James Cameron's Avatar: The Game

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you should know by now that James Cameron’s latest movie, Avatar, is setting the box office world on fire. It has recently become the highest grossing film in ticket sales and sports the highest level of visual effects and depth of environment ever seen. I myself have seen the movie in 3D and despite the movie’s flaws (the obvious one being the clichéd plot), I give the movie a very high recommendation.

I have also taken the time to play the game. If you are fan of the game, now is the time to stop reading this post as I am about to rip shreds off this game until there is nothing left by a spinal column and the original licence Ubisoft signed with Cameron!

Overview

Set two years before the events of the movie, the player is cast the role of a marine that has just arrived on Pandora. Pandora is home to a native race called the Na’vi: blue skinned, cat like humanoids that live in complete harmony with their home planet’s forest/eco-system. As the atmosphere is toxic to humans, remote controlled human-Na’vi hybrids called Avatars have been genetically engineered to carry out operations on the ground.

Early in the game, the player is able to make a one-time choice as to which side he/she supports. The player can side with the Na’vi and help them repel the human marines or the player can choose to side with the humans and try to defeat the Na’vi.

It should be pointed out that this review only assesses the Na’vi possibility of the game. If a game offers me choice, I use the same rationality as I would in the real world. Furthermore, I am of the opinion that regardless of what choices I make in game, the consequences of my actions in the game should all be well designed.

Game Play

In general, game play as a Na’vi is a mix of adventure and action. Naturally, as the Na’vi are ‘one with the forest’ the weapons are themed as such. Primarily, the player has a bow and is able to equip three other weapons such as spears, duel swords and even a cross bow. In addition to weapons, players are also able to equip special abilities which varying from healing the player to doing damage to surrounding adversaries to even cloaking the player. New weapons, skills and even armour are awarded by collecting experience points. Points are awarded for defeating enemies, completing objectives or solving adventure quests.

Overall though, combat in the game felt sticky at times. Research soon revealed to me that the game makes use of the Dunia engine, the same engine as that used for Far Cry 2. This certainly explains why enemies were constantly crawling out of the wood work and why they were still able to see me hiding in a concrete bunker yards away.

As the player moves through various regions/locations on Pandora, the player is also able to ride the local animal life. Unfortunately, the control system for the creatures was not though out and I personally found it more effective to go about on foot. There as was a case where flying an Ikran was so bad, I went to adjust the control scheme only to find it static and gave up in the end. Having seen the movie, this was the one creature I wanted to fly and was disappointed at the outcome.

A final element of combat is the ability to use the plant life of Pandora to help you. For a start, it is possible to collect samples from plants (and downed enemies) to fill what was called a recovery bag. When the player loses all health, it is possible to consume samples from the bag to restore ones health. Besides offering samples, it is possible to fire arrows at the plant life so that enemies are affected either with explosions or poisonous gasses. While the possibility is there, the practice is not. Despite Pandora being rich with plant life, the plants that can be used in combat are few and far between.

This sums up the action part of Na’vi game play. Being an adventure fan to the likes of Myst I found myself underwhelmed. In all, the adventure in the game can only be compared to the trade quests found in Zelda games. The most the player ever does in terms of adventure is to either completely map the current region, take out X number of enemies or devices, etc.

A final element in the game is the in-built conquest mini-game where the player is presented with a global map of Pandora and attempts to take back whole regions using turn based, real time strategy. As the player progresses via the main game, experience points are converted into currency so that extra units and base facilities can be purchased. Additionally, when an area is reclaimed, the player is given a reward for the mini-game (such as bonus units) or an enhancement to the main game character such as improved strength or defence.

Overall, while there are many game play elements, there is no integration between them. The end result is, frankly, a Jack of all trades, master of none. As stated earlier, the ineffective control scheme also made me want to avoid certain elements because they simply did not work. Finally, there is the question of the conquest mini-game. I do not see why strength, defence and other power up were not simply given as the player character levels up.

Story

One way to make a really good game is to present it with a really good story. In general, the player should see the development of the characters with each other, should relate to them and eventually understand the reasoning for each characters actions. As a rule of thumb, the player should be able to sympathise/relate to the protagonist.

Unfortunately, the story in incomplete and even leaves out the vitals as found in textbook stories. The story of the game does not even have an engaging plot. The protagonist (playable character) is just there as is the antagonist. Basically, the story of the game is just a string of events that self justify their existance.

Graphics and Sound

The crowning achievement of Avatar (the movie) is the creation of a completely digital environment that feels like it could actually exist. Pandora really is a place of intrigue, especially at night when all the plant and animal life give off a natural glow in the dark. Hence Pandora is just as beautiful at night as it is at day.

This attention to detail was well reflected in the game and is possibly the only good feature I can find thus far. Visually, the various locations are vibrant and the addition of Na’vi going about their daily takes adds an extra layer of realism. There is even a night time sequence in the game, again with matching detail as that found in the movie. My only complaint is that the night time segment is too short and it is (as far as I know) impossible to set off again. I only got to experience it for 15 minutes then it was day time again and it stayed that way for the rest of the game.

Finally, there is the sound. As much as I like the visual presentation of Pandora, visuals need sound to be taken seriously. And once again, this game fails to deliver. This is only around one or two sounds for each wildlife creature, two voices for the ground marines and basically stock standard environment sounds were used for the Pandora landscape.

Overall

While it is common knowledge that movie tie-in games shame the movies that represent, Avatar, as a whole, is worse in that it both shames and even tries to drag the movie down with it. Pandora had a lot to offer in terms of gaming and even offered the possibility of breaking the movie tie-in mould. Alas, this was not the case.

The game is crippled by having too many game play elements with no consistency between them. The controls are sloppy and there is no means of remapping them to suit the player. The sound is weak. Finally, the story is so minimal that it might as not be there.

I have heard that playing the game as a marine is significantly different but I am in no hurry to play this game again. Gaming is a form of interactive entertainment thus has to offer the player an engaging and enjoyable experience. Avatar does neither and if one has not seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend that one sees the movie before the game.