Fremen
MathyotterAvatar: The Last Airbender (Video Games)
July 25th 2009 11:07
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Not sure if this is geeky or not, but since it's airs on Nickelodeon, and not a real channel (j/k), I figured I'd write about it. Between Avatar, Spongebob, and Drake and Josh, Nickelodeon hasn't made too many great shows that are thoroughly entertaining for me, as a young adult recently.
Avatar is probably one of the greatest original American cartoons in history. I'm not too knowledgeable about American cartoons, or animation in general, but I know for a fact that quality and entertainment-wise, it is one of the best new animated series on TV. The depth of the story and premise, the animation and directing, and the voices all are perfect in this cartoon. The only beef I have with this series is that the psychological analysis of the characters is too juvenile and obvious, but, with my background in college level psychology, I doubt I fit the intended audience.
If you want to learn more about Avatar, or anything related to the show, or are curious, I suggest you start HERE
On to the main article:
There are three real Avatar videogames:
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Burning Earth
Avatar: Into the Inferno
I've played the first on Xbox and Wii, and the second two on the Wii.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
This is a mildly entertaining RPG style game. It's very loosely based on the first season of Avatar. I liked the storyline, but then again, I liked the KOTOR 2 storyline the first time I played it.... To be honest, I love RPG games, and pretty much any game, console or online, will entertain me until I've hit some plateau of contentment and difficulty in achievement. I got addicted to this game very quickly and played through a lot of it. My favorite part was grabbing the special items that were unique to characters (each one has a unique set of clothing and equipment based on their strengths), and customizing the characters' attacks. The attacks in this game were, simply put, plain old fun. I loved bending and the little mini-game-like bending required for opening some chests or doing some specialized work. I played until my little brother accidentally wrecked my file, which made me learn of the game's replay value. It had virtually none. I would go through it once if you are an Avatar or RPG fan, but not if you aren't either of those things, since it's really not worth the time.
Xbox: I liked it on this system, since I consider myself a modern casual gamer. I grew up on Gameboys, Playstations, and Xbox. I like gaming, and the controls, and consider myself a decent gamer. This game was smooth and fun on the Xbox.
Wii: The bending challenges were a bit worse on the Wii, and the controls were noticeably less smooth. One thing I found with the Wii was that it was a very complicated system. Games could either hit or miss huge, but usually, not shoot in the middle. The first Avatar game managed to get a decent size shot off. Too bad it missed the mark.
This metaphor is making me remember my horrible archery experiences (which include being derided by a 15 year old prepubescent blonde kid), while getting the Boy Scout Archery merit badge. Time to move on...
Avatar: The Burning Earth
Do NOT play this game, unless you are under 8 years old. And if you are under 8 years old, please don't read this blog. I use way too many long words and obscure/nerdy references. Plus, you'll guilt trip me into never swearing or reviewing R-rated movies/games.
Did I mention how bad this game was? It follows the storyline way too closely for it's own good, and has horrible bending sequences. At least the last game distinguished between combat bending and casual bending. This game screws all that up in the worst of ways and makes you bend when it makes no sense. The only reason I played this game was because of the name, and 30 minutes into it, I told my little brother it was shit and that I would never play it again.
Also, the controls were HORRIBLE!
Avatar: Into the Inferno
I'm not going to lie. I'm less than halfway through this game (like, 30%), but it's quickly becoming the best Avatar game. The gameplay is great, the storyline is fluid, the screen looks better and the characters sound better. There is also a small island you can visit between episodes to upgrade your character, buy attacks, fly on a glider (his signature blue one that he receives from "The Mechanist" on the day before the Day of Black Sun), look at art AND video galleries, and even purchase character profiles. Did I mention that you can make money there too? And enter cheat codes? This game has turned Avatar games in general from show dependent half enjoyable, half utterly painful experiences that insult me as a video game player to a real game.
The storyline is expressed loosely by episode, showing the important parts of the story, and some not so important parts, while integrating bending to a level that I thought would be impossible.
To quote Wiki on the Wii gameplay (since I'm lazy and haven't slept in over 30 hours):
On the Wii version there's a totally new way to play. Aang can form an "air ball" (sphere of high winds) to break down obstacles and blow away objects by making a circle with the Wii Remote. Toph can lift up Earth and throw it, pull earth out of walls and lift it up to make pillars. Katara can guide water by standing on a puddle of water pressing "B button" and moving the Wiimote in the right direction to put out fires and freeze things, pull ice out of water falls and make ice pillars. Zuko can guide fire and burn things. Also, the pointer is a star and the light of a flashlight.
Basically, that's code for: IT'S BALLIN'!!!
What this game allows on the Wii is a fluent game that incorporates video game elements from fighting games, platformers, and completely original elements.
The hard to control glider (in the mini game) actually made it fun for me. My favorite 3D flying out of the games I have comes from Battlefront 2, where there are what I think are some of the most realistic space battles in popular games because they don't force orientation onto you, and they allow you to do some real dogfighting. This avatar flying is nowhere close to that, but still kept my mildly entertained for more than 30 minutes. Just flying. If you get bored, try looking for the gallery secrets or get enough money to buy everything. It's more fun than it seems if you use the boost often and try getting coins by running (you'll have to play to see what I mean).
That seemed a bit off topic, but to summarize this game, and to wrap up this semi-review, play it if you like: fighting games, Avatar, Action games, puzzles, RPGs (even though this one isn't really a real RPG at all...), or kids games done well. This one CERTAINLY was.
Although, I'd have to say/warn that you play the Wii version because the DS one sounds way less fun.
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Well, I'm being attacked by imaginary gnats and haven't slept in over 31 hours and am hungry and paranoid....so I'm gonna go eat/change into long clothes/read/reboot my computer now.
I'll be back on Sunday for a review on The Geek's Guide to World Domination, which I can hopefully finish by tomorrow night.
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Comment by katyzzz
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Comment by Fremen
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Technically I'm an adult, but I totally understand what you mean by generation gap. People even five years older than me grew up on completely different things.
Are you talking about the Watchmen smiley? It's pretty much one of my favorite images in pop culture. If I could get my hands on a pin that looked like that, I'd probably wear it everywhere (along with my Watchmen beanie).