Toronto Thumbs

Review
Avatar

[Please note that there are some mild spoilers for the 3 of you that have yet to see this movie. - ed.]

While the movie may be an Oscar winner, Avater: The Game won’t be taking home any awards any time soon, but that doesn’t mean it’s a total failure. Reviews for the movie – while mixed – are mostly positive.  On the other hand, the game was met with relatively poor ratings from the gaming community; my theory is that the initial underwhelming scores robbed the game of a fair shake, before the movie could provide any inspiration and incentive to play it through.

I’d like to believe that my hypothesis is true. I really would. Ubisoft is known for publishing engaging titles (Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell, etc.), so one would think that perhaps all that is needed is a second glance with eyes that have seen the film.

Avatar combines 3d shoot ‘em up action with moderate RPG elements, managed by a turn based strategy mini-game that runs throughout the story. you begin as a soldier enlisted by ‘the company’ or RDA: an organization interested in the resources available on the planet Pandora. After a short orientation, your first map, and experience in a Na’vi body, you are given the first critical choice in the game: stay and fight for the humans, or turn to the Na’vi side (lead by a rebel scientist, also in Avatar form). The path you choose will either lead you to the Na’vi village to gain their trust and fight for them, or to rejoin the humans, devoted to cause of the killing the blue guys!

Regardless of your choice, you will be given missions that will move you forward in the game.  Standard fare for games of this nature.

The game’s strong points are in its visuals. The environments are vivid, lush, and immersive; the planet is made up of craggy cliffs, gorgeous waterfalls and huge rain forests. The development team also really went out of their way with the vehicles. New crafts and mechanical devices are introduced throughout the game: jeeps, gunboats, static turrets, ATV’s, the famous Scorpion helicopter, and a variety of other cool technology.  Everything looks great.

The main screen is set up similar to Gears of War, with the camera hovering above and behind the player, placed slightly to the left. The HUD is very informative, giving you a quick status check for your ammo, health, power-ups, and experience points. Your enemy’s health is also shown, which makes everything very simple and clear.

From the get go, human soldiers are equipped with a variety of abilities, ranging from cloaking to berserker mode. Any attribute can be augmented for a short burst of time, with increased efficiency as you level up. There are also a fair number of weapons to utilize (mostly medium to long range – more on this later). Weapons and armour also level up as you go through the game.

The first real flaw of the game, in my opinion, is the game play.  After a while, the missions become very tedious. There are too many simple errands being delegated by some sort of boss, tribesman, or commander that seem beneath the player. For instance: as a human, you collect shards of ‘unobtainium’ (James Cameron even chuckled at the idiotic name if you see the Sky TV preview special), fix broken machinery, or kill something.

Another weakness of the game is the the lack of enemy variety. As an RDA soldier, you will mostly face Na’vi warriors, some Viperwolves (Yes, those nasty evil things that Jake is faced with early in the movie), and other creatures. While they each have their own abilities, they are essentially all quite similar. Na’vi warriors have even less variety when it comes to opponents.

Weapons are a bit of a problem, especially if you are a ‘company man’.  For the RDA, there are no melee weapons nor is there any form of lock targeting: this is a BIG problem. Most of the game is spent shooting aimlessly into space, or backing up while firing to save your life because you have no close combat weapon in your inventory; save for the shotgun, which is not without its fine points, but still requires reload time. As a Na’vi, things are marginally better for close combat situations, as you are given some vicious looking clubs and staves, a trusty bow (with arrows that actually deliver quite a punch); a basic rifle is also available.

While the humans are strong on offense, and Na’vi generally weaker over all, it seems like there is a basic strategy to employ that gives you a winning advantage: whoever holds the high ground wins. Whether you are pelting the blues with your grenade launcher from the roof of a barracks or picking off RDA soldiers with your trusty bow and arrow from on high: height rules over all. This is disappointing, as it offers no real challenge.

While I admire the realism of gameplay, Ubisoft really could have put more thought into modes of game play available to create a richer, more varied experience. There really is not all that much story either. The game bears similarities to the movie, but there is little to offer in terms of a solid story.  This is why, to me, Avatar is still just a two dimensional game without a whole lot to offer, whether you have experienced the movie or not.

In the end, it seems I have failed to prove my thesis. Despite poor reviews from an audience who had not yet seen the Avatar movie, Avatar: The Game actually does fail to deliver an all around enjoyable gaming experience even if you have seen the movie.

It should be noted that Avatar: The Game is one of the first available for 3D televisions, and with any new concept, there are bound to be failed attempts. In my eyes, though, this is not a really good excuse. We can only hope that there are improvements in the sequel, and maybe get Li’l Wayne to do some voices, if he ends up being allowed to play the part of the next Na’vi hero, rather than being stuck in jail.

Avatar: The Game is currently available for DS, DSi, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, and X360.

Posted in DS, DSi, PC, PlayStation 3, PSP, Reviews, Wii, Xbox 360 |