Thunderhawk didn't seem like anything special on the PC and Amiga. Another polygonal military flight game that sat somewhere between the basic Tomahawk and the much more interesting LHX Attack Chopper. For some reason, Core seemed to think it was a perfect candidate for the fledgeling Sega CD platform and took extra care to maximize the system's horsepower and transform this game into a console graphical tour-de-force for the era. Taking on a faster pace which gave it a more arcade-like feel, this new form was a much better fit for the platform and gave it broader appeal.
This is the unlikely game that made me stop and stare at in-store demo kiosks and made the Sega CD in my eyes go from a platform that only received CD soundtrack enhanced ports and FMV games, to a must-have add-on for my Genesis. It blew away anything Mode 7 effects could accomplish on the SNES, adding a ton of on-screen scalable/rotating sprites and allowing the entire world to tilt as you banked left and right. It felt like a truly upgraded experience that almost justified spending about $250 at the time on a console peripheral. It was clearly not a mirror of its simulation-type cousin you saw on the PC side and nothing could touch it graphically in the same genre, until the breakthrough title Comanche came along the next year.
Thunderhawk on Atari ST vs AH3 Thunderstrike on Sega CD
On this side of the pond, the game was known as AH-3 ThunderStrike and in addition to Sonic CD, it was a day-one purchase that saw a lot of play. Spanning 10 different world stages that could be selected in any order and with multiple missions each, there was a lot to do. Missions would consist of a collection of primary targets you had to take out, in special cases, an area or bridge that you would have to bomb and even a stealthy rescue mission. Peripheral targets would be scattered about, giving you bonus points and medals for taking them out and a higher completion rate for the mission. If you wanted to spend even more time in each area (and I did), you could even blow up every tree and bush with your unlimited machine gun ammo.
Mission Briefing
Wailing guitars would accompany the piercing gunfire, booming explosions, and hissing missiles, ratcheting up the arcade feel. The soundtrack made you feel like you were taking part of an action movie, no doubt inspired by films like Top Gun. Speech samples would narrate the upcoming mission's goal, so you'd hear “Incoming bandit” crackle over the radio when an enemy chopper or jet would enter the mission area, or mission control yelling “Get out of here!” when you were going out of bounds.
Banking For a Turn
It's unfortunate that the Sega CD wouldn't see many other games take full advantage of its capabilities, but I was happy to have the system just for this one game. It felt like I had something truly next generation in my home and definitely impressed my friends as we took turns blowing up boats, radio towers, surface-to-air missile turrets, convoys of tanks and extending our turn at the game by mowing down entire forests of trees.
Blow Up Mission Targets... Then Commence Deforestation
The series would go on to see another entry on the PlayStation, Windows and then exclusively on the PlayStation 2, but none of them felt as unique for their time as the Sega CD game. Is it still worth going back to? To a retro enthusiast like me, definitely and would probably still be enjoyable to anyone who wants to revisit 16-bit console titles. Unfortunately you'll have to track down the original disc, because there's no Virtual Console or PSN/XBLA release available.
Take the Fight to Varied Landscapes Like the Desert, Snowy Tundra, and the South Seas
This game seemed like an obscure gem at the time. It didn't get a lot of magazine coverage or word of mouth among gamers, and I guess it ended up fading away after less-than-stellar sequels failed to nurture a fan base that could have built up around the series. Games like WarkHawk and Air Combat probably stole all the attention away that would have gone towards future entries. I just wanted to give a little more attention to a spectacular game that many might not have heard of, but has a special place in my library and still stands out to this day as a show piece for the generation.
Jye Cauffle