Reviewed on
Dec. 11, 2009
Playing this mediocre tie-in shooter might make you want to skip James Cameron's latest movie completely.
Read Brad Shoemaker's full review
Quick Look: James Cameron's Avatar: The Game
Avatar Dev Diary: Designing the Action
Avatar Dev Diary: The Choices You Make
Set two years before the James Cameron film of the same name, Avatar: The Game takes place on Pandora, a gas giant's moon, and pits the merciless humans against Pandora's natives, the Na'vi.
Pandora is a habitable moon to a gas giant. Humans have found the planet and are using it for personal gain. The native inhabitants of the planet called the Na'vi are not too keen to the idea of Humans taking away their land for the treasures and resources that lie below. The game is set two years before the movie, so the story that will not spoil the film.
The game is a third-person shooter, with the player being able to play both as a Human and as a Na'vi. Each side has access to unique weapons and abilities, and the Humans have access to a variety of vehicles, while the Na'vi use tamed animals for much the same gameplay reasons.
The abilities are mapped to the face buttons of the controller with an individual cooldown for every ability after use. These abilities range from cloaking to calling down carpet bombing or artillery strikes. The game also includes a character progression system with the player gaining experience points after every kill to gain levels.
The Na'vi character is melee-based with a number of weapons at hand but he can also use the animals against the enemy soldiers. This character also gains experience, but it's unknown if it's shared between the two player characters. The Na'vi gameplay also includes the ability to ride various animals native to the planet of Pandora. The Na'vi can also traverse treetops and are more versed in stealth combat than the Human marines.
Installation to the Xbox 360 hard drive requires 3.0GB of space. There is a minimal decrease in load times when the game is installed.
| Game Name | James Cameron's Avatar: The Game |
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| Original US Release |
Dec. 1, 2009
need a fuzzy date? |
| Original US Release | know the real date? |
| Aliases | Avatar |
| ESRB |
ESRB: T
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| PEGI |
PEGI: 12+
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