Thunder Ray is a Super Punch-Out-style boxing game where you take the fight to the aliens around the galaxy. Find out if the game is worth your time in our review!
Thunder Ray Review and Score Explanation
Thunder Ray Score Explanation
| Overall | Thunder Ray is an amazing game made with a lot of love for both the sport and the iconic series that popularized it in video games. Not only does it have very responsive controls, but the animations are fluid, and the visual feedback from enemies as they recoil from pain is almost as satisfying as the ensuing victory. In a word, playing the game is "fun." And though it does suffer a little from its underwhelming story and unsettling audio, it doesn't tank the overall quality of its gameplay by much. |
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| Story | At the end of the day, Thunder Ray's story boils down to the protagonist's goal of becoming the best boxer to have ever lived. It's simple, philosophically relatable, and effective. However, it really doesn't go beyond just setting the stage for a beatdown of galactic proportions. Its opening is unsatisfying, the rising action is non-existent, and the conclusion is open-ended for no good reason. |
| Gameplay | Thunder Ray's gameplay is almost exactly similar to Super Punch-Out!! It's also well-polished, despite not being as precise or as fast as the latter. Its only real sin is that staging a comeback can get quite difficult because the game zooms in on you when you're at low health, effectively cropping large sections of your enemy out of your view. |
| Visuals | Imagine Super Punch-Out!! but with the aesthetics of Adult Swim cartoons. And just to be clear, no, I'm not talking about their limited anime selection. Its exaggerated, frequently visceral depictions of attacks, injuries, and "knockouts" (if exploding into a fine mist of blood and meat counts) make the game a comedically satisfying visual treat. |
| Audio | Unlike Thunder Ray's story, which can be considered an aspect that's essentially inconsequential to your enjoyment of this kind of game, the same can’t be said for its audio. Being an intense and loud fighting game, Thunder Ray's sound effects and music should be equally fierce and thunderous. That's unfortunately not the case, however. Instead, the sound effects barely tickle the ear, the music feels more like background noise, and the voice acting sounds strangely synthesized. |
| Value for Money | Thunder Ray takes roughly thirty minutes to finish to an hour to finish - two hours and above if you have massive skill issues like me. While I certainly feel like it gave a fair amount of playtime, the same may not apply to others who can play these kinds of game better. It's still a good purchase, though, since it has a lot of replayability from its three wildly different difficulty settings and score-based ranking. |
Thunder Ray Review: Punched It Out Of The Park
While I'm certainly not the biggest fan of the Punch-Out!! series of games, I do have quite a lot of fond memories of playing it. In fact, the NES version was probably one of the first games to have given me the hint that I will be suffering from massive skill issues for the rest of my gaming life.
Thunder Ray is a modern tribute to the Punch-Out series. Specifically, it looks and works more like Super Punch Out!!, where players have a generous view of the titular character's lats. Similar to the games it’s inspired by, you can control a limited number of actions quite extensively, from punching with both arms at specific body parts to blocking and dodging enemy attacks. Players can also perform special attacks that deal a significant amount of damage.
However, it's not like your opponents will just stand there, drop their arms, and take a beating. It’s also not like you’ll be taking on regular humans using your standard boxing ruleset either. Thunder Ray will have to take on beings that use literal maces for arms and actual magic without any apparent rules. It's actually almost a relief to see an enemy use a knife against you, since that's probably the most normal fight you'll ever face in the game.
The game is relatively short. Even if you try to clear every boss on every difficulty with the highest possible rank, you'd probably only spend a total of five to seven hours doing so, by my estimations. However, for a game being at just below $15, it’s already quite a bargain, especially if you find yourself in need of a quick Punch-Out!! Fix down the line.
Thunder Ray Full Game Review
Pros of Thunder Ray
| Things Thunder Ray Got Right |
|---|
 Enemy Designs Scream Creativity Thunderous, Entertaining, Excessive Violence |
Enemy Designs Scream Creativity
Before I gush about how good the enemy designs are, let me preface this section by saying that Thunder Ray's design is rather uninspired. There's nothing that really stands out about him from the other buff half-naked boxing machines you'd find in these kinds of games, except for maybe the mark of lightning on top of his hair. But even that's kind of low hanging fruit.
Fortunately, the enemies don't suffer from the same bore-inducing snorefest. Each of the bosses has designs reminiscent of old anime and Adult Swim cartoons: brilliantly colored with rich, vibrant tones with sufficiently low contrast and just the right filter intensity to make it seem like we're watching a show instead of playing a game.
In fact, each enemy has a theme that influences how they are designed and how they fight. These range from a floating witch that shields herself and attacks with magic to a shadowy vampire that can devour you outright. They are so meticulously made with such great care that most have second or third phases where their appearance changes (though not by much).
And it works. There were times when I found myself just captivated by what I was seeing that the controls became instinctual, almost as if I just wanted to focus entirely on the battle in front of me. It also adds a lot to the game's replayability. After all, a visually appealing game that plays well obviously has more pull than one whose entire appeal is dependent on how well it handles.
Thunderous, Entertaining, Excessive Violence
Anime appreciators of a... more mature age may quickly see the resemblance between Thunder Ray's style of violence and the iconic and legendary testosterone overdose that is Toei Animation's Fist of the North Star. That is, for some reason, your enemies tend to inflate and explode into a fireworks of blood and guts upon defeat, similar to the fate of many enemies of the anime’s protagonist, Kenshiro. It's a level of over-the-top violence that you wouldn't have suspected from the trailer, and especially from a game coming out on the Switch. To make the similarities even more blatant, one of Thunder's special moves involves raining punches upon his unfortunate victims so fast that his arms seem to multiply due to the afterimages they create. The only thing they're really missing is a Omae wa mou shindeiru
soundbite.
In Thunder Ray, players must aggressively attack their opponents and build up their special meter to set the stage for this galactic-level beatdown. Upon gathering enough energy required to unleash these moves using sheer aggression, you are given free reign as to when you want to use them.
Fortunately, though unfortunately for me, the enemies won't simply allow themselves to get hit with a cheap, thoughtless shot, giving the game a good amount of challenge. Regardless of the difficulty, the enemies are proficient enough to block the vast majority of your attacks, only allowing you to hit them if you time them well during the few openings they show throughout the fight. During those times, you are given the opportunity to combo into a string of punches that can end in a massive special move. Otherwise, you'll have to bob and weave through your opponents' attacks and take potshots whenever you can.
The result is a satisfying and delicate dance between you and your opponent, as both of you struggle for dominance.
Cons of Thunder Ray
| Things That Thunder Ray Can Improve |
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Audio Falls Flat |
Audio Falls Flat
Thunder Ray's audio leaves much to be desired for a fighting game. It's not only unsatisfying at times, but it sometimes entirely kills the immersion altogether.
Ironically enough, the punches in Thunder Ray lack a punch. There are also audibly obvious cuts between sound effects that make the experience quite strange and jarring. For example, there’s a sound of crackling electricity that can be heard when Thunder charges his special move. However, when he unleashes that energy, instead of it quickly fizzling out or changing it to what it might sound like if it was coursing through the enemy's body, the effect just abruptly ends upon using it. It's almost as if the prior charge-up of electricity never happened in the first place, leaving you with a case of blue-thunder.
On top of that, the voice acting in the game is straight-up weird. It sounds oddly like synthesized voice clips recorded using a scuffed microphone. Additionally, the quality between the voices of Thunder and everybody else is noticeably different, particularly compared to that of his coach, C. Smith. This might have been a purposeful sound design choice, but it was a choice that I felt fell flat.
There's also a lack of any satisfying background audio to the game, both in music and noise. While a theme does play during every fight, it's extremely hushed. You can't even adjust the game's volume sliders to make it more discernible, as those don't exist in the menu. The situation might have been recoverable if there was sufficient background noise of the audience going wild, but that's essentially non-existent, too.
Thunder Ray Overview & Premise
Ray is a promising athlete who was well on his way to becoming the greatest boxer of his time. However, an alien suddenly appears at the end of one of his matches and hits him with a strange beam. When Ray wakes up, he finds himself in a cosmic arena, surrounded by aliens of all shapes and sizes. Now, he’ll have to fight his way out or die trying.
Following the Punch-Out!! formula, Thunder Ray is an arcade boxing game where players must defeat a series of tough opponents from different galaxies to become the greatest fighter of the universe.
Who Should Play Thunder Ray?
Thunder Ray is Recommended if You Enjoy:
• Punch-Out!! series
• ARMS
• Wii Sports Boxing
As another "fine, we'll do it ourselves" moment, Thunder Ray is a beautiful indie adaptation of the beloved Punch-Out!! series of games. So, whether you love the arcade, NES, Wii, or other versions of the game, Thunder Ray will definitely be a worthwhile investment for you.
It will also appeal to those who appreciate games that need absolute surgical precision. But if you’re not looking for a game with that level of difficulty, it might be a difficult sell.
Is Thunder Ray Worth It?
It's A Knock-Out Purchase For Boxing Fans
If you're a fan of the Punch-Out!! series, boxing-related games, or action games in general, parting with a cent short of $15 for Thunder Ray is worth it. After all, it has a decent replay value and presents a fair challenge for both beginners and veterans.
How Thunder Ray Matches Up to Recently-Released Games
| Games That Came Out Recently | Why Get Thunder Ray? | Why Get the Other Game? |
|---|---|---|
 SYNCED |
Despite competing against a completely free game, Thunder Ray is a better choice for those looking to relive some memories or simply looking for a challenging game to play on your own. It also doesn't come with microtransactions! Well, at least not yet, anyways. | If playing a shooter with friends or random strangers is more appealing to you, then try out SYNCED. Though it's swamped with microtransactions, they are all optional, and the game provides good gameplay for what is essentially completely free to experience. |
 Armored Core 6 |
Not only is Thunder Ray cheaper, but it's also much more accommodating for quick gaming sessions. In a way, it's also almost as difficult as many FromSoftware titles, at least at the beginning. | Mecha fans and fans of deep customization need little convincing to pick up Armored Core 6. It's perhaps the best game in the franchise, polished to a mirror-like shine with FromSoftware's decades of experience with the series and their other titles. |
 Sea of Stars |
To make up for its lack of content, Thunder Ray presents a much steeper challenge for those looking for a bit of spice in their gaming life. It's quite easy to get beat down by a few misplays, making each victory you get that much sweeter. | Sea of Stars is perhaps the best retro-style RPG released this year. Although its price is more than double that of Thunder Ray’s, it offers far more gameplay, side content, and an actual story to go along with it. |
How Thunder Ray Matches Up to Similar Games
| Games Similar to Thunder Ray | Why Get Thunder Ray? | Why Get the Other Game? |
|---|---|---|
 Wii Punch-Out!! |
Thunder Ray is a much more accessible game in this modern age, with a release on the PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox. It may also be more appealing for those who want a more vivid visual style, especially those who loved watching Fist of the North Star or those old Adult Swim cartoons. | Fast gameplay and precise controls are the appeals of the iconic Punch-Out!! series of games. Its Wii release no an exception, as it requires you to pay close attention to your opponent and respond quickly to their moves just to eke out a victory. While Thunder Ray is still competitive in feeling responsive, Wii Punch-Out!! offers more fights for you to get your hands dirty with. |
 Wii Sports Boxing |
For those without the motivation to flail their arms around, don’t currently have a Wii or, perhaps, are more interested in playing a game instead of exercising, then Thunder Ray is for you. | Wii Sports Boxing is a far more relaxing alternative, which basically functions as a fitness program instead of a purely video game experience. |
 ARMS |
Although not quite as chaotic, which is usually the fun part in most action-oriented games, as ARMS, Thunder Ray does have its own wild presentation with its gratuitously violent visuals. | If you're interested in a game with a more competitive spirit, ARMS is a good purchase. Not only that, the game also supports split-screen, allowing you to play side-by-side with a friend, just like the good old days! |
Thunder Ray Trailer
Game8 Reviews
Thunder Ray Product Information
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| Title | THUNDER RAY |
|---|---|
| Release Date | September 14, 2023 |
| Developer | Purple Tree S R L |
| Publisher | Purple Tree S R L |
| Supported Platforms | PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Genre | Fighting |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Teen |
| Official Website | Thunder Ray Website |
- Disclosure: Game8 was provided with a free copy for review purposes only, with no other compensation.
