Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora review \u2013 a faithful recreation that enhances the franchise Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is finally here and fans of the franchise can finally explore Pandora in a vibrant interactive setting. However, does Ubisoft\u2019s newest game come together as a faithful adaption or is it beholden to the tropes of the publisher? Alien: Isolation is a special game. While not beloved by everyone, and it faced some harsh reviews when it launched, it\u2019s one of those rare cult classic games that has stood the test of time. The people who love Creative Assembly\u2019s game love it. The thing that makes that game work, and what has allowed it to have such a long tail, no pun intended, is no everyday occurrence. It\u2019s a video game based on an existing IP that does nothing to disrespect the source material, but rather so deeply understands the work it\u2019s based on that it does the rarest of things \u2013 it adds to the franchise. It should be obvious why I\u2019m bringing this up at the beginning of a review for Ubisoft\u2019s latest, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. While it has nothing like the survival horror trappings of Alien: Isolation, it succeeds in similar ways. This is a completely additive experience and a beautiful recreation of the best things about the franchise. (Of course, there\u2019s also the obvious James Cameron connection between the IPs involved, though that\u2019s likely a coincidence.) In a year of excellent games, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is one of the real surprises. It would be easy to write this off as just another Ubisoft game wearing the skin of the highest-grossing film of all time, but it\u2019s not. It\u2019s a flawed yet utterly faithful take on this franchise, which in hindsight was ripe for this kind of interactive expansion. And what\u2019s even wilder, is Massive Entertainment has made a game that feels more Avatar and less Ubisoft. You\u2019re not in Kansas anymore Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has you step into the shoes of a Na\u2019vi, thus not taking advantage of the titular avatars like the one Jake Sully uses. As things start, you\u2019re in a precarious situation. You\u2019re part of a school of Na\u2019vi children who\u2019ve been taken from their own culture, and taught by humans, in order to make you ambassadors between the two species. However, due to you being part of an RDA program, the ultra-bad industrialist company that wants to tear Pandora apart for every last profit, you\u2019re not exactly in well-meaning hands. Things are kicked into overdrive as the RDA has to pull out of Pandora thanks to the events of the first film. During this hasty evacuation, you and the other children end up cryofrozen. You then wake up years later, with the RDA having returned and you being taken in by a resistance force that quickly realizes it\u2019s going to need the help of the clans in the immediate area to repel the invaders. You\u2019re then thrust into the world and sent on your way. It\u2019s a far cry In terms of what the game plays like, Far Cry is a good starting point for visualizing Frontiers of Pandora. So much so that it\u2019s been jokingly referred to as Far Cry: Pandora, a play on Far Cry: Primal, since it was announced. It\u2019s not hard to see why either. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has you in first person in an exotic location, and you, at times, clear camps of enemies. Ubisoft also has a bad habit of homogenizing features across its IP, such as the aforementioned camps you can liberate, or radio towers to climb to clear the fog of a map. However, Far Cry is only useful as a starting point \u2013 a skeleton. This game\u2019s goals and key input into the world are completely different from Far Cry. Hell, it even runs antithetical to most AAA games, especially FPS. In most, violence is the main way you interact with the world. You only generally have one moment-to-moment tool \u2013 a weapon. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has different goals. Especially in the first half of the game, I found that surprisingly little of my time was spent fighting the RDA. Instead, it\u2019s far more interested in having you explore and interact with the world more helpfully. There\u2019s a strong emphasis on having you run around, looking for resources, and using what you find in the land to better your goals. There\u2019s a mode called Exploration that\u2019s worth trying that elevates this concept. This encourages you with clues and compass directions on the map, rather than just giving you a waypoint to go to. I spent much of my early time in Pandora this way and I can\u2019t recommend it enough. In the films, while the big battles happen, especially towards the back half, much of the earlier portions are dedicated to immersing yourself into Pandora. It\u2019s more a celebration of the nature, wildlife, and culture of the Na\u2019vi inhabiting this world. That transfers over to Frontiers of Pandora, which is what I mean when I say it understands the franchise. It\u2019s not a video game first and Avatar second, it\u2019s Avatar first and a video game second. Some might not gel with that. This isn\u2019t going to be for everyone. If the thought of getting lost in a jungle for 45 minutes while you track down a specific honeycomb you need from the swamp doesn\u2019t sound up your alley, you might yearn for more action earlier on. However, if you buy into this, there\u2019s something unique, even joyful about the game\u2019s earlier portions. Pandora the explorer This focus on exploration wouldn\u2019t work unless the world of Pandora was expertly realized. However, Massive Entertainment not only did their homework but worked closely with the custodians of the Avatar franchise to nail this. The game is set on the Western Frontier, a different continent from that of the movies. This gives it room to explore its own story largely untouched by the goings-on of the films. It still very much feels like the same world though, and it\u2019s obvious an inordinate amount of work has gone into nailing that feeling. This is the first time Pandora has been realized as a whole, and seeing a huge section of the moon as one continuous space is a joy for any fan. The setting of Avatar is as important as any goings-on with the characters throughout the franchise. Frontiers of Pandora nails this and its locations are put together with such dense detail, that it\u2019s a genuine joy to get lost in. It also expands the possible biomes into things outside the jungle and ocean settings captured in the films, but in ways that feel wholly additive, rather than shoe-horned in for the sake of scenery diversity. This is to say nothing about how beautiful it all is too. At times, when you\u2019re flying on your Ikran, there\u2019s nothing but the vast, unexplored landscape, mysterious rock formations, and floating mountains. It\u2019s in these moments you realize just how well Massive Entertainment has nailed this realization of Pandora. If there is a Hell, you might wanna go there for some R&R While exploration and helping various Na\u2019vi clans make up the vast majority of the earlier parts of the game, in typical Avatar fashion, the rising tensions with the RDA eventually give way to combat. The combat is largely decent. There\u2019s a good variety of weapons available here, many of them various bows. Long, Heavy, and Shortbows all serve different functions, while spear throwers and classic human machine guns offer different engagement styles. Obviously, though, it\u2019s very bow-heavy, which can feel a little samey after a while. As the game\u2019s difficulty ramps up, the enemies can become quite spongey, especially as power suits start getting armor added to them. This generally means you have to rely on stealth the longer you go into the game. The issue is it can be easy to get yourself into a bit of a bind, and killed pretty quickly, especially if you don\u2019t have safe spots to retreat to. The movement thankfully is forgiving with long combat slides and very generous mantling making this easier. However, it\u2019s not rare to try and infiltrate an RDA base, spend 10 minutes stealth killing enemies, only to get spotted, have three or four power suits corner and kill you and you have to approach it all again. Cooking and eating meals with powerful ingredients you forage for throughout the game can help. You can get worthwhile bonuses, especially if you came to a fight prepared, ready with your meat-skewers that will give you enhanced damage \u2013 but they only help so far. I never actively disliked the combat, but as the amount increased towards the game\u2019s conclusion, I did begin to feel the limitations. Again though, thankfully, this isn\u2019t your main focus for most of the run time, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora knows its strengths lie elsewhere. An adaption that gets it To get the most out of Frontiers of Pandora, and really, the franchise as a whole, you need to buy into its earnestness. It\u2019s easy to be cynical about Avatar as by its very nature it\u2019s one of the smultziest franchises out there. But, if you give yourself over, it does give back. It\u2019s fairly black and white \u2013 the good guys are obviously good, the bad guys are obviously bad, and its themes and messages about our world are tough to even consider subtext. It\u2019s an obvious allegory about indigenous cultures and human devastation of the natural world. There\u2019s not a lot of nuance to misinterpret. It\u2019s one-dimensional, and you have to embrace that spirit if you\u2019re going to get anything back. This is all especially true of the game. As you become acquainted with Pandora, there comes a point where it all just feels, nice. This weaving of an expertly realized world, with the exploration and positive nature of helping others has this unique sincerity to it that you don\u2019t often find in AAA shooters. This is what I mean when I say Frontiers of Pandora feels more like Avatar than a video game. What may have started as a Far Cry clone, feels warped by the franchise into something that feels different enough to make it interesting. Some stellar sequences highlight this. When you\u2019re finally tasked with climbing an Ikran rookery, platforming your way up floating mountains to finally get your flying mount is one such instance. Then once you finally do, the first flight is something to behold. There\u2019s also the first time you get to ride a direhorse across a stunning vista \u2013 it\u2019s in these moments Frontiers of Pandora feels genuinely joyful. This all feeds into the overall story too. You begin to feel the RDA\u2019s encroachment as it makes you deeply aware of what you\u2019re at stake of losing. Due to the quality of the world, and the goals of the game, it\u2019s easy to get invested in the story and characters. As the stakes got higher, the fights got tenser, and I realized I was leaning closer to the screen. I turned the volume up to have the atmosphere and stellar soundtrack wash over me. I was in those moments. That\u2019s always a great sign that something is working at the core of a game. The vibes, as they say, are immaculate. A single thing worth fighting for That all said, the game doesn\u2019t quite stick the landing. The RDA\u2019s pursuits of being unreasonably evil, to the point where it doesn\u2019t make sense, can threaten to drag things down. When you see the villain in front of you, acting villainly, they lose mystique via their two-dimensional nature. However, when you don\u2019t see them pushing big red buttons, they become far more menacing. Frontiers of Pandora does not hold its punches, and when it wants to be, it can be pretty grave. For the most part, the evil of the RDA is largely faceless. You don\u2019t see the big villain twirling the metaphorical mustache. Instead, you only see the consequence of their callous actions. You\u2019re left with the consequences, the devastation to Pandora and its people. In the final third of the game, the joy and exploration begin to be chipped away, and the themes Frontiers of Pandora wants to engage with become starkly clear. It is not always comfortable viewing either. Once it finally wrestles with the trauma of its opening premise, an invading force coming to steal children from a people to reteach and reassimilate them to slowly erase their culture, understandably things get heavy. There\u2019s a harrowing run toward the back half of the game that can be tough to stomach. This isn\u2019t subtextual either. This is very clearly the thematic heart of the game\u2019s narrative, and it forces you to wrestle with some stark events. It\u2019s impossible to say how this will land on you \u2013 you might find it a little overly serious for an Avatar game, or you may think it wields trauma too freely, but I\u2019d be lying if I did not find it affecting. I see you Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, much like the film series, will likely be quite divisive. Its heavy exploration focus might not work for everyone, and the sheer earnest, allegorical nature of the franchise might drive some away. There are undeniable shortcomings too. The combat can be a little stiff, and it doesn\u2019t quite nail its ending, as the game runs out of juice in the final missions. Some portions feel compromised too \u2013 like big battles that happen off-screen so the game only has to render a couple of NPCs, rather than hundreds. There\u2019s also an ever-present microtransaction economy for cosmetics shoved right into the main and pause menu. Verdict \u2013 4\/5 However, all that aside, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an exceptional realization of this franchise. Its spirit feels pitch-perfect, walking completely in step with James Cameron\u2019s films. It understands Avatar and its appeal and lets it be led by that rather than typical FPS and Ubisoft tropes. Its highs soar, while also taking on some harrowing themes too. It may not work for everyone, but it\u2019s a delight for any Avatar enjoyer and one of the best games based on a film IP ever made. If you click on a product link on this page we may earn a small affiliate commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora review \u2013 a faithful recreation that enhances the franchise Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is finally here and fans of the franchise can finally explore Pandora in a vibrant interactive setting. However, does Ubisoft\u2019s newest game come together as a faithful adaption or is it beholden to the tropes of the publisher? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}