Into the Inferno has just enough to be a game, and not much else
Into the Inferno is a game based on an animated Nickelodeon TV show called Avatar: The Last Airbender. So, right up front you might guess this is a game aimed at younger kids. And you'd be absolutely correct. Still, that doesn't justify all the lazy design choices and uninspiring gameplay you'll find in this title. It will be made all the more painful if you're a fan or familiar with the source material. It's based on a show where the elements are manipulated with martial arts. The world is split up into four nations based on Fire, Water, Earth and Air. They have some problems and a war is going on. There is a lot of potential to be mined from this setup, and unfortunately they decided to go the route of putting out a game to tie in with a TV show with the least amount of effort possible.
Now, port a game that was supposed to be played on the Wii to the PS2 and you have a prime candidate for a Quick Look with Ryan Davis and Vinny Caravella.
If you don't watch the show and somehow decide to play this game, you won't know what's going on. The gist is that the Fire Nation wants to take over the world, and the Avatar is the only one who can bring balance to the four nations. You'll play as Aang the Avatar and his band of friends as they try to put a stop to it. The story is filled in with some weak voiceovers between stages and a handful of cut scenes. And if you're in a hurry you probably won't listen to it anyway. One minute you're sneaking into a factory to blow it up and next you're laying siege to the Fire Nation capital. The pacing leaves something to be desired, and that's probably because it's not a long game. There are five actual stages and the rest are boss battles. Toward the end, the game will suddenly spring an annoying puzzle out of nowhere and if you haven't convinced yourself to stop playing by then, you soon will. They have an area where you can play some mini games, buy upgrades, and view art from the show. But that hardly makes up for anything.
At heart this game is basically a brawler. You walk through a level, some enemies jump in, and you dispense some justice. Every character you control plays exactly the same. You attack with the square button, jump with X, manipulate the elements with the R1 button. Bending the elements is the only thing that is different from one character to another. You pick up a rock/fire/water and then steer it with the right analog stick into enemies. This is really hard to do, because the minute you try it you slow down to where any enemy can run up and hit you. It's bad enough to where you'll only really use bending if the stage demands it, or it's necessary to beat a boss. The rest you'll just beat up with some button mashing and a few jump attacks. This bending system was made for the Wii and it really shows.
Even if you convince yourself that a simple brawler is fine enough, the voice acting will quickly ruin that. All the characters are played by the actual voice actors from the show, but decidedly less excited as if they just woke up from a nap. And when you get into a level, that's when things get really annoying. The enemies will not shut up. Seriously. They give the announcers from MadWorld a run for their money in a contest of needless repetition. Even one of the most manipulative characters, who are usually so careful with their words, will keep saying the same line over and over again until you'll want to kill them not because the game demands it, but because you'll personally want to shut them up. The only actor who sounds like they're giving it half effort, is Mark Hamill playing Fire Lord Ozai. But even he pushes it during the final battle.
The only redeeming factor about this game is the music, which is put together by the Track Team who also work on the show. But considering everything you have to put up with, you're better off just finding a soundtrack online somewhere and listening to that. Yes, this is a game aimed at kids and fans. But I wouldn't recommend it to them. It could be argued that the quality of the show its based on deserves better. Most of the fighting action is taken from real life martial arts, so a button combo or a deeper move list would have helped this game out tremendously. The plot is simply a rehash of the show's final season and reliving those moments are so loosely connected together that it might as well be a minigame collection. Into the Inferno isn't much of a game but it has barely enough to justify calling it one.