PixlBit

I can't tell you any of Thor Wii's characters, plot, goal, bad guy, or setting. None of it made sense (and I played it all the way through)! While it certainly isn't for those unfamiliar with the movie or comic books, it's at least passable as a beat-em-up/brawler.

I say passable but a lot of it is pretty repetitive dreck. If you've played a brawler before, you'll know what you're getting: locked room after locked room of seemingly endless, unintelligent and weak enemies that need to be killed before the next area can be opened up. Never being able to explore or choose a path forward. Almost never seeing anything other than icy white settings and ice-based enemies. There are a very few fly-and-shoot sequences, but even those are on-rails and will frequently stop until all enemies on screen are defeated before moving on.

Fortunately, every button, numerous button combos, and a fairly broad range of motion gestures are put to good use in dispatching enemies. Thor Wii slowly ramps up in difficulty while introducing these various moves on-screen, which is helpful because you're not going to find them in a (paper) manual; you'll have to go online to read that or check the pause menu. A lot of them are pretty satisfying, like the lightning and tornado attacks, but you'll probably just end up spamming a select few most of the time.

However, when things start to ramp up and more and bigger baddies start filling up the screen, leveling up and purchasing better moves becomes a worthwhile endeavor. New combos, special attacks, and health improvements can be purchased from the pause menu for one credit each at any time. RPG-ish “runes” are hidden across the stages and can be selected for various stat improvements.

Thor Wii keeps everything simple. Dying will only set you back to the last checkpoint (which automatically saves progress) with restored health, and falling off a ledge costs no health at all. The game is definitely not difficult or frustrating, but its four or five hour length will feel like an eternity.

If you hang in there, some of the later midsized bosses resemble a Lord of the Rings cave troll fight, but the larger bosses, as fun as they are, are defeated with a quicktime event. At least the scenery looks detailed.

Thor Wii is your typical modern action movie in videogame form: heavy on action, fighting, and one-liners, light on plot and substance. A few good fights and nice graphics keep it in the middle of the road. A road called "Boring Street."