Does lightning strike twice?
Developer: Red Fly Studio/Marvel Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Release Date: May 3, 2011
Score: 3 / 5
Having enjoyed playing Thor on the DS, I was actually looking forward to playing Thor: God of Thunder for the Wii. Once more I held aloft Mjolnir. Once more the evils attacked Asgard. Once more Sif needed to be saved. Once more I felt like I was immersed in a comic book fantasy. And once more…it felt repetitive.
Red Fly Studio much like the DS counterpart developer, tosses the movie script out the window to deliver a more comicbook-esk adventure. The storyline is creatively done, even though there are many instances of “I AM THOR SO I WILL MAKE IT SO.” The animated comic book delivery of the cut-scenes is rather immersive and makes a few of the characters almost endearing. In a different slant from the DS game, instead of rescuing Sif from captivity, Thor must venture to bring her back from the dead. To do that, Thor must fight everything that stands in his way and I mean everything. From the Frost Giants in Nifleheim, to the molten badies of Muspelheim and wave, upon wave, upon wave, upon wave (sense a pattern?) of trolls. Thor fights with his might to make the world right. But how does it come off?
Much like a super powered version of Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell, Thor on the Wii uses the 3rd person over the shoulder style of combat. While this lends well to your smashing landscapes and enemies with Mjolnir, the relentless attacks drill the repetition into your head. The receptiveness of the waves of minions is made up for in the boss fights. The bosses are well designed and utilized different, classic beat-em-up style dodge and attack fight patterns. The game gives you a lot of moves, super and otherwise, against your foes, but your A button is going to get the most workout as you play. Charge attacks are your best friend. Another nice touch is Red Fly Studio’s design of actual flying missions in the game. Thor must fly through some levels, again destroying everything, weaving and shooting towards his goal. Another plus to the game is getting runes and tokens to buy items to power up Thor, as well as alternate costumes from original comics.
Visually this game is nicely done. Even with the limitations of the Wii console, Red Fly Studio went for the Marvel style feel to everything. There was virtually no lag when fighting enemies, not even when you unleash a super attack. The game’s graphic effects for environments and boss battles were fluid and sparkling. Giant fully rendered bosses were fun to take down and the cut-scenes were done with eye popping appeal.
Audio in the game was mostly pretty good as well. Actual voices for the characters, baddies and bosses, was A list. About 85% of it done by actors from the movie. Sound effects for weapons and attacks were also believable. The cut-scenes used real voice acting for their delivery instead of walls of text, with the downside being no lip sync. However, the downside to the audio was the background music which wasn’t that memorable to me.
In the end I would recommend this game to the diehard Thor comic fan and the diehard beat-em-up fan. There are a lot of extras for the comic fan, and enough mind-slogging baddies for those who enjoy just destroying everyone and everything. However for the average game player, you will get bored quickly. Also, while the graphics and bosses are stunning, they don’t make up for the overall delivery. Alas lightning didn’t strike twice for Thor, but at least it made the lightning look pretty.
