Avatar: Film and Game Side-by-Side Review
Avatar: Film and Game Side-by-Side Review
With James Cameron mastering the film world, I figured wouldn’t it be swell to see how his game stacks up to his movie’s reputation? Of course at first I was skeptical, Avatar the movie was so brilliantly made that I worried Avatar the game wouldn’t come even close to replicating the adventure within it. For those who still haven’t seen it, and who are probably still in denial that the movie will be good, Avatar the movie was a lot to live up to. Where did the movie shine? Let me count the ways!
First and foremost, this movie was beautiful. From what little it shows of space to the dense jungle environment on Pandora itself, this movie is CRISP! Secondly, 3D was mind-blowing. I’ve had the opportunity to see the movie four times, so yes, I would consider myself quite the expert on the movie (and a general nerd; besides the point). I’ve seen it twice in RealD 3D, twice in Dolby 3D, the latter of which our city only has one theater that offers. Dolby 3D far outshines RealD, both times I went to Dolby it seemed like I saw something I never noticed the first two times. You will definitely see every detail meant to be seen in Dolby 3D.
Thirdly, the storyline, while not unique, nowadays that’s pretty hard to accomplish, they managed an even harder feat of turning an old story into something that was very immersing. I caught myself open-mouthed several times, and by the end of the movie, I hated being a human. Most people will be put off by this movie’s nearly three hour playtime, but I swear you will get so engrossed in the movie it won’t even matter. I really think the three hour movie time actually was enough to smoothly cover all story lines and it would’ve been noticeably rushed if it was shorter.
Now, what’s so appealing to Avatar the game’s storyline is that it’s not a movie to game translation, the plot is completely different. Yes, granted the human’s are pitted against the Na’Vi, but this time it’s over the control of a sacred tree called a Well of Souls. Both factions are racing to find this secret forgotten tree, and in turn, take control of Pandora. The game’s locales are also different from the movie’s, as I actually played through some marshlands, deserts and in the mountaintops of some pretty impressive mountains.
SO! With all that being said, was the game up to scratch? Well, here’s the scoop, and don’t blame me if you have to go out and drop the $39.99 for this game, (okay, you can blame me a little).
What’s Good
Two Stories Tall – Like so many of its brethren, Avatar the Game takes into account that gamers like to see a story from as many angles as possible. Thus, you get the option, about 45 minutes into it, to choose a side, either allying with the RDA human faction or the alien Na’Vi race. Both stories are unique and have different perks to them, such as being able to use each race’s different vehicles/creatures/weapons/skills.
Conquestador – Conquest mode is available anytime you interact with the many teleporter waypoints in the game. Basically, it’s a mini-game within the main game, the results of which boost your character in the story mode. Think of this mode as a planetary arcade game of risk, where you use your unit points (earned by gaining xp in story mode) to amass an army and try to take over each section of a model of Pandora. There are boosts to your character on most of the tiles you try to conquer, such as +% to crits, +% to HP, and even immediate conquest help, like an additional troop boost. Definitely addicting!
Encyclopedia Pandorica – If you enjoyed the movie, but wanted even more lore to be immersed in, this is the feature of your dreams. This is a codex of all of the flora, fauna, and everything in-between that you will bump into in the game, and even in the movie. I swear I spent 30-45 minutes just looking at all of the fleshed out details of every plant in the game. There are even translations for the Na’Vi names of plants and creatures, along with the human names for them too! Expect to spend some time here.
Lush Exotic Locations – I think this game is going to be my new vacation locale; I had a blast just getting lost in the woods. This game, while others may say it isn’t up to scratch with other triple-A title graphics, is up there in my books. I have never seen more beautiful landscapes in a game. The environment is completely alive when walking through the Pandoran scenery, trees are swaying, and giant, carnivorous plants snap at you. Even predators and prey interact like they should without any interference. Not as immersing as the movie per say, but close. I’ve heard if you have a 3D compatible TV, the game’s support for 3D formats is simply incredible.
What’s Bad
Sexy Change – Once you plop down in front of your console of choice and get the story going, you are given the option to choose which sex you would like to play as, granted there are about 15 pre-made choices on who you want to be, I found that not only do the last half of the choices look similar to the first half, but no matter what sex you choose, the NPCs in the game always call you “him.” Trust me, the females look nothing like the guys, so I’m not seeing why it’s so hard for them to distinguish!
Oh, Finished Already? – Now, not to say it wasn’t amazing while it lasted, but total game time for a single run through, completing quests only and not adventuring, the Avatar experience lasted about 9 hours. I did find that multiplayer, conquest mode, the encyclopedia, and the other in game challenges add a bit more to that time, but not too much.
You Know I don’t Speak Na’Vi – Unfortunately, I have seen the movie enough times to know that the Omaticayan Na’Vi people don’t speak English too bad. I don’t know what happened with the Tipani tribe you play as in this game, but it seemed like even their Na’Vi accents were off, much less their terribly broken English. I understand their native tongue isn’t English, but their really REALLY broken English grated on my nerves a bit. I would have preferred the use of the spoken Na’Vi language with subtitles.
Ground Control to Major Toruk – Flight controls are simply not up to par with other flight controls in other games. The steering is fairly stiff, yet manageable, a slight setback in my eyes. When landing it takes a second for the dismount option to pop up, and the acceleration when taking off has a similar lag to it. For the most part though, you will get where you need to go without incident.
Worth Remember
I thoroughly enjoyed the alternative story given, but I think the real golden moments in the game are the many interactions with the environment. Getting to ride on the Thanator/Pelulukan (panther like creature that chases Jake in the movie) was awesome. Also, I find myself wishing I had some form of a portable Conquest mode that I could play when out and about, it was quite addicting.
Worth Forgetting
Unfortunately, I suggest forgetting the multiplayer portion. While mildly fun, there just isn’t any lovin’ put into it. There are only a handful of maps, each with its own unique gametype. When you select multiplayer you’re given a world screen where you can choose from those few maps, (and their nighttime equivalents). The gametypes are Capture the flag (my favorite), king of the hill, team deathmatch, final battle – where you try to defend/destroy RDA weapon caches, and then finally capture and hold, similar to Modern Warfare 2’s Demolition gametype. Every single one of those games can be horrendously unbalanced. I often found myself playing 1 on 4 capture and holds or for that matter 1 on 0 capture the flags. Also, since this game is definitely under-rated in general, there really aren’t many people on to play with. I’m sorry guys, but multiplayer was a big letdown.
**MMOMFG reviewed Avatar on the Xbox 360 console
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Nice one.
