Review: Thor: God of Thunder
In order to tie in with the movie Sega released its most recent superhero game Thor: God of Thunder. The game follows a different storyline than the movie, but fleshes out the world of Thor for those who are fans of the comic book. Like many recent superhero games there is both good and bad in Thor: God of Thunder, which may leave players with mixed impressions of the game.
The story follows Thor as he repels an attack on Asgard. From there Thor goes to the world of Ice Giants where he accidentally releases a demon that attacks Asgard. This leads Thor on a quest to get a weapon strong enough to defeat the demon and save Asgard. The story is told via dialogue and occasional cut scenes and the game moves forward with linear objectives. Overall, it is a good story considering the source material and linear mission structure.
The gameplay is the standard third person perspective beat ‘em up style much like God of War. The enemies are decently balanced and there is a variety of ways to defeat enemies. The bosses can be a little unbalanced and positioning yourself for the inevitable grapple attack to begin the QTE segments can be frustrating. There are attempts to change up objectives by adding in gimmick sections of the game. Most of these are not fun and the boat sequence on the third world makes no sense since Thor can fly. Much like many games in this genre, as you progress in the game you earn valor points which can be used to upgrade Thor’s attacks. Overall this does not seem to make much difference until you get the highest level upgrades. The game is far from broken, but can be annoying and repetitive at points.
The graphics are decent, characters are distinguishable and backgrounds are nice. Each world has a decent design from lava filled caves to frozen wastelands and the environmental effects give some ambiance to the stages. The game also incorporates 3D for those who have access to 3D TVs. The music is forgettable, but the sound design is solid. The voice acting is one of the better points of the game and it feels like most of the actors put in effort into their performances. Aesthetically it is far better than previous Sega superhero games, but is mid range compared to other games in the genre.
The game is fun to an extent. Thor fights smoothly and using his powers adds a needed boost to the enjoyment of combat. Also, there are more than enough options to keep the battle fresh. However, you can just as easily button mash through battles. Thor: God of Thunder also features a few bugs and glitches as well. On several occasions the game froze or characters got stuck and could no longer move. The game has glitches, but it can still be beaten if you are patient enough. However, the QTE moments are not fun and the button press is located in the bottom corner of the screen which can make concluding boss fights very annoying. On the good side there is some replay value due to the amount of unlockables and the ability to start on a harder difficulty with a previously powered up character.
Thor God of Thunder is not a bad game and is in many ways better than Sega’s previous attempts at superhero games like Ironman. However, it is not without flaws and unless you are a major Thor fan you may not get much mileage out of the game. Overall, this game is worth the rental for fans, but can be passed up otherwise.
Pros:
-God powers make combat fun
-Decent story and acting
-Good amount of unlockables
Cons:
-Annoying QTE segments for boss fights
-Glitches can cause frustration
-Gimmick sections are not fun to play
Verdict: C
A copy for the game was provided to the editor for review purposes.
