Avatar: The Last Airbender - Can the master of all four elements save Nickelodeon licensed games?

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Avatar: The Last Airbender is perhaps Nickelodeon's most beloved property, and it's easy to see why. In an era where most children's entertainment consists of lighthearted, comedic slice-of-life shows like Spongebob Squarepants, Avatar did something daring by actually giving us an ambitious serialized story rich with lore and character development. Needless to say, the risk paid off. With how beloved the property was, it was only a matter of time before video games hit the market. The series certainly seems perfect for one, with an aerokinetic main character who can fly, create tornados, and just jump around and kick ass. Can the first video game do it justice, or is it just hot air?

If you've seen the cartoon, you know the basic story. The world is split into four nations that correspond to an element they 'bend' - Fire, Water, Earth, Air - and the main protagonist, Aang, is the Avatar, the hero tasked with mastering all four elements and saving the world from the threat of the Fire Nation, which wiped out his people one hundred years prior and is now waging war on the remaining two nations. But the plot of this particular game doesn't directly follow the events of the show and is actually an original story set between the first and second seasons. In this game, Aang now has to combat a group of machines that have been wreaking havoc in an effort to take down the Fire Nation and help Aang put an end to the war. I don't know why Aang feels the need to stop the mastermind behind the attacks when they clearly have the same end goal in mind, but as a filler side-story, it does its job well enough. At the very least, the show's humor and characterizations are readily apparent, though the writing isn't as strong.
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Avatar's gameplay is a 3D action-RPG in the vein of games like Baldur's Gate, complete with character upgrades and equippable items. You have four characters to choose from- Aang, the Avatar who can bend air, Katara, the group's water bender and healer, Sokka, an oafish non-bender who wields a boomerang, and Haru, an earth bender who was a one-off character in the show but was made a part of the group here, presumably to have a playable earth bender in the game (this started development well before Toph was introduced). Sadly, aside from Katara's ability to heal, they all feel roughly the same, so once you find a favorite character, there's not much incentive to switch. The only time you'll actually need to make use of the unique abilities of a particular character is when you come across parts of the environment where one of them will make use of his abilities to either unveil a hidden item or open a path using their particular bending, leading to their 'focus move,' a button pressing minigame. It's tolerable enough the first few times you do it, but you'll have no doubt grown weary of it by game's end. Oh, and there's also some rudimentary stealth, where characters can hide using a button to become invisible for a short period of time (yeah, as far as I know, no one can do this in the show).

For most of the game, you're wandering around a centralized hub world either completing story-related quests or accepting tasks from the NPCs scattered around town. The tasks you undertake are of the typical 'find x number of items' or 'defeat x number of enemies' or the much less mundane 'go to this point, find something, then bring it back here.' Even the story-related quests tend to follow a fairly predictable pattern of fetching items and bringing them back to the quest-giver. So, whether you decide to follow the main story or deviate from the beaten path, much of the game will be spent running back and forth doing menial tasks. It's not like the rewards for taking the time to complete the optional quests make a huge difference, anyway. Usually, you'll be given either currency or material to make items, but since you'll probably come across plenty of these anyway, you'll find that these monotonous tasks simply aren't worth your time. If you simply rush through without completing these quests, you can complete the story in under six hours, although even if you do complete them, it'll probably hit the eight-to-ten hour mark at best, which still isn't great for an action-RPG.
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With the quests being as mundane as they are, it's up to the combat to maintain players' interest, and unfortunately, it doesn't do much to pick up the slack. This is due mostly to its mind-numbing repetition. In each chapter, you'll spend most of your time fighting the same enemies over and over again, and seeing as there's only one button for basic attacks, most combat encounters will be spent mashing the attack button. The three computer-controlled characters won't offer much assistance, simply using special moves over and over, and enemies will simply lunge at you, or shoot projectiles a few times before stopping so you can get your hits in. Combat is simply a matter of rushing in and taking your shots before running back out to regenerate health, as well as chi, which is essentially the energy required to use special moves. Not helping is the shoddy hit detection that saps away most of the satisfaction of slapping enemies. It's a crapshoot whether or not attacks will connect at all, and when they do it rarely feels like you've dealt your enemies a major blow. Boss fights sadly don't do much to break up the monotony. All of them follow a simplistic formula of dodging attacks until the painfully obvious weak point arrives. What's really baffling is the lack of any sort of co-op, especially considering you've got three allies at your side most of the time. As we've seen in countless brawlers, even the most basic fighting is a bit more fun when you're fighting alongside friends.

To the game's credit, though, there's actually a fairly intuitive upgrade system in place. As you level up, you learn new bending moves, and earn points for upgrading your basic attacks and special moves. The game allocates these upgrades automatically, but you can set it to be controlled manually if you like, and these special moves are the game's saving grace, adding an element of flexibility the combat otherwise lacks. They range from basic super attacks, like a blast of air that sends opponents flying, to more tactical moves built around immobilizing and disorienting opponents. There's actually a fair bit of strategizing deciding which moves you want to take in to battle, and which ones you want to upgrade the fastest. Not to mention, they actually have a fair bit more impact than your standard attacks, which makes them feel more satisfying to use. The downside is that it takes only a few levels before all four moves are unlocked. Once you find your favorite move, you'll likely use it over and over every time you fight.
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Visually, Avatar is also fairly unimpressive. The game makes use of cel-shading to better resemble its animated counterparts, which looks fine during gameplay, but not so much for cutscenes, which suffer from some truly janky facial animations that make them hard to look at. The environments are decently varied, with the bustling city of Omashu serving as a highlight, but for every visually appealing area, there's another one that looks bland and empty, with jagged geometry and a lack of activity. Animations during combat are usually okay, but aside from a nice slow motion effect that occasionally triggers when you complete a combo, you'll be looking at the same few canned animations each time you fight. Sound-wise, the quality also varies. As mentioned, the series' voice actors reprise their roles, and while the dialogue isn't as well written as in the show, they do a more than capable job, though hearing them spout the same lines over and over when getting hit is bound to get on your nerves. The music is also taken from the show, although there's a strange mixing issue where it sometimes sounds like it's coming from a radio. Otherwise, it generally stays in the background and adds to the ambience, although it's not especially memorable.

Avatar
is one of the better Nicktoon-based games out there, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't disappointing. It's a shame, since the framework for a really good action-RPG set in the Avatar universe is certainly there. But the game simply doesn't capitalize on its potential, instead settling for being a merely average, somewhat dull brawler attached to a great license. At the very least, it adapts its source material well enough that fans won't regret spending a few hours with it, and hopefully later games can improve upon the solid foundation laid by this one.

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Pros
  • + Solid use of the Avatar license
  • + Well implemented RPG upgrade system
  • + Some of the special attacks are fun to use
Cons
  • - Combat is shallow and repetitive
  • - No co-op despite having four playable characters
  • - Side quests are a waste of time
  • - Loads of tedious fetch quests
  • - Only eight hours long at best
6
Gameplay
6
Graphics
6
Sound
6
Replayability
6
out of 10
Overall
Avatar had the potential to be a good children's game and a great extension of its license, but instead settles for being a fairly average Action-RPG. Fans might be satisfied with a rental, but for everyone else, there's far better options out there.
I remember playing that GBA game once and when finished it just started looping. Very weird. Then there also was an online-only game available on Nick.com back during its heyday and that was nice too. Played like an MMORPG.
 
Really great to see you join the Writers Guild, Jediuser!

Avatar is a show that I still highly regard, however its games have seldom left a lasting impression on me, this one included.
Yeah, it's one of my favorite shows of all time, but its games have been mid at best.

I was especially disappointed with Legend of Korra, which had Bayonetta and Nier Automata devs Platinum Games behind them. The bending moves are fun to pull off, especially once you unlock all four elements about halfway through, but it felt very much like a budget title. The plot was virtually non-existent (the supporting cast was literally thrown away in the opening cutscene), you spend way too long without bending powers, the levels are boring, and the bosses are just grueling.

Also, who tf thought it was a good idea NOT to give you back items after you die and get sent back?
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I remember playing that GBA game once and when finished it just started looping. Very weird. Then there also was an online-only game available on Nick.com back during its heyday and that was nice too. Played like an MMORPG.
Honestly, my favorite Avatar game is probably Burning Earth on DS. That one feels the most like a proper handheld rpg, with fun combat and minigames (certainly a lot better than the tedious first ds Avatar game).
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We don’t talk about the one by GameMill.
Here's to hoping that upcoming Hogwarts Legacy-style RPG can redeem them.
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Congratulations on your debut. As for this game…well, it had potential but it's an okay game
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I actually think it's better than most of the console games to come after, at least. Not too long ago I started The Burning Earth. It looks better than this game, at least, but it feels even more simple and repetitive, if anything.
 
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It's good that you gave it a 6/10 and it's your review and it's respected and it's well done although the other screenshots are from the second game and not from the first which is a point to take into account that detail.
I only played the original and although it was not bad for an adaptation based on the iconic TV series of the same name, of course it had several defects such as repetitiveness (going to point a to point b sometimes to point c, Kill the same enemies depending on the level, just to get experience, you know the grinding and meeting objectives that are not a big deal and on top of that they are necessary to face the boss of each level), The AI of the companions is poor and supposedly attack but does not hurt any enemy and to make matters worse you have to defeat such an enemy completely at your expense, You can't visit the levels you've previously completed even if you have the Appa resting, i.e. the game is linear, but the duration of the levels is absurdly long because the levels are large and extensive without so much depth, The absence of a local co-op multiplayer mode that you are only forced to play as a single player and also that AI of your teammates is poor Said above the only good thing is that Katara uses healing water powers to heal the whole group making the game easier than it already is, hopefully in the sequels they have local co-op multiplayer but it's the same or similar when playing 1 player. but the good thing is that it also has an interesting Customization of objects that can vary according to the stats of each character and you can also play as Momo but only Explore the entire environment of the Level and in Collect a series of special objects and give it to Appa or an NPC such as a vendor for example, and even each character has an ability to find hidden chests or Take an action specifically You already know the mechanics of Focus which consists of pressing the corresponding button to complete it successfully. Anyway.
 
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I only played the original and although it was not bad for an adaptation based on the iconic TV series of the same name, of course it had several defects such as repetitiveness (going to point a to point b sometimes to point c, Kill the same enemies depending on the level, just to get experience, you know the grinding and meeting objectives that are not a big deal and on top of that they are necessary to face the boss of each level), The AI of the companions is poor and supposedly attack but does not hurt any enemy and to make matters worse you have to defeat such an enemy completely at your expense, You can't visit the levels you've previously completed even if you have the Appa resting, i.e. the game is linear, but the duration of the levels is absurdly long because the levels are large and extensive without so much depth, The absence of a local co-op multiplayer mode that you are only forced to play as a single player and also that AI of your teammates is poor Said above the only good thing is that Katara uses healing water powers to heal the whole group making the game easier than it already is, hopefully in the sequels they have local co-op multiplayer but it's the same or similar when playing 1 player. but the good thing is that it also has an interesting Customization of objects that can vary according to the stats of each character and you can also play as Momo but only Explore the entire environment of the Level and in Collect a series of special objects and give it to Appa or an NPC such as a vendor for example, and even each character has an ability to find hidden chests or Take an action specifically You already know the mechanics of Focus which consists of pressing the corresponding button to complete it successfully. Anyway.
the sequels DO have co-op

The downside is that they're even more simplistic and repetitive.
 
i really like the show avatar last airbender and korra but the games was never good
this is a classic example of a great show and they try to make a game of it and they fail

most of the avatar games they could make better bending moves and better battle system

burning earth is the avatar game i like the most
 
i really like the show avatar last airbender and korra but the games was never good
this is a classic example of a great show and they try to make a game of it and they fail

most of the avatar games they could make better bending moves and better battle system

burning earth is the avatar game i like the most
I found Burning Earth to be mid. It did make some improvements to the original, like jumping, but it also takes some steps back, like changing it from an action RPG to a more generic platformer/brawler type.

I will admit, I did enjoy the ds version a bit more, which embraces being an action RPG, with a decent battle system and fun minigames.
 

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Game Info

  • Game: Avatar: The Last Airbender
  • Publisher: THQ
  • Developer: THQ Studios Australia
  • Genres: Brawler, Action RPG
  • Release: 2006

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