On Thursday night, before I accidentally replaced my entire bloodstream with green beer, I went to check out what Sega’s doing for the two big Marvel superhero movies this summer. Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger are massive blockbuster movies, so SEGA’s got video games coming out for all possible systems.
Obviously, movie tie-ins get a lot of flak for being churned out as merchandise first, and games second, so I was quite surprised when I found myself really enjoying the Nintendo DS version of Thor: God of Thunder.
Thor: God of Thunder (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS [Previewed])
Developer: Wayforward
Publisher: Sega
To Be Released: May 3, 2011
Now, before I get anyone’s hopes up, Thor: God of Thunder is not by any means a remarkably original game. It’s a platforming beat ‘em side-scroller. You’ve seen other games like this before. However, as a movie tie-in and a DS title, I think it’s quite nice.
The game’s plot isn’t drawn from the movie, though it will share the same enemies, villains, and locations as the other Thor movie games for the big consoles. Frankly, it’s a DS game about being Thor. There’s not much to say about story, and that’s totally okay.
What immediately got my attention about Thor is the look. It has absolutely gorgeous sprites. In this age of texture-mapped polygons and flashy particle effects, good sprite art is something that seems to have been relegated to indie titles and mobile games. Thankfully, the folks behind Thor still do it. Apparently, some of their sprite artists have been working their magic since the days of Super Nintendo, and it shows. All the enemies and levels look like stuff out of Golden Axe turned up to eleven.
Gameplay-wise, you are Thor, God of Thunder, Avenger, and speaker of Ye Olde Norse English. You can hit bad guys with Mjolnir, your hammer, either by hurling it at them, or by whacking them. You can jump really high in the air, you can roll out of the way of attacks. Finally, as a meteorological deity, you can summon lightning storms, small tornadoes, and other badass weather conditions.
In Thor: God of Thunder both screens of the DS are used to show gameplay. The bottom touchscreen is used to activate Thor’s special attack, and that’s done by tapping the screen, but otherwise, it just means you’ve got twice as much video game to move around in. There is something delightfully simple and straightforward about this approach.
The special attacks are good old-fashioned “blow up all the dudes on screen” attacks. The different powers can be shuffled through by tapping the left trigger, and then tapping the bottom screen activates it. It’s satisfying in an old school kind of way.
One element in games that I feel gets left out a lot these days is boss battles. As kids, fighting a boss in a video game has a certain pageantry and theatricality to it, and Thor: God of Thunder keeps that feeling. The bosses are giant bastards, some of them taking up both screens.
It sounds like a lot of work has been put into this title. Like I said, Thor isn’t exactly innovative, but It reminds me of my younger and more vulnerable years. Just sitting on the porch in my rocking chair with a tall glass of cold lemonade, playing X-Men 2: Clone Wars on the Sega Genesis.
(Okay, fine. That never happened.)
Anyway, Thor: God of Thunder looks a lot better than I expected it to. I’ve played a lot of crappy handheld beat ‘em ups based on dumb big-money franchises, and this game felt a lot more well-rounded than those games usually do. Check it out.
