Free Video Game Review: Thor: Bring the Thunder

A few years ago Marvel Comics decided to flex their muscle and begin to make their own comic book movies rather than give the rights to Fox. Immediately Marvel made one of the best comic book movies, "Iron Man", and the future looks bright for Marvel movies. Now Marvel has flexed their muscle again but this time in the video game arena.

To promote the upcoming Thor movie Marvel Universe has released a free Thor video game on their website called "Thor: Bring the Thunder". This is a free game so don't expect something similar to Marvel vs. Capcom or Marvel Ultimate Alliance. "Thor: Bring the Thunder" is a simple 2D platforming game in the vein of an old school NES game. In fact, "Thor: Bring the Thunder" is reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. with some of the sound effects and will also remind video game fans of Mega Man when Thor dies and explodes in the same way that Mega Man did.

Despite being a free 2D platformer on the Marvel Comics website it is very well made for a game on a website meant to promote something else. Typically these sort of games aren't worth spending five minutes on.

First, the game looks beautiful for a 2D game. The Thor sprite is very cute'"if I'm allowed to refer to the God of Thunder as cute'"and some of the levels are also very detailed for this sort of game.

Surprisingly there are actually two modes of play to choose from in "Thor: Bring the Thunder". There is campaign mode that will allow the player to fight through each level. The other mode is called the Survival Mode and the idea is that enemies pop up on the screen and the player tries to defeat as many as possible before they succumb to death.

The Campaign mode has four different levels. The first three levels'"Asgard, Svartalfheim and Muspelheim'"are divided into three areas each while the final level, Midgard, is divided into two areas. Players can also choose between the "Normal" level difficulty and "Epic."

That is where the one gripe occurs. Even on the "Epic" difficulty level "Thor: Bring the Thunder" is pretty simple. That may be nitpicking a little bit because it is a free internet game and it's possible this game was an attempt to interest young children in the Thor movie. Difficulty was probably not high on the creators' list of priorities but I am a stickler for difficulty in video games.

A couple of other nice additions to "Thor: Bring the Thunder" is a leaderboard that shows all the high-score for the game and a Bios section. The Bios section gives a description of several characters in the game that will also probably be important characters in the Thor movie. The Bios include Thor, Enchantress, Sif, Kurse, Surtur, Absorbing Man, Midgard Serpent and Jane Turner.

Overall "Thor: Bring the Thunder" should be a fun way for Thor and Marvel Comics fans to spend some free time and it is probably a good introduction to Thor for any young children that are just beginning to read comic books.

Rating: 4 out of 5