Popular international children’s show Thunderbirds Are Go now has a mobile game spinoff, called Thunderbirds Are Go: International Rescue. The game casts you as one of the five Tracy brothers or Tanusha Kyrano, who fans of the older series may know as Tin-Tin. There are a number of different game modes that all boast simple operation, big action and flashy graphics, making this a perfect game for somewhat older kids who may not be into more advanced gaming just yet, or for parents who want to give their kids something a bit spicier than the usual edutainment fare. There are even parental controls on board to prevent binging.
The gameplay happens across a number of modes centered around how you’re getting around. For many missions, you’ll find yourself using the left and right arrows to orient the mighty Thunderbird 2 as it flies about, then using gear attached to it to manipulate items at objective points or conduct rescues. You’ll also do some missions on land vehicles, such as The Mole, a drill-equipped pod vehicle. Finally, some missions take place on foot, in which the members of International Rescue can be found intervening directly in dangerous situations with their own hands. All of the missions unfold around scenarios that usually hold some kind of moral or lesson. In the game’s opening sequence, for instance, a greedy scientist in the Arctic decides to drill into an alexandrite deposit directly on a fault line, causing a massive earthquake. The Thunderbirds have to mitigate existing damage, put out fires, rescue researchers, and finally put a stop to the drilling.
Overall, the game does justice to the grounded yet bombastic action of the Thunderbirds Are Go television series, but fans of the older marionette-driven series will find a lot to love here, too. The gameplay is smooth, the graphics are well-done and consistent with the style of the show, and the game holds many a valuable lesson on things like science and how the world works in general. The game is targeted to youngsters who are at least at grade school level, and have decent reading ability. There’s not much in the way of voice acting, and some of the dialog and mission directives can get pretty verbose, vocabulary-wise. If you’re unfamiliar with Thunderbirds or Thunderbirds Are Go, this game is a pretty decent first exposure to the property, and you can find more episodes on Amazon Prime Video and other places internationally.
