Developed by Lucky Kat Studios exclusively for Poki, the free online gaming platform, Thunderdogs.io is Poki's new game and seems to draw inspiration from two classics: Thundercats and StarFox. The game is also available for iOS and Android.
The idea is to control dogs that pilot aircraft across battlefields to collect bones in the best arcade spaceship-game style, with the difficulty level increasing as they are collected and more and more enemies appearing. The game ends when you are defeated or leave.
There is a bar at the top of the screen that indicates how many shots you have left and, after you use them up, you must wait for a while to reload, requiring the player to use different strategies against the enemies.
Another point that stands out is that there are more than 30 different unlockable dogs, which increases the replay factor, as well as several settings along the way and weapons with different functions, and it can be played online or offline, according to your preference or needs. What draws attention in the characters is the charisma of each one, as they represent several different breeds and are all styled with a "cartoon" look, which, combined with richly detailed animation, brings the title to life and makes it seem that we are "controlling a cartoon."
Even with so many virtues and despite being a free game, one point that could be improved in the future is the controls. They are not bad, but the player needs a little more time to get used to the commands, which may drive some less patient players away from the title. Even so, the gameplay is simple: you have one button to shoot and the directional control to steer, while the plane turns around its own axis.
Thunderdogs.io is a browser and smartphone game that is "just right." It is addictive, visually excellent, fast to play, has charismatic characters and even lets you invite friends to the match, making it worth checking out as our tip of the week.
