Young Thor is a Playstation Mini game created by Firma Studio that was inspired by Norse mythology. Minis are mainly developed for the PSP, but many of them are also compatible with the PlayStation 3. You take charge of Young Thor as the title suggests in this side-scrolling action platforming game.. Your goal is to rescue the three Norns, the guardians of Yggdrasill (a massive tree that binds the nine worlds together), which have been kidnapped by Hel. Hel is the ruler of the underworld in Norse Mythology. She believes that if she kidnaps the guardians of the Yggdrasil, all nine of the worlds will collapse into the underworld. If this apocalypse type event were to happen, she’d have immense power and domination over everything. The only person in her way is Young Thor…

While being a Mini, Young Thor is not that long nor is it deep, but it makes up for its shortcomings by being fun and easy to pick up. Most everyone that hears the name Thor, immediately think of his hammer. It’s a well-known weapon that obliterates any enemies on the killing end. There are fifteen attacks which are mostly from the hammer. It’s basically a hit anything that moves or gets in your way game; simple. In addition to Young Thor’s trusty hammer, he can dodge enemy attacks or use magic based attacks on anyone in his path.

There seemed to be a bit of slowdown when there was a lot going on the screen at once, although it didn’t detract from the gameplay it was a bit annoying. In Young Thor, you will face seven different types of enemies including goblins, trolls, and giants. You will also fight a total of three bosses. You will trek across three different lands: Midgard, the land of men; Asgard, the realm of the gods; and Bifröst, a rainbow bridge that connects the previous two. There are only four levels in the game but each of them has four variations with different types of enemies.

Although Young Thor is a platformer, it does have some RPG elements in the game. You gain experience for each enemy you slaughter which raises Young Thor’s level and increases his health, magic and attacks. There are 99 player levels and the enemies scale up faster and stronger than Thor which makes you have to grind on some levels and replay them. There are eight hidden artifacts throughout the land that will greatly improve your armor, damage, and health regeneration. There are also two rune power-ups will randomly drop to give Young Thor a limited invincibility or some extra damage.

There are some achievements in the game that give this game some replay value. There isn’t much of a challenge after you reach level 80 or so, you just end up grinding for the sake of leveling up which isn’t much fun. But at $4.99, players will get what they pay for with Young Thor. It’s a short but sweet little game that will offer a lot of challenge for anyone. The required level grinding may be a no-go to some people, but those who look past that will find Young Thor to be a great game.

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