Thunder Tier One is a top-down view tactical shooter developed and published by Krafton (South Korean studio behind PUBG, among others). The game was officially released on December 7, 2021 and is only available in English or German for Western languages. We play as a member of the Thunder One squad, tasked with neutralizing ultranationalist terrorist attacks in Eastern Europe in the 90s.
Arriving in the game, and agreeing to follow the tutorial, we find ourselves in a military training camp where the different elements of the gameplay are introduced: movement, training in weapons, explosives, target neutralization, use of camera for recognition, etc.
Bootcamp with here shooting practice.
The movements are done with ZQSD as in a classic FPS, but the game being in top view, we have a cursor which corresponds to the direction in which the character is looking, allowing you to aim and shoot. The camera is therefore not oriented with the mouse at the edge of the screen (as in a strategy game for example), but with A and E by default, which is far from being practical in full action. The camera is even often disabling and tedious to manage throughout the movements and the progress in the levels which are in 3D and well detailed (Unreal Engine). On the other hand, the shooting sensations are good, which is still the heart of the gameplay. But before shooting, you have to make sure that no obstacle is blocking the line of fire, and that the enemy is in the field of vision: it is not possible to see an enemy hidden behind an element of the environment, even close. However, markers show the estimated position of an enemy who is making noise nearby, the sound being important because it complements the visual.
Aim cursor, lines of fire, and field of view (white circle).
The game incorporates an RPG dimension with experience to be gained in missions (or via challenges), levels, and unlockables. Our character is customizable, both in terms of his physical appearance and his voice as his equipment. Selected weapons and armor modify different statistics: protection levels, mobility (movement speed and stamina recovery), dexterity (accuracy, reload speed or weapon switching), or encumbrance level (stamina , fatigue and personal noise). Several styles of play will therefore be possible depending on the loadout, allowing you to vary the possibilities and also to assign different "roles" to the members of the squad. The customization system works on the basis of a point limit to be spent on all gear, with each item costing points or not.
Equipment and appearance are customizable and alter stats.
Several game modes are available, Solo and Multi. When launching the Solo campaign, the other three squad members are controlled by the AI; they are also customizable and we can give them different commands in game (Bot command training is available). Unlike many other games, the Bots here are relatively efficient and don't just follow us around being strawberry. But the strong point of the game, and even its main interest, is to be able to do the campaign missions in Co-op with up to 4 players. Being a tactical game focused on realism, it will be possible to coordinate your actions by communicating, and to play in a thoughtful way for an effective and satisfactory result (where controlling the Bots will be quickly repetitive). Playing online with strangers is nevertheless random, as it often is; most players don't really communicate and just rush to complete the level and XP quickly.
Exfiltration mode: one point to attack among three, the defenders not knowing which one.
Each campaign mission begins with a briefing, with a general overview of the mission, the more specific orders with the objectives, the situation, the map and the various key points, and finally an information section on the terrorists, their possible equipment, the possible presence of reinforcements, their position, behavior, etc. All this reinforces the realistic side of the game and allows a fairly good immersion.
Briefing de mission.
The Multiplayer mode allows you to join or host an online game, public or private, PvE (co-op missions as seen above) or PvP, for games with 4 or 8 players with many parameters configurable by the host, and in different game modes: deathmatch, exfiltration, domination, etc. The online gameplay is pleasant, but the camera often remains disabling if poorly positioned. The TTK (Time To Kill) is relatively low (depending on protection levels and weapons) and quite realistic, a few bullets are enough to kill. Some maps being a little small, the spawnkill is unfortunately quite present in deathmatch (certainly not at the level of Shipment on CoD).
Last position of a spotted enemy.
In summary, Thunder Tier One stands out from many other shooters and has good tactical potential, even if we often find ourselves not exploiting all of its possibilities. The levels are quite well constructed and evolve in real time. Many elements are unlocked over the levels, up to level 300, the current maximum. If the game is pleasant in Solo, it takes much more interest in several. On the other hand, online PvP is not the heart of the game because it is generally less tactical (without communication), but remains pleasant and original due to its top-down view, despite the lack of players (and even more so on European servers). The game allows replays of actions to be recorded, and incorporates modding, promoting its community aspect and its future evolution, even longevity. In conclusion, it is promising and deserves to be more popular, especially since it is accessible: not very demanding in terms of configuration, and relatively correct price.
- Steam
- Official website of the game
