it is a fairly short game, so after at least learning how to play and how are some of its phases, you can complete the game in half an hour.
It maintains the difficulty curve, so there are many difficult and even unfair moments, but as I mentioned, with a couple of times that we have completed the game, we can complete the game in half an hour at most, this is a game that becomes "easy" with replayability (or at least I found it easy). At certain points in this adventure the game will change completely to a Shoot 'Em Up mode, as our character will fly through the skies eliminating enemies and although the Shoot 'Em Up genre is not my favorite genre of video games, I must admit that those parts of the game were entertaining. Unlike the first game, in this sequel we can count on the help of a second player, which will make this adventure much more fun, but I am a solitary player and I prefer to play the games by myself.
In short, TH Strikes Back is a good sequel to a first game that, despite not being anything spectacular and not innovating much in terms of gameplay, is a game that is quite entertaining and that in terms of graphics improved quite a lot.
