Review: Avatar: The Game

Photo / Supplied

With the huge techno-hype over James Cameron's Avatar movie, you could be forgiven for expecting a high level of innovation in the game.

It's a third-person shooter set before the movie, with players picking up the role of hero Ryder on the lush jungle planet of Pandora.

In the game's early stages, Ryder has to make a choice to fight alongside the native Na'vi - as a 4m tall blue, tail-swinging avatar - or as an RDA soldier. In human form, Ryder is armed to the teeth with shotguns and assault rifles and has access to boats, buggies and helicopters. As an avatar he can't use vehicles, and weapons are effective, yet primitive - bows, staffs etc. The game has definite depth - there is a Pandorapeida, which gives info on weapons, flora and fauna and oft-valuable tips. It is possible to play in 3D, as well - as long as the signal is delivered to your screen over HDMI and you have 3D glasses.

Battles are intense and there's a lot to explore as you complete the myriad missions.

A decent control system is vital in a third-person shooter - and this is where Avatar: The Game falls over. With huge elevation changes, enemies like low-slung Viperwolves and sometimes playing a bright blue giant, the swinging camera perspective means you're often firing blind and hoping to get lucky before you get smoked. The shaky voice acting is forgivable, but the loose and cheesy script probably isn't.

Verdict: Interesting and reasonably engaging, but certainly not at the top of the Christmas list.

Rating: * * *
PlayStation3