Written by: Alex

 

 

 

Marvel’s interpretation of the Norse God of Thunder is a perfect character for a videogame. Aggressive by his very nature and armed with only with a hammer (which also holds the power of lightening) the gameplay writes itself. With the movie just released, Sega have taken the opportunity to release a game tie-in that borrows many of the films talents.

 

With a 3DS version available along side the home console releases I decided to have a look at the handheld version to see how it holds up.

 

 

"Thor: God of Thunder" does not follow the plot of the movie, indeed looking at everything within the story I think it would be hard to squeeze its tale in the films continuity at all. It is none the worse for this however, as it sheds the movies plodding pace replacing it with an overly dramatic plot that proves a far better vehicle for Thor as he battles his across a range of worlds.

 

Starting with a cinematic that sets up almost everything to come the trickster god, Loki (Thor’s brother) ‘invites’ the Frost Giants to Asgard. Set on recovering The Casket of Ancient Winters the Frost Giants use their powers to freeze over the world of Asgard, unleashing the anger of Thor who fights his way through their ranks to free his city.

 

During the struggle his friends Sif is killed, and once the Frost Giants have been driven out of Asgard he follows them back to their own world of Jotunheim. Misguided by Loki he releases the Mangog, a creature designed to destroy worlds and devour souls. This sets in motion events that take the Asgardian through across the many worlds of the World Tree, to stop the Mangog.

 

It's a simplistic comic book plot, but does allow for a range of settings with a villain so unquestionably evil that even Loki concedes his trick was ill conceived. Pulling in most of the relevant vocal talent from the movie also helped with raising the story, moving it from simple filler to something worth following. It is therefore a shame that the visual presentation in cut scenes struggles so much to keep up with the voice work, with most of the between-level plot given in 2D stills that seem wasted on the 3D system, and scenes that are in 3D showing off how ugly the engine looks up close.

 

 

As third-person action game on the 3DS Thor:GoF faces some trouble, with its aesthetic and mechanical design constantly at odds with the limitations of its platform. One of its most successful features is its structure that (no doubt helped by the fiction) allows a distinct range of different environments to be thrown at Thor, each with their own look, challenges and opponents.

 

The range of diversity these worlds offer is fantastic but unfortunately the little Nintendo system regularly struggles to keep up with the vision of the designers. Ice worlds look plain and dull against the brighter more striking image of Thor, and where in HD such crystalline settings may impress, on the tiny 3D screen they do not. Particularly problematic is that the game comes front-loaded with these ice levels, and there are a lot of them. So bad did these levels look that as I played the first few hours I was seriously questioning if the game was worth continuing with as I moved through seemingly endless levels of murky blue and white. Fortunately soon after my desire to sell the game began the whole experience improved ten fold. 

 

3D also does little to justify itself, as regular clipping issues with the world-geometry that sees Thor disappearing through walls during more active moments, an effect that is made even more distracting than ever when viewed through the z-axis lens.

 

Problems persist as the game continues as action switches to Midgard (or Earth as we call it). Again designer’s vision out pace the game engine, with a ruined city seeming impressive in context, but let down by a complete lack of textures on the world. Rubble and busses made of plane polygons would have been better served by flat images, but with the 3D screen necessitating real geometry the developer’s creative hands were tied.