Tiny Thor Review
Do you remember that scene in Thor: Ragnarok when Thor leaves the Sanctum Santorum, forgets his umbrella (hammer), and upon calling it, it crashes through everything before reaching him?
I wanted that 10/100/1000 more times. Surely, a video game could have pulled this off. Alas, neither Marvel Super Heroes (the short-lived MMO) nor Marvel’s Avengers had anything like that. Thor in God of War Ragnarok did it even less than Kratos. I guess what they say is true, great things come in small packages (would you have preferred a more obvious and painful hammer time joke??)
Developed by Asylum Square, Tiny Thor is a retro platformer placing you in control of the future god of thunder. It is Thor’s birthday and Odin has gifted him Mjolnir. In this adventure, Mjolnir is not just for skull bashing. Can you unlock all of its abilities and prove your worth?
Tiny Thor is sure to pull at those nostalgic strings as you load up the game and are treated to a modern-day visual upgrade reminiscent of a SNES/Genesis game. There is even an overworld map similar to Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country that allows for backtracking and returning to previously completed levels. Each of those levels has a simple goal: reach the end. Said levels all contain a range of platforming challenges coupled with puzzles to solve. Good thing you have a magic hammer. If you ever wondered how you would incorporate a Breakout game into a platformer, keep on reading.
Thor (and you the player) can aim his hammer all around but more specifically at certain angles to get a desired bounce. You will find levers tucked behind walls too small for a person to fit. Sometimes Thor will need to throw Mjolnir and run at a gate so that a ricochet will open it just as he arrives. Mjolnir can also be used to move objects, collect gems, destroy rocks, and of course take out enemies. Remember the Boo enemies in Super Mario? They only chase after you when you turn your back to them. Well, Thor has similar snail-like enemies that only stand up when you have your back to them. The solution: throw Mjolnir, and jump over it as it returns to take out your foe. Other enemies only have vulnerability atop their heads. Time to go breakout style and angle a hit to bounce along the top of 10 of them in a row.
The aforementioned gems are one of two currencies within the game. The other is a set of 3 rubies in each level. Gems are used to purchase new abilities for Mjolnir whenever you come across Odin’s ravens, Fujin and Mujin, and their treehouse of treasures. Some of the purchasable abilities include the ability to increase your aiming distance or to have Mjolnir instantly return instead of waiting for it. Rubies will unlock additional paths on the overworld map. You only need to have them in your possession when you reach that section. Otherwise, you can return later when you have collected new ones or if you have returned to previously completed levels and picked up the remainder. The paths are optional and generally lead to challenges set up by those ravens.
Tiny Thor is a wonderful and charming platformer with a clever mechanic baked right in. The level layout leads to quick drop-in and out gameplay and adds enough replayability for those interested in 100% completion. Like some of the retro games it draws inspiration from, Tiny Thor also puts up a significant challenge at times. The challenge is closer to giving you small fits versus outright quitting for the night. The checkpoint system is plentiful so dying could be worse. It is currently available to play on Steam now with hopefully a console port in the near future.
