Surpassing Expectations - Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

you know when you imagine something in your head be at a destination or maybe the outcome to a game or something and then you get to that moment and it isn't exactly what you thought it would be like it just doesn't quite live up to what you played out in your head I specifically remember this when thinking about the Avengers game like when it was first announced I could see so clearly in my head me playing as Iron Man flying alongside my friends in this ever expanding world that would be out for years to come and then it came out and and well we all know what happened Avatar frontiers of Pandora is the exact opposite of this it is the antithesis of this Avatar has exceeded every expectation and preconceived notion that I had going into the game now let me set some parameters before we get going I love the world of Avatar this was one of those rare films in my lifetime Star Wars and Lord of the Rings being two others that absolutely enraptured me into the world I know there are some narrative elements that are less than desirable in the Avatar franchise however it was the world itself that sucked me in look all I wanted out of an avatar game was a six out of 10 you know something that was serviceable fun and gave me a small taste of what it's like to be in Pandora instead I received something far greater with frontiers of Pandora everything from the visuals to the movement to the intricate gameplay systems that reflect the narratives of the films this game is shaping up to be one of my all-time favorite open world games so today I'm going to take an unscripted look at some of the things that I absolutely love in the game first things first music and I have written down in my notes music music my God the music and uh that pretty much sums it up I have these really fond memories of listening to the original Avatar soundtrack when I would be going to bed it put me in such a good head space when I was going going to bed this is back in middle school and I've got really strong feelings about the music of Avatar and what that world sounds like and I'll be honest I was a little apprehensive about the score for frontiers of Pandora you know sometimes music just doesn't exactly hit the way that you want it to a good example of this is Jedi Survivor I love that game uh as you know it's my photo mode of the year for 2023 but honestly the music in that game is is really lacking in certain areas it it doesn't always capture to me the grandiose brilliant scores that John Williams did so I I was a little nervous to say the least but after being in the game for just a couple of hours and specifically after playing the mission First Flight my my worries were completely thrown to the Wayside and in fact I was shocked to admit to myself that I think the music in the game is better than the music in the movie to the movies credit they are the ones who established that tone uh rest in peace James Herer the original composer he really gave an aesthetic to what Pandora sounds like but I feel like the composer perar topra I hope I'm saying that correctly did a Immaculate job creating music for a interactive space one of the Prime examples of this again is from this Mission first flight and the music it it's just so wonderful and I'll play you some samples here but as you traversing up the Hallelujah mountains these floating mountains the music is just building and changing and evolving in such a beautiful way you know when you start at the base of the mountain you get this kind of just low drum beat that's just sort of like your your Rhythm it's your heartbeat you're getting ready to go up this mountain as you start progressing up you know vocals start coming in and and and these voices start singing as you are ascending to this to the top of the mountain to this wonderful thing that you're about to be a part of and then there's this part where it takes it takes kind of a a Slowdown and and these sort of cellos I'm not sure exactly what it is but it sounds like cellos come in and it's calm and it's sort of a break because you're solving a a little environmental puzzle and not moving as quickly [Music] and then as you get to the very top and and and the moment this all crescendos is when you receive your icron you bond with it and the music just absolutely explodes into this chorus of [Music] [Applause] singing and really just to show how P has has nailed the tone of the Avatar movies there's a lot of songs that I've I've just heard in my head and she is sort of using a similar progression of notes but then it goes in a different direction so it's both at the same time very familiar like you've you've hummed this in your head before but then it takes on a life of its own so here's an example of some sounds that are just very similar and and really just get you in the spirit of the Avatar world [Music] I I could really go on and I know this channel is not about music but scores and musical compositions basically being all I listen to what the hell have you people been smoking out I I I feel very strongly about these things so yeah the music is amazing go listen to it it's fantastic the next thing I want to talk about is the movement and that was again something that I from trailers from uh any like footage I had seen of the game I was a little apprehensive of you know flying the the icron is kind of a big thing in Avatar I mean it's it's it's a special bond between the two beings and and the way it looks in the movies is really quite intense I mean there is momentum there is agility there is just a ferocity that when I was watching some trailers and they had these shots of like the icron flying kind of low to the ground I was sort of like oh my um is this going to be very restricted and are we going to have a lot of invisible walls is there going to be a really obvious ceiling again totally blown out of the water the moment you get on that thing after you do the first flight Mission it it it's like everything I was worried about gone instantly first of all it is such a great feeling to call to your Ion while you're falling it's kind of similar to that feeling I got when I first played God of War that that feeling of when you click triangle and the axe the Leviathan ax is recalled to your hand it's that sort of like empowering it's so awesome feeling and the icron has that same exact feature you know you're falling you summon it and it's not some loading time it's not like some hesitation this icron swoops under you grabs you and you absolutely are flying and again with the worries about will there be restrictions absolutely not like you can fly this thing so high up I I like that seamless traversal it just makes the world feel very connected and it makes things feel just very very sleek and very polished and Beyond the icron you know just movement around the world in general feels good you know there's that scene from the first Avatar movie where uh ntii is teaching Jake how to use the leaves to pad his fall essentially and that was something that I I always thought was super cool I mean the leaves are just massive and it's a great way of like connecting the natural world with the na'vi um and so the game has that too I didn't even expect that you know they've got these big trees that if you jump off the side you can use these trees to essentially pad your fall and you know just the the movement in general there's all these it feels like a big playground there's these little things you can grab on to you can like use these little Vines to like shoot yourself up there's like speed flowers that are kind of like you're like inhaling something in in terms of like how the world Works you're inhaling this chemical and it gives you like this surge of energy yeah it's just really fantastic all around okay and lastly the world in general there's this common thing that I feel like a lot of video game developers say where they're like you know the world is a character too like I'm pretty sure there was like a cyberpunk press conference where they're like the world of night city is a character in it of itself oh man that is just wrong and every time I've heard this uh I've been like okay that's something that you said and then I play the game and I'm like okay like I the world's cool there's like pretty things but when you say the world is a character that that just does not translate to me in the way that I think they think it does but the world of Pandora has for the first time ever in any world actually answered that statement not only like lorewise is Pandora seen as more of this living this this intelligent thing that can react to what's happening around it but Ubisoft massive has also made this tie in with the gameplay itself like on a systematic level um which is really impressive and they talk about this in some of the developer interviews where they're talking about how they went to light storm entertainment the people behind the Avatar movies and they talked about how they would ask them questions of how they could incorporate this gameplay idea but also keeping it lore accurate the world is really just alive and there are things in there that are aiding the player in such a way where it really does it feels at times like like how in the movies AWA the the spiritual God so to speak of Pandora is kind of aiding you on your journey whether that is through a natural Environmental way or whether that is through you know there's these perk areas it you know it's the classic gameplay thing of an RPG where you're getting perks you're leveling up but instead it's like this mystical plant is giving you this energy source that you can then turn into better skills and whatnot I really really appreciate that kind of thing and for someone who loves to get immersed into something and not feel like I'm being just sucked out of it at every moment Ubisoft massive has absolutely knocked it out of the park the world is it's alive it's wonderful and there there's so many times where I'm just stopping to look at the the world itself just look at how it's moving how it's breathing how it's interacting with itself it it's really quite jaw-dropping when you take them time to look around and this is photo mode reviews after all so this is all helped by the fact that it has a photo mode so it really helps me get in there and take a look at things a little bit closer I mean I I didn't even talk about the detail of this world but let's just say it's amazing and we'll we'll get more into that when I do my photo mode review and also just a reminder that I am doing a giveaway for the ultimate edition of Avatar frontiers of Pandora so um all you have to do is be a subscriber leave a comment of your favorite quote from any of the Avatar movies and um yeah hope to see you in the next one first rounds on me tonight this boogie [Music]

Channel: Photo Mode Reviews

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Id: sByHH0B2KHQ

Length: 12min 12sec (732 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 15 2023