Ah, the inevitable summer movie video game tie-in.  Some movies are blessed with decent counter parts (Spiderman 2), other movies, while bad, still get a decent game to go along with them (Riddick) and lastly, you get the one, two punch of bad movie, bad game (Catwoman).  So where does the Thunderbirds rank?  Well if you merely looked at my score, you already know that answer and I call shenanigans.  So please read my review.  

At first, Thunderbirds makes you think you may have found a little gem of a title.  You play as the three titular heroes from the movie, Alan, Fermat and Tin-Tin, children who find themselves filling the shoes of the real Thunderbirds in order to save the day.  Hooray!  Each character has an ability that of course comes in handy (if you can call the ability to jump over things an ability) as you adventure through the game's scenarios.  Tin-Tin and her ability to move things with her mind, Fermat and his computer hacking skills and Alan and his impressive ability to push things around.  I know, already I'm picking on the game's shortcomings, but hey, that's half the fun of being a reviewer.  I was disappointed that the game relied on the old "stand on the switch so I can run through the door" or the "push the box out of the way" mentality the game sadly exercises in the second room of the Thunderbird headquarters.   Eventually the three arrive in the cockpits of the Thunderbird vehicles and you will find yourself flying around completing missions, rescuing people, stopping Armageddon, staving off the ascendance of the anti-Christ.  OK, maybe the missions aren't quite that grave, but I was just seeing if you were paying attention.  And speaking of the missions, I could not help but be reminded of classic games like Zaxxon.  And while I certainly enjoyed Zaxxon, this was not what I was expecting, of course I knew literally nothing about the game.   

It has a certain graphical flair that some players will enjoy.  As each character speaks (dialogue you must read) an almost picture quality headshot of the character pops up on the bottom of the screen just so you know who exactly is involved.  The in-game action too, is done fairly well, you can tell that some effort was given to the use of shading and level design.  Although there is a certain amount of blandness to most of the levels.  Audio is more of an afterthought.  The poor music combined with the uneventful sound effects just don't do the game any favors.  

It's a one player game that will hold the attention of only the very determined or those who just don't have any other games.

Gameplay: 5.1
Knit one, pearl two, the controls are pretty simplistic. I honestly was disappointed by the de-volving gameplay (pushing boxes), the game is not going to inspire others to do better.  

Graphics: 6.0
While impressive on some fronts, the repetition of the level design did start to play on me.  And the almost copyright infringement of the some of the flying levels was practically highway robbery.  

Sound: 4.4
Sound?  That was sound?  I thought my three year old was crying.  For heroes, the Thunderbirds don't have very good hero music, and that, my friends, is a crime.  

Difficulty: Easy
It's easy to play, and easy to walk away from.  

Concept: 4.8
Absolutely nothing new here kids, I like the Thunderbirds (old puppet show that is) and while there should have been all sort of innovative ideas in which to put the Thunderbirds in, the programmers simply did not do so.  

Overall: 5.1
I wanted to like this game, I really did, the movie was truly horrible, and I wanted this to be the opposite, everything the movie wasn't.  But instead we were treated to another game that will fade into oblivion.  No one out there will claim this game as their favorite.