Thunder Paw (Nintendo Switch) Review

Confounding it is how the Thunder Paw world appears to be army themed. Loosely army themed, insomuch as the main anthropomorphised character appears to be wearing a camouflage uniform, and enemies throw grenades and wear Vietnam-esque bandannas, tank tops, and eye patches. The story preamble, and motivation for playing, eludes nothing to this.

Instead this focuses on the story of an inexplicably shirtless dog, playing with a ball outside, until an atomic bomb-like explosion goes off, only destroying the windows of the protagonist's house, and prompts the dog to return and find out that its parents have been kidnapped. It just doesn't make any sense…

What also doesn't make sense is the difficulty balance. Levels essentially play out as platform puzzles, whereby the goal is to eliminate every enemy on the map before proceeding to the next stage. This formula essentially doesn't change throughout its short length but sadly for this reviewer is a fundamentally flawed premise. It's not so bad on early stages, where layouts are relatively simple, but later levels get more labyrinthine, and it becomes irritating to reach the end of the stage, only to have to backtrack, scour, and blindly jump off ledges to find the remaining three enemies impeding progress.

Some foes take two hits to kill, and others, which look identical, will take several hits with the exact same weapon to see off. When you marry their quick, rigid attack patterns, with player handicap, Thunder Paw becomes little more than an exercise in patience. There are three mechanics: run, jump and shoot. There is a painfully short range on the default weapon, and firing it initiates a knock-back animation, which can prove challenging as enemies are frequently placed near ledges or on small platforms. These manoeuvrability and balance issues are only exacerbated by the inclusion of insanely difficult boss stages.