Thor's appreciation day
Jul. 26th, 2012 08:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
czeriKeeping to the theme of Thor being a bad-ass I'll be gushing about Thor the video game this week.
The game is a button-masher of the worst sort, but it has Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, and Jaimie Alexander doing the voices of their respective characters, and what are a few finger cramps compared to that? The graphics aren’t great, but I think the characters bear fair likeness to themselves, even if in the game Thor’s biceps actually are bigger than his head.
The plot mirrors the film in that it revolves around Loki trying to prove himself the worthier son. He does that by tricking Thor into unleashing a monster with a grudge against Odin, and then keeping Thor away so that he can defeat the beast himself. Only when that proves too difficult does he retrieve Thor and starts helping him properly. Through all this Thor remains ignorant of Loki's machinations, which is totally my head canon for Thor and Loki's relationship - Loki working behind the scenes to make Thor's life difficult with Thor remaining oblivious and assuming his brother loves him and is just not very competent, because surely Loki wouldn't send him to Vanaheim instead of Asgard on purpose, or ask him to set free Mangog had he known Mangog wanted revenge on Odin...
The gameplay takes place in four different realms, which is great if you're as curious about them as I was. Thor is fighting on Asgard, Nilfheim, Vanaheim, Muspelheim, then Asgard again. Some of the lines are quite hilarious - the enemy trash talking consists of, eg. "I'm getting his pretty cape!"
Another great point is that there is something extremely satisfying about making Thor do what you want (unless he does something else entirely, I did mention it was a button-masher, didn’t I?), and the fact he talks in Chris Hemsworth's voice takes it beyond awesome. I might have been switching between elements just to hear him name them, and making him go "Can't do that," a lot more than is strictly necessary...
As for Thor's BAMF status, let's just say fighting as him is a true pleasure. The multitude of combo attacks he has at his disposal is staggering - Thor can throw Mjolnir at his attackers (choosing between 17 various throws including Aerial Buzzsaw Throw or Mjolnir Blast); he can grapple them for additional damage; he can use basic melee attacks including Mjolnir's Fury, or Mjolnir Smash; and he can control the elements (Wind, Thunder, or Lightning) for more specialised combos like Earthquake, Cyclone, or Lightning Storm among others. He's also a bit of a berserker as it turns out, because his fury meter grows as he deals damage to enemies and when it fills entirely he can unleash his power in a spectacular blast that destroys everything and everyone around him.
So yeah, game Thor is pretty damn awesome. You just have to admire how he wipes the floor with whoever Loki sends to kill him even though the boss level enemies tend to be four-stories tall (the game really takes the "I've fought bigger," line to a whole new level).
Here's the first part of the walk-through if you wish to enjoy the voice-work and check-out the gameplay for yourself (you can skip the first 20 seconds to go straight to Loki's introductory narration):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9rpNQSRpZg&list=PL0DA491E3CF4566E7&index=1&feature=plpp_video
The game is a button-masher of the worst sort, but it has Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, and Jaimie Alexander doing the voices of their respective characters, and what are a few finger cramps compared to that? The graphics aren’t great, but I think the characters bear fair likeness to themselves, even if in the game Thor’s biceps actually are bigger than his head.
The plot mirrors the film in that it revolves around Loki trying to prove himself the worthier son. He does that by tricking Thor into unleashing a monster with a grudge against Odin, and then keeping Thor away so that he can defeat the beast himself. Only when that proves too difficult does he retrieve Thor and starts helping him properly. Through all this Thor remains ignorant of Loki's machinations, which is totally my head canon for Thor and Loki's relationship - Loki working behind the scenes to make Thor's life difficult with Thor remaining oblivious and assuming his brother loves him and is just not very competent, because surely Loki wouldn't send him to Vanaheim instead of Asgard on purpose, or ask him to set free Mangog had he known Mangog wanted revenge on Odin...
The gameplay takes place in four different realms, which is great if you're as curious about them as I was. Thor is fighting on Asgard, Nilfheim, Vanaheim, Muspelheim, then Asgard again. Some of the lines are quite hilarious - the enemy trash talking consists of, eg. "I'm getting his pretty cape!"
Another great point is that there is something extremely satisfying about making Thor do what you want (unless he does something else entirely, I did mention it was a button-masher, didn’t I?), and the fact he talks in Chris Hemsworth's voice takes it beyond awesome. I might have been switching between elements just to hear him name them, and making him go "Can't do that," a lot more than is strictly necessary...
As for Thor's BAMF status, let's just say fighting as him is a true pleasure. The multitude of combo attacks he has at his disposal is staggering - Thor can throw Mjolnir at his attackers (choosing between 17 various throws including Aerial Buzzsaw Throw or Mjolnir Blast); he can grapple them for additional damage; he can use basic melee attacks including Mjolnir's Fury, or Mjolnir Smash; and he can control the elements (Wind, Thunder, or Lightning) for more specialised combos like Earthquake, Cyclone, or Lightning Storm among others. He's also a bit of a berserker as it turns out, because his fury meter grows as he deals damage to enemies and when it fills entirely he can unleash his power in a spectacular blast that destroys everything and everyone around him.
So yeah, game Thor is pretty damn awesome. You just have to admire how he wipes the floor with whoever Loki sends to kill him even though the boss level enemies tend to be four-stories tall (the game really takes the "I've fought bigger," line to a whole new level).
Here's the first part of the walk-through if you wish to enjoy the voice-work and check-out the gameplay for yourself (you can skip the first 20 seconds to go straight to Loki's introductory narration):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9rpNQSRpZg&list=PL0DA491E3CF4566E7&index=1&feature=plpp_video
