Thor: God of Thunder Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

System: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS
Dev: Liquid Entertainment
Pub: SEGA
Release: May 3, 2011
Players: 1
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p	Violence

All of this could be made up for with some interesting stage design. Unfortunately, the stages in this game are boring as hell. They're all just straight paths, followed by locked room battles, followed by more of the same. There's barely any exploration, and there are very few secrets to be found. It's basically just ten straight hours of wailing on enemies with a hammer. Even worse, many of these battles last forever, and if you screw up, you'll need to start all over again. Your greatest enemy is your own fatigue; eventually, you'll just get too bored to go on.

Thor: God of Thunder Screenshot

As I said before, the Thor coat of paint on this game isn't very shiny. Thor is rendered in the likeness of Chris Hemsworth, but his face looks flat and unexpressive. In fact, it somehow manages to be even more flat and unexpressive than Chris Hemsworth's face actually is. His body moves stiffly and awkwardly, as opposed to his enemies that move smoothly but don't show a whole lot of variety in their animations. Even Thor's cape seems like an origami figure folded around his shoulders.

The developers went on and on about how this game has its own story and how it's not based on the movie. Don't be fooled. This game, even though it's a prequel of sorts, is based on the movie 100%. They even got Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, the actors who portray Thor and Lokin in the movie, to do some voice acting, and even they didn't give that great a performance. Let's not even talk about the rest of the cast's voice jobs (which are even worse, by the way.) When Thor kills Surtur he screams in rage… except that scream sounds held back and kind of corny. Sutur similarly screams in agony as Thor strikes the finishing blow … except that scream sounds more like a grunt of minor annoyance.

Thor: God of Thunder could have been so much better, and I think that's what's most offensive about it. The designers hyped the game until we couldn't stand hearing about it anymore, and I kind of fell for it. I really thought this game was going to be different. It had so many good ideas, but they were all implemented so poorly. Linear gameplay, a shallow combat system, and a bad story just make this game a waste of time. If you are really into the movie, you might want to check it out. But trust me; you aren't missing anything if you skip it altogether.

By Angelo M. D’Argenio
CCC Contributing Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

2.5

Graphics
It's kind of like a Thor puppet is getting knocked around by World of Warcraft mobs. Also, everything looks like it has a lens flare filter on it.

3.0

Control
If button mashing sounds fun, then the system isn't that bad. Otherwise, it is painfully repetitive.

3.0

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The movie actors are the best part of the voice work, and even they kind of phone it in.

2.0

Play Value
Does ten hours of pressing X repeatedly sound like a good time to you?

2.7

Overall Rating - Average
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 - 1.9 = Avoid	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	3.5 - 3.9 = Good	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair	4.0 - 4.4 = Great	5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

First 2011 Summer Blockbuster: Following Marvel's $620M hit Iron Man 2, the Thor film will be backed by a bigger marketing campaign, generating huge franchise awareness.

Become the God of Thunder: Step into the role of Thor and wield the mighty hammer, Mjölnir, in Thor's first standalone game.

Superhuman Elemental Powers: Unleash Mjölnir's primal storm powers of lightning, thunder and wind. Electrocute throngs of trolls or split the ground in two with an earthshaking thunder attack that knocks frost giants to the ground.

Epic Combat: Use brawn and brains as you bash opponents with hammer attacks and throw combos. Scale titanic frost giants and trolls using multiple grappling points to find and attack weak spots.

Level Up: Choose new abilities, powers and weapon upgrades as Thor earns Valor runes through battle victories.

Original Storyline: Narrative was overseen by Eisner Award-winning writer and lead Thor comic book author Matt Fraction.

Star power: Features voice and likeness of Thor film actors Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki.