‘Thor: God of Thunder’ 3DS Review

Game Rant’s Riley Little reviews Thor: God of Thunder

The Marvel superhero Thor has once again been thrown into the limelight courtesy of the feature film that was released this year – and with the movie license comes yet another opportunity for developers to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the property.

Thor: God of Thunder launched on several other platforms when the film originally hit theatres several months ago, but for some reason SEGA didn’t release the game on the Nintendo 3DS until the the film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray. Now that Thor: God of Thunder is finally on the 3DS, is it safe to say that the extra time required to polish up the experience payed off? No, not at all.

The gameplay in Thor is more reminiscent to its console brethren than the DS version that was released several months ago. This is because, unlike the DS version, the entire game is in 3D. Players are able to move around the environment and bludgeon enemies to death. Obviously, Thor’s weapon of choice is the infamous Mjolnir of Norse mythological fame, and it has an absurd amount of power — as it should. There are a plethora of combos and special moves that can be pulled off by Odin’s son, and players will actually be given a chance to unlock more as they progress though the story.

The different combos and moves do help to mix up the combat, but Thor: God of Thunder is still just a button-masher. The monotony of this game’s combat is unbelievably underwhelming, and players will quickly get tired of these encounters. Once in awhile, players will build up a special that incorporates the Thunder aspect found in God of Thunder – and are easily accessed via the 3DS touch-screen. More thunder-based moves are unlocked as players progress through the game’s story but they don’t add much depth.

One semi-decent area that the game almost succeeds in is quick time events – throwing players into a sequence of button smashes, similar to God of War. Certain button combinations will appear on-screen, and this makes for a nice change of pace. Unlike other games that use a similar style of play, however, the game gives players ample amount of time to hit the proper sequence of buttons. A nice idea, that will no doubt help out casual gamers, but the sequences begin to feel a little too easy (and even boring) — a reoccurring theme in Thor: God of Thunder.

Combat in Thor is pretty bad, there’s absolutely no getting around that, but the level design is even worse. Every level looks almost identical in the various worlds – and since each world also has identical enemies, there’s an inexcusable feeling of monotony ruling over the experience. There are some destructible portions in each environment, but they stand out like a sore thumb, and add absolutely nothing to the overall experience.

Once in a while the game mixes things up with a flying section – and these little segments are actually more enjoyable than the rest of the game. The snippets of gameplay work like an on-rails shooter (think Star Fox 64), and they allow Thor to shoot lightning bolts at enemies, while also attempting to dodge incoming obstacles and enemy attacks. The flying sequences help break up the tedious gameplay – but even then they still aren’t very much fun.

Thor: God of Thunder tries to offer a different experience on the Nintendo 3DS (compared to the game’s other versions), but at the end of the day it’s simply another underwhelming movie tie-in. The graphics won’t impress, the gameplay is repetitive, and the level/enemy design is extremely bland. 3DS owners would be wise to avoid this game, because God of Thunder is just god awful.

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Thor: God of Thunder is available now on all platforms except for the PSP and PC.