What would the childhood of one of the greatest Norse legends be like? Take control of the young God of Thunder in Tiny Thor!
THE GAME
Tiny Thor is a platform game developed by Asylum Square and distributed by Gameforge. On his birthday, little Thor is presented with his trusty hammer Mjölnir by his father, Odin. A party awaits him in the realm of the gods, but our little adventurer is tricked by Loki, who makes Thor unable to return home and, at the same time, restricts all the gods from leaving his realm. Now, the little warrior must find a way to restore the Bifrost Bridge before Loki can bring about Ragnarök.
MY IMPRESSIONS
My relationship with this game went from heaven to hell. It starts well, explains the mechanics, has a challenge here or there, but nothing that makes you suffer. Until you reach the middle of the campaign. From then on, the real challenge begins: not to explode with anger. Honestly, I was having a lot of fun with the game, which has its mechanical issues, but nothing that interfered with progression. Until the moment when you advance and need the controls to be more precise. That's when the frustration starts.
What for me was a very fun game became something stressful. Maybe it's just me that's bad? Probably. Maybe Tiny Thor isn't for me? It might be. But having the beginning of the game as it is and then turning it around left me very disappointed. I see no reason for this progression in difficulty. It's easier to beat bosses without taking damage than to pass some stages, for example. And there are already bonus stages specifically to test your limits and challenge you, why put that in the middle of the game's progression? As much as the stages have several checkpoints, this does not make it any less frustrating.
The art of the game is very beautiful, reminiscent of some Super Nintendo classics. The game has subtitles in Portuguese-Brazil, however, there are many translation errors. The soundtrack is noteworthy, bringing a classic feel to the game.
Some things really bothered me, like the hammer mechanic, which often lets you down due to lack of precision, or the fact that you don't have a menu check when you accidentally press it to restart the whole stage. Anyway, I recognize that Tiny Thor is a very good game.
ACHIEVEMENTS
We can divide the achievements into: collectibles, bosses and challenges. The other achievements are some specific feats, like defeating a sequence of enemies with a single hammer throw, for example.
Collectible achievements refer to the red diamonds and blue gems found in all levels. Basically, you have to collect everything in every level, which can be quite a challenge as many of these collectibles are hidden throughout the level. Boss achievements are unlocked by defeating them and also by defeating them without taking damage from them. Finally, the achievements of challenges are related to bonus stages that are unlocked throughout the game and, when completed, release the achievements.
It will take a long time to get 100% of the achievements, and it will require a lot of repetition and skill to achieve most of them.
CONCLUSION
I hated the game? Far from it! It's an excellent game with a good proposition, but the execution, for me, doesn't hold up from the middle to the end of the game. In the beginning, winning the challenges was pleasurable, as they seemed fairer. Afterwards, it just felt like the game wanted to force you to be awesome with commands that aren't all that precise.
I strongly recommend that everyone play Tiny Thor, because it is a well-made game. The hammer mechanic, while not perfect, makes the gameplay unique. Mixing skills to pass different levels requires a certain level of precision to execute them. Bear in mind that you will be stuck in many moments of the game until you understand the exact move you should make.
I wish I had loved Tiny Thor, because I liked the game, but when it was supposed to captivate me for good, it lost me. And that makes me really sad. However, I recognize it as a great game and one that can inspire new games to bring back the classic platform games.
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