Review – Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Avatar almost feels like a testament to me getting older pretty quickly. Can you believe the original movie, that thing that was briefly considered the greatest cinematic achievement of all time or whatever, was released fourteen freaking years ago? And even when I thought the hype had died down in between the releases of the first movie and its sequel, James Cameron would eventually shut me up by breaking box office records yet again. I may not be the biggest Avatar fan in the world (I mean, I liked the first movie, but it wasn’t the second coming of Citizen Kane as some had mentioned back in the day), but I do respect the man’s borderline lunatic vision and dedication for the franchise, with sequels planned for the next decade or so, and a brand new canonical story told in video game form, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Climb on top of a tree, and proceed to murder every human in sight with your silent, but deadly bow. You’re basically a blue Predator.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora doesn’t follow the plotline of any of the movies released so far, with the protagonists being Na’vi orphans raised and trained by the Resources Development Administration (aka, the bad guys in the Avatar universe). After being put into suspended for a decade and a half after an incident, you and your gentrified Na’vi pals team up with a resistance in order to defeat a new wave of human invaders, whilst finally connecting with your species, as well as your past. Right from the getgo, this makes the overall plot way more interesting than the “Pocahontas with Smurfs” setting from the original movie, but the script does suffer from some padding, uninteresting characters, and the occasional cartoonish voice acting.

The main feature of the game as a whole is witnessing the maturity of your Na’vi protagonist, from former hostage with no memory of their ancestrals to leader of a long lost clan of Na’vi storytellers, fully respected by other tribes, to the point of being considered a beacon that can guide other villagers and settlers to a new beginning. In the meantime, deal with the RDA, using a handful of weapons, as well as an ever growing assortment of physical abilities, to the point that gigantic, mech-like exosuits can be defeated as easily as stomping on a Goomba in a Super Mario game.

A mighty clan of… storytellers?

What was worrying me, and I’m sure is still worrying everyone else hyped for the game, is finding out how Ubisoft-ish Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora really is. Is it yet another open world action-adventure with stealth and crafting, with a map full of icons and busy work to get busy with? Bear in mind that being an open world Ubisoft game by itself is not an issue. It just depends on the execution. You can either be a good open world game, like the mainline Far Cry titles (I am still going to defend Far Cry 6bring in the pitchforks) or Watch Dogs: Legionor a boring, lifeless slog like Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is not their best open world outing, but it’s still quite fun. In fact, it’s heavily influenced by one game in particular, Far Cry Primal. Before you leave in disgust, let me preface that this game is VASTLY better than Primalbut it’s hard not to compare both titles. The diminished focus on “vehicles” (though you can fly on an Ikran, the flying dino thingies from the movies), the emphasis on hunting wild animals for sustenance, the entire fact you’re still a damn caveman, despite the blue skin and alien face. On the other hand, given how you are a Na’vi raised by humans, you do have access to a few human gadgets, such as a hacking device, and of course, an assault rifle. Humanity teaching natives the important stuff, as usual.

If you reach a polluted area, that means you need to destroy a nearby drilling operation, this game’s equivalent to a Ubisoft “radio tower”.

Going from point A to point B in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a mixed bag. The positive aspect of it is the fact that the game is jaw-dropping gorgeous, so taking your time walking around Pandora is always an opportunity to be amazed by the game’s landscapes and environmental variety, all whilst enjoying a pretty good performance on an RTX 3060, even with high levels of graphical detail. The negative aspect is just how long it takes to get to anywhere (at least before you can summon your Ikran), and how easy it is to get lost.

I feel like this is almost like a blessing and a curse. Ubisoft did try its best to make the UI as clean and icon-free as possible. Icons and waypoints only briefly show up onscreen whenever you activate your “Na’vi senses” (in essence, Witcher vision). There is no minimap, for instance. The waypoint is marked as a beacon of light in the distance, with the game never telling you HOW to get to said point; it’s up to you.

Because even Turok liked to shoot a rifle every now and then.

This is what makes this implementation fun and annoying at the same time. It’s fun because it’s organic. It’s annoying because there might be three mountains, two waterfalls, and a colony of six-legged bisons in between you and that beacon. No distance marker is provided as well, so you never know how far away you are from your objective. Thank goodness for fast travelling.

Most objectives, as well as side missions, revolve around dealing with the RDA, and whilst it can be repetitive as hell (there’s just so much you can do as a Na’vi in an Avatar game), this is when Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora‘s best gameplay-related aspect finally has its time to shine. The combat is visceral. Your bow can demolish mechs in just a few shots. Makeshift grenades and mines can be crafted with elements found in nature. You can even climb trees and get rid of enemies on the ground with stealth and agility, almost like you’re a blue, overgrown Predator.

Infinite letter combinations for you to come up with brand new words. You decided to go with “Stormsky”.

The more abilities you unlock throughout the game, the more you’ll be able to basically rely on your natural strength. You will eventually become so strong that your melee attacks will be able to one-shot every man, machine and beast in Pandora. Everything is heightened up when you’re in motion; if it wasn’t for the slight (but noticeable) input delay whenever you jump, the combat and movement aspects of the gameplay would have been perfect.

These elements make up for the otherwise generic “get rid of all enemy strongholds” loop. Ubisoft knows its comfort zone, after all. As seen in some recently released titles, such as Immortals Fenyx Risingthe company doesn’t shy away from borrowing elements from other famous games as well. Some of them felt like a natural fit for a game centered around a native surviving in the wilderness, like the stamina and hunger meters from Metal Gear Solid 3. Others just felt plain odd, like the cooking system taken straight from Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdomcomplete with your protagonist humming whilst your food is being cooked. That one screamed “we’re just going to copy what’s popular”.

Take some time to enjoy the vistas. They’re just too amazing.

Getting lost in the absolutely gorgeous world of Pandora and having fun with the brutal, tribal-like combat make up for the weak story and the fact that, at the end of the day, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does suffer from some of the traditional Ubisoft open world tropes. With that being said, given the sheer amount of red flags raised before its release (licensed game, lack of promotion, the fact it’s basically a Far Cry with blue giants), I have to say that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora did impress me at the end of the day, being one of the better titles released by the company in recent times, especially when it comes to its traditional output of open world action-adventures.

I just noticed a handful of texture loading issues. The rest of the game was absolutely gorgeous, with impressive landscapes and environmental variety, all running incredibly well on an RTX 3060.	The tried and true (and occasionally dated) Ubisoft open world model, very reminiscent of Far Cry Primal. The combat is quite good, but the platforming could have been better implemented. There were elements borrowed from Breath of the Wild and Metal Gear Solid 3 as well. Some were legit interesting, others felt like the devs were just simply chasing trends.
The soundtrack is as good as the one from the movies. The voice acting is a bit too cartoonish at times, but it’s still not entirely bad.	Getting lost in the gorgeous world of Pandora and having fun with the brutal, tribal-like combat make up for the weak story and the fact that, at the end of the day, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does suffer from some of the traditional Ubisoft open world tropes.
Final Verdict: 8.0