Lords of Thunder Game Sample - Sega CD
0Lords of Thunder (known as "Winds of Thunder" in Japan) is a great horizontal shooter originally released for the PC Engine / Turbo Duo in 1993 and later ported to the Sega CD in 1995. Published and developed by Hudson and Red (respectively), the game deviated from the traditional shooting formula of the time that featured mostly ships blasting other ships and aliens in outer space to instead feature mortals, gods and mythological beasts filling the skies and dying to the sound of amazing rock and heavy metal. Sound interesting yet? Maybe, but rest assured; Lords of Thunder is one of the finer old-school shooters out there gameplay-wise with an exemplary soundtrack, although it should be said that the Sega CD port has a few changes that make it SLIGHTLY worse than its earlier PCE/Duo counterpart. It is an unofficial sequel to "Gates of Thunder".
The basic overview is this: "The evil god Deoric has unleashed slithering vermin, mechanical dragons and phantom Viking fleets upon the lands of Mistral. As the sole survivor of a dynasty of knights, you have inherited four suits of mystic armor that harness nature's most powerful elements - Earth, Water, Wind and Fire. Only you can use the elements to defeat Deoric's demonic horde. Summon the power of the Elemental Armor to unleash furious cyclones, rain lava from the sky, ignite lightning storms and conjure up flaming dragons."
Playing as Duran (otherwise known as Landis or Randy in Japan) and armed with the mighty armor(s) of Drak, you must defeat the evil hordes of the Garuda Empire and succeed where Drak and Luxina (a goddess who helped Drak originally seal Deoric) have failed. Throughout the game's seven levels, you will choose what armors you wish to go into battle with (Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth), shop for upgrades to your abilities (where the sexy female shopkeeper's voice was restored in the Sega CD game versus the Duo version), and take down massive waves of enemies and obstacles. The player character does not die in one hit like many shooters, the gameplay is balanced for players of nearly all skill levels due to adjustable difficulty settings and the inherent abilities and upgrades of each armor, and the levels are well-crafted, allowing the game to go above and beyond many of its peers of the day.
The issues with the Sega CD version lie in the overall graphical detail (less colorful and a little less sharp than the PCE/Duo version), the altered sound arrangement (which is more of a personal preference), additional slowdown, and gameplay changes (less enemies, altered difficulty settings, etc.), but most of these things are very minor differences and I actually prefer that they are slightly different, as this makes them a little more unique. At the end of the day, Lords of Thunder still ends up being a great Sega CD game and one of the finer shooters of the Gen/SCD/32X trilogy. While I personally prefer titles like Twinkle Tale, Elemental Master, Gaiares, and Lightening Force (among others) more, you don't have as many options when you're talking purely about the Sega CD. This is a video showing some of the game in action. Enjoy.