Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth

Rating Everyone 10+ Genre role-playing Publisher THQ External Links Official THQ Website

In the numerous years I have been on this planet, I’ve learned a few things. I’ve learned not to touch things that are hot. I know that when I fall, I should put my hands out to protect my gorgeous face. I also know that if I have the option of playing a video game based on a children’s cartoon, I should typically decline that invite. Sadly, though, when it comes to reviewing video games, one cannot decline these invites. Which brings me to my review of Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth for the Nintendo Wii.

Based on the popular Nickelodeon series of the same name, Avatar immerses you in the midst of a world war. Four nations, Earth, Water, Fire and Air, are feuding over control of the planet. Not surprisingly, our main character, Aang the Airbender, is the only one capable of defeating the evil Fire nation while utilizing all of these elements. Yes, the premise sounds similar to Captain Planet, only without a bunch of kids and rings. But I digress…

Graphically, Avatar is a pretty game. The cell shading looks good on the Wii. The game environments are cartoony, but in a good way. They give players the feeling they are actually wandering the world of their cartoon counterpart. Animations on players are smooth and unhindered. The game is presented to players in a ¾ overhead view, similar to other action-RPG’s such as Gauntlet. It’s not the greatest of views for a next-gen console, but it works well for the game.

The sound in Avatar is nothing spectacular. A generic instrumental soundtrack backs game play while some “thwacks” and “bams” make up the sound effects throughout the game. The voice acting in the game is nothing to write home about. All of the characters have the same voices from the series (or such is my understanding), but their dialogue has a dry, somewhat dead delivery. There doesn’t seem to be much in the lines of emotion from these fighters. For a group who is in the midst of a world war, you would think they might have a little inflection in their voice.

The biggest falter in Avatar is in the actual gameplay. The controls are simple, but there is such a thing as the controls being TOO simple. Once players understand where the “attack” button is on the controller, they needn’t understand anything else. All that really is required is moving around the level and punching and kicking the holy bejesus out of anything that isn’t in your party. Sure, it is a load of fun at first, but after about five minutes of kicking the same otters over and over, you realize there are better things you could be doing with your life. And saying that you “kick the same otters over and over” is not an overstatement. You will commonly find yourself pitted against swarms of the same enemy. It’s sort of like the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games on Nintendo. If you’ve played the games, do you remember how you would fight a sea of the same Foot Clan soldiers over and over and over again? Well, Avatar presents a pretty similar array of bad guys to beat up. The only difference is that rather than them being dudes in funky costumes, they are typically some sort of possessed animal, like a wolf.

The potential for a game like this really is limitless. There is so much you would think can be done, especially with a unique franchise like Avatar. I suppose the Wii is still in an “infancy” stage in many regards and developers are still learning what they can do with the controls. If developers have learned anything from the creation of Avatar, hopefully they’ve learned exactly what not to do in the future.