Avatar Frontiers of Pandora honest review

If you’re a big fan of the Na’vi then you might be wondering whether or not Avatar Frontiers of Pandora lives up to the impact of the James Cameron movies. The short answer is not really, but it’s the closest thing to a credible personal experience on the moon that you’re likely to get for a long time.

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Graphically, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora does a very good job of recreating the environment and creatures. The lush forests, bioluminescent plant-life and wild beasts come to life in stunning detail, so from a visual point of view it ticks a lot of boxes.

The problems come in the form of storytelling, character and character development, and a seamless narrative experience. These are the cornerstones of the entire Avatar franchise and they’re sadly missing in Frontiers of Pandora.

The fact that it’s a first person action shooter will undoubtedly put off a lot of fans of the film, but as an overarching mechanic it isn’t one of the main reasons the game falls flat. Would it have been better in 3rd person? For us, it’s a yes, but it’s just not why the game doesn’t work as well as it should have.

Instead, it’s due to characters that fail to stand out compared to their cinematic brethren. You never really feel connected to your Na’vi lead character and worse still you never really feel connected to anyone. Not a single character stands out or makes that much of a difference, so you just end up disconnecting from it all, despite the stunning setting.

If that isn’t enough, the missions seem to actively try to disconnect you from the story and characters with a series of go and find this person and do this quest types. It’s fragmented and flaky instead of being big and having the kind of gravitas that makes the films the international box off hits that they are.

The worst is when you spend well over an hour to save the life of a creature only to see it die from its injuries with no real sense of urgency. It was clearly meant to be a point of emotional investment like Bambie’s mum or Mufasa in Disney films, but it falls very flat.

Firstly, this is not an animated movie with a Universal age rating, so it was always going to be a tough sell. Secondly, it doesn’t come with the same frenetic action sequence and last ditch clutch save attempt that gets scuppered at the last. As a result it seems cynical and soulless.

Avatar Frontiers of Pandora had shot itself in the food on story and character development alone, but gameplay was also a bit disappointing. The comparisons to Far Cry games are credible enough, but then with the bite and big characters that make the series work so well.

The first person shooter experience is decent enough, but the stealth element is an absolute joke. As an oversized, blue alien being, you’re pretty easy to spot, so inside an RDA facility stealth just seems ridiculous. However, even when you’re completely hidden behind a big feature, the enemy will still be able to shoot you. What this leaves you with is a bit of a silly idea that shouldn’t have been included in the first place that is done so badly that it’s frustrating.

If that isn’t enough, you somehow have to take on these missions alone for the most part, which doesn’t really tally up with the films. If they had a clever buddy or team system to attack facilities with similarities to Middle-Earth Shadow of Mordor it might have actually been fun.

We could have still had an element of stealth to scope out the place and plan your attack, but without the silly notion of going it alone and trying to sneak your 9-foot blue frame past all of the RDA goods and robots. If you think about the way action sequences work in the films and transfer it to the game it would have been far more enjoyable.

There are some cool things to look forward to, like being able to fly your own Ikran, the Super Mario-inspired platform action, and the skills tree progression, but it isn’t enough to make up for everything that’s wrong with Avatar Frontiers of Pandora. Even the platforming gets frustrating as it’s way too easy to get lost or not really know how to progress.

While you’ll figure it all out in the end, it can end up feeling frustrating an unnecessary. Things definitely get easier with this when you get your Ikran, but by that time you might just be a bit too out of the experience to ever get back into it.

Overall, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora is a tale of what could have been. Throw in some better story telling and the kind of characters that make big games like The Last of Us, God of War, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and The Witcher 3 shine and you’d be a lot closer to the goal line on this one.

It’s hard to know how it all got past James Cameron and team, but maybe it was just too far out of his comfort zone to credibly oversee. Ubisoft had a lot of responsibility on this one with the whole Avatar franchise behind it and sadly it has come up short.

Emotional connection was the key, but there’s just none of that here. Family ties, friendships and a commitment to making things better are at the heart of the Avatar films and there isn’t much of an attempt to build on that. Hopefully, the huge game publisher manages to learn from the whole experience quickly before the release of its next big movie project, Star Wars Outlaws.

Avatar Frontiers of Pandora honest review: 70%

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