Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Review

whenever I think of open world games I think of kill screen's review of Fallout 4 by Chris bolt and the opening line here comes the trash man RT discusses an experience of constantly picking up garbage scattered around the game's massive world it's a description that feels highly applicable to most open World Games huge but full of refu that you spend endless hours picking through and cting around only to replace it with newer better garbage most open world games are too concerned with filling their worlds both literally and metaphorically with a deluge of needless stuff and it's why I find the genre can be off-putting it's the fear of that torrent of trash that made Avatar frontiers of Pandora surprisingly refreshing and also endearing Frontiers pushes aside some of the concerns about sifting through heaps of junk and clearing incessant icons from your HUD by keeping your screen clear so you can appreciate its gorgeous Vistas and strange creatures though it still has a lot of open world Staples like numerous activities and an expansive crafting system these elements feel like they're meant to help you experience the world itself instead of just filling it up with more [Music] litter two things make frontiers of Pandora work its incredible setting and its alien protagonist I wouldn't consider myself as anything more than passingly interested in the Avatar films but Pandora the Lush alien world on which they take place is an outstanding location to set a video game it's an enormous and strange Place filled with alien plants creatures that glow in darkness and Wildlife that Towers over the landscape the setting empowers developers at massive entertainment with the freedom to use or imagine beautiful landscapes that are always fascinating to explore the scale of elements like colorful forests or enormous mountains that float in the air is often arresting and the alien Flora that might spit out spores that make you run faster or reach out with electrified tentacles if you get too close make these more than Fields you sprint through to get to wherever you're headed next you really feel like you're discovering Pandora as you work through the game and it's unfamiliar nature helps keep this process engaging these environments are greatly served by playing as a one of the 10ft tall blue alien people who populate Pandora your size and natural speed and strength allow you to Sprint over and climb things with relative ease Pandora is sprinkled with huge mushrooms massive snaking roots and retracting vines that give you a wealth of traversal options for reaching its many heights the world is not only stunning but a blast to run around in and your parkour like abilities let you turn forests mountains and enemy bases into playgrounds to LEAP around frontiers of Pandora takes place in the same timeline as the movie story but is set on another continent and it uses that Independence to go in some interesting directions the RDA a massive Earth Corporation has invaded Pandora in hopes of exploiting and colonizing it you play a na'vi who was raised by humans but escapes with AIA defectors to create a resistance movement putting you on the familiar far crylike path of seeking out and working with other na'vi clans to build a coalition against the Invaders it's a premise that works well to give your protagonist a nent connection to Pandora that you develop over time putting you in a position to learn about the world while the story explores ideas of identity belonging and colonialism throughout Frontiers you're fighting the technologically Superior humans who use Mech suits assault rifles and vtols while destroying their massive polluting industrialized facilities those familiar with ub's Far Cry series will recognize is Avatar's approach to combat encounters which are almost always a mix of straight fighting with a variety of weapons and using stealth to gain an advantage over your opponents where Frontiers steps away from tried andrue Ubisoft ideas is in the mismatch between human enemies and your na'vi protagonist the RDA outclasses you in terms of weapons and numbers and you can't really stand your ground against them instead you have to rely on quick movement and quicker thinking you're not abilities let you dash around the battlefield to find cover or climb above enemies allowing you to quickly reposition yourself to nail a me suits vulnerable heat vents or snipe an explosive tank near a band of soldiers running around enemy bases sliding through doorways and leaping onto High catwalks gives every battle a fast-paced novelty that has you constantly assessing your surroundings for a new spot to regroup or give yourself an edge combat is generally fast and exciting but it's at its best in large areas with a lot of variety to the geography enclosed spaces like the Interiors of RDA bases which you'll find yourself in throughout the stories campaign or more hit and miss depending on their design most of the time though you feel like a gorilla fighting Savant thanks to frontiers of Pandora's fast and fluid movement and improvisational nature without necessarily being overpowered and Unstoppable Frontier story is interesting as it ramps up the battle with the RDA especially in its later hours as the stakes r eyes but it also often has the open world problem of spreading you a little too thin making it tough to remember some characters especially a few hours after initial contact some folks are relegated to Side Quests that you might not have played too giving a few people a disposable quality to their character on a couple of occasions potentially emotional moments when my character was worried or upset about something left me asking wait who that said the main story has some very well-crafted moments climbing the icron Rookery where you get one of Avatar's flying dragon-like creatures to ride for the rest of the game is a lengthy platforming segment that's a testament to the game's excellent movement systems a few missions send you into huge AA bases to sneak and sabotage in a way that would be right at home in dedicated stealth Action games frontiers of Pandora is just as Adept at impressive and over-the-top cinematic story moments as it is with its ambient open World Systems we did not want war but they have made us [Music] Warriors we must bring the fight to them when you're not fighting the RDA you're engaging more directly with Pandora and the game keeps things compelling by pushing you to consider the world around you rather than dumping a mess of map markers and hudway points to guide you you're sent to mission objectives and crafting materials by written directions that reference your compass landmarks and place names which helps make the world feel more like a place you're a part of rather than a landscape you're just passing over na'vi Vision an ability that highlights certain things in the environment is key to discoveries you will use it all the time it shows you enemies through walls picks out which plants you can forage from and brings up a single Mission specific Waypoint that helps you get where you're going without constantly pulling up your map it's an inclusion that has its ups and downs on one hand it moves you closer to the idea of feeling like a na'vi helping you function as a hunter and gatherer on Pandora and provides a combat Advantage fights would probably be too difficult and annoying without on the other hand you'll activate na'vi Vision almost constantly to do just about everything which makes it feel like a crutch that undercuts the otherwise quite minimalistic approach to the UI the na'vi vision and Direction systems pair well with frontiers of Pandora big emphasis on Crafting which is how you improve your character to take on tougher creatures enemies and story missions despite crafting being a big part of the game it relies a lot less on the junk collection and annoying busy work that is common in open World Games each new weapon or piece of armor only requires two items such as a plant root and a predator tooth to make the quality of the item how much damage it does or how much health it grants you is determined by the quality of the ingredients you use this approach keeps crafting from being a slog while still incentivizing you to forge and hunt for better items which is itself in keeping with the overall idea of learning to live and survive on Pandora the game provides you with the information for where better materials can be found but expects you to track them down yourself picking a plant or peeling bar from a tree without damaging it also requires you to find the right angle from which to pull and with a controller that means gauging the rumble of your controller while you move the analog stick around to find The Sweet Spot it's a small miname but helps make the act of gathering material more active and interesting not every attempt to emphasize exploration and figuring things out yourself works though story missions and side quests will often send you to investigate a location in hopes of finding a missing person or uncovering what the RDA was up to your vision highlights things in the environment like Footprints and discarded objects and you have to scan each clue for information and then select two related clues in succession so your character can draw some conclusions it's a system that rarely feels intuitive and it can be tough to guess which two Clues the developers want you to pick usually leading to an unsatisfying trial and error process investigations never complicated so it's simple enough to brute force them when you're not getting it but that just undercuts the idea of using your skills to figure out things even more and sometimes Clues are hard to spot so you'll wander around for minutes staring at the ground wondering wondering what you're missing and these investigations almost always come to the same conclusion of providing you with a trail to follow using your na'vi vision investigations are a fun idea that are meant to make you feel like a skilled tracker but they never quite pay off in a satisfying way still most of Avatar frontiers of Pandora's work to emphasize the world of its open world is very effective I frequently was diverted to sneak into an enemy base in service of zapping mechs and blowing up industrial equipment or to stop and forage for bow strings and armor bark Pandora is often magnificent and I stopped repeatedly just to look around and take it in best of all I never felt like an open world trash man dumping junk on the way to the next map marker instead Avatar frontiers of Pandora made me feel like I was adventuring in a place worth exploring and I'm eager to go back

Channel: GameSpot

Views: 96,676

Keywords:

Id: ktwZTyzMgFo

Length: 11min 2sec (662 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 06 2023