Thor: God of Thunder

Naturally, we have to have a video game release alongside the arrival of a new Marvel film. It's written into the entertainment investors codex somewhere - and often encourages the same formula. Minimal effort in creating a decent game, but palatable enough that franchise fans will pay top price for it. I'm not expecting Thor: God of Thunder to be any different.

The game has been released in conjunction with the Thor movie - marking the characters first leading role in a digital offering. The offering of Marvel films always comes with a video game. But let's face it - they have all been remarkably average at best.

He Who Holds the Controller, Yields the Power of Thor

Thor: God of Thunder, in the typical Marvel game fashion, sets a narrative that is in parallel with the film. In this case, the story revolves around a tale of revenge - where Thor believes that the frost giants have killed one of his comrades. He'll go on a smashing spree with thunder and lightning, with the player at the help of it all.

The setting and tone of the game itself already meet the idea - that this is not going to be an exceptional offering. The storyline continues to be bland throughout, environments appear a little dull, and dialogue is pretty uninspiring. For a narrative-based game, one would think there would be more effort put into this. But Thor is an exciting warrior - maybe the use of his superpowers in combat will make the gameplay more interesting?

It's a shame to say that it doesn't. There were clearly some ambitious ideas in design to get Thor's combat capabilities gleaming in the game. But the poor camera alignments, animation glitches, and frustrating controls kill off any redemption through the art of combat design. You feel taken away by the bugs rather than get immersed in stomping frost giants.

The direst aspect about Thor: God of Thunder is the hitboxes and collision detection. They make absolutely no sense. You could be button-mashing from afar when suddenly you're able to fit a foe. There's no strategy or any sort of approach you can make without getting annoyed at what's happening on your screen.

God of Blunder, More Like It

Even for a Marvel game that consistently ranks as average in its release, Thor: God of Thunder is pretty poor. The entire experience is littered with bugs, glitches, texture copouts, poor animations, and generally awful level design. The game looks and feels like it was rushed in development. And it certainly does not set a standard for a good release.

Pros:

• The art style is reminiscent of the film, and environments look good in places

Cons:

• Linear, broken gameplay that gets incredibly frustrating
• Fractured combat mechanics that don't make sense
• Bland story and little character personality