I was recently recommended the game I'm going to talk about today, I had never heard or read about it, but because of its aesthetics and graphic style, it had already captured my attention. With just a few minutes of play, I could notice the inspirations and references that this game has with The Legend Of Zelda saga. But it is also very similar to Soleil and even has certain similarities with Landstalker, of which I recently made its respective Retro Review. This title could be considered as a great inspiration to the saga of the mythical Link, as this game is excellent.
The Story of Thor or also known as Beyond Oasis is a game that narrates the typical fight between "good and evil". Logically, our character will represent the part of "good" and during this game, he will have the mission to defeat the evil that is about to destroy the planet. Ali is the main character of this game, he is a prince who belongs to the Kingdom of Oasis. One day, while on one of his many adventures, he finds a golden bracelet, which allows him to control the power of 4 elemental spirits. However, Ali must find these 4 spirits in order to use his powers against the villain of this game. As a counterpart to the golden bracelet, there is the silver bracelet, which possesses evil powers, which are capable of causing destruction and chaos everywhere. Therefore, Ali is now in charge of defeating the bearer of the silver bracelet, in an unparalleled and very dangerous adventure, but luckily he will be able to count on the help of the ancient spirits of nature.
The Story of Thor is an extremely striking game at first glance, especially for its great use of the color palette in both the characters and the scenery. With very vivid colors, The Story of Thor is a very nice game, with very varied scenarios and with details and decorations quite adequate.
The scenarios of this game is one of its best aspects, they manage to represent very well different places such as: villages, castles, dungeons, forests, but always with a very original and characteristic style. With an isometric view, we have visualization of much of the scenery, and it is quite surprising how a game from so many years ago looks so good, even today, after so many years, is a game that has not aged at all.
The character design is also very good, the sprites very well detailed and drawn. In addition, with a fluidity of movement and animation quite good, I was really surprised what this game is capable of doing graphically, is something I did not expect this way. The great animation quality looks much better in combat moments and being an Action RPG, there will be many of these moments throughout this adventure. There is a pretty decent variety of enemies, many of them with quite large sprites, but very well designed and drawn.
A game of this magnitude could not be without a good soundtrack. And the soundtrack of The Story of Thor is very good, really good, with melodies that are typical that we can hear in games of this style, where magic and adventure is something of the day to day. Most of the melodies are ambient, which manage to create an atmosphere quite suitable for a game of this style. The sound effects, on the other hand, are simple, perhaps this is the least worked aspect, but still not bad, but they are very typical.
The Story of Thor is a fairly classic Action RPG, it maintains the characteristics of games like The Legend Of Zelda, Soleil or Landstalker. It is one of those games that despite having mechanics and a type of gameplay very similar to others, it is still a game with a very high degree of fun and entertainment. The movement on our character is relatively free, being able to have control over almost all his skills at the beginning of the game. Logically, as we progress, Ali will be able to learn new skills related to the elemental spirits.
They are 4 spirits of nature, which by obtaining the power of them, we can perform elemental attacks:
Dytto: Water power. With this ability you can create bursts of water, bubbles and even allows our protagonist to use healing abilities on himself.
Efreet: With this spirit we will be able to perform fire attacks. Of the 4 elemental powers, this is the one that causes the most damage.
Shade: This spirit allows Ali to use the power of shadows. With this ability Ali can duplicate himself, and also serves to obtain certain objects that are a few meters away from our character.
Bow: This spirit has the shape of a carnivorous plant, it performs offensive attacks, it is the most basic spirit of all, but it is quite strong when it attacks.
The Story of Thor is a game in which exploration is of great importance, since we will be rewarded with very useful items and quite interesting secrets. So the adventure and exploration factor is very present in this game from start to finish.
Ali is very skilled when it comes to attacking, he is equipped with a small "sword" but he can also perform physical attacks with his fists and kicks, he can perform attacks while jumping or also when running, he has a great variety of very satisfying moves in battle. And as in other games of this style, he can use other types of weaponry, such as bombs, which will allow us to destroy certain structures, but also serve to weaken certain enemies, Ali can even use long-range weapons.
There are many puzzles to solve, as is typical in games of this style, but they are not that difficult, however it is always appreciated that they add this type of puzzles in games of this style, as it adds more variety to the gameplay.
The Story of Thor is an excellent game which has surprised me a lot, graphically it is beautiful and quite striking, and in the gameplay aspect, although it has many simple and typical mechanics of the games of this genre, it is still a very entertaining game. One of the best I've played these last weeks.
