James Cameron's Avatar: The Game

I think this game is very underated because it's far better than some of the pro revues led us to believe, as already mentioned elsewhere the graphics are awesome & don't lag my machine at all.
In reality it's 2 games in one as you get to play both human & N'avi campaigns & you don't need to complete one before you can start the other either so at start of play each time you can choose which campaign to resume.
Altho it can get repetitive with quests to fetch this & fetch that or find some rare crystals etc it doesn't get boring like Farcry2 with it's unaltering landscapes.
When nightime suddenly appears it becomes almost magical with plants & creatures giving off a weird glow.
There are lots of power up with weapons & abilities to earn as you go along, & a checkpoint save system that is better than most in that whatever lead to your death doesn't reappear for you to battle again so if you kill six enemies & just one remains & kills you the game reloads you with… more »

I think this game is very underated because it's far better than some of the pro revues led us to believe, as already mentioned elsewhere the graphics are awesome & don't lag my machine at all.
In reality it's 2 games in one as you get to play both human & N'avi campaigns & you don't need to complete one before you can start the other either so at start of play each time you can choose which campaign to resume.
Altho it can get repetitive with quests to fetch this & fetch that or find some rare crystals etc it doesn't get boring like Farcry2 with it's unaltering landscapes.
When nightime suddenly appears it becomes almost magical with plants & creatures giving off a weird glow.
There are lots of power up with weapons & abilities to earn as you go along, & a checkpoint save system that is better than most in that whatever lead to your death doesn't reappear for you to battle again so if you kill six enemies & just one remains & kills you the game reloads you with with just the one enemy to fight again. Both human & N'avi have to fight off packs of rabid Viperwolves in almost every area of the map & humans also get attacked by killer plants that either poison you with clouds of toxic spores, swipe you off your feet or shoot spikes up from the ground.
Ground vehicles drive very well but I found the flying somewhat awkward to steer where I wanted, all other keyboard/ mouse controls worked very well.
All in all one of the most enjoyable games for a long time

Firstly, this game easily earns a 3 1/2 star rating, but obviously i cant do that.
i didnt want to degrade it to 3 as it honestly deserves better than that,
so i uprated it to 4 because its actually a decent game, unlike the usual mirriad of unfinished code that development houses tend to lump on the consumer in time for film release deadlines these days.

Lets talk a little about the game.
Visually, its beutifull! i have often found in the past, that jungle based games turn into various "oceans of green" and the landscapes get very "samey samey". Avatar was actually a pleasure to explore, a lot of thought and love went into the maps and landscapes.

Also, throughout various settlements, mining camps, and other projects across pandora gave an interesting insight into this intriguing reality whitch seems to be all the talk across the internet.

First, i played the Human campaign, this had a feel a lot like your typical FPS/RPG. a lot like mass effect or… more »

Firstly, this game easily earns a 3 1/2 star rating, but obviously i cant do that.
i didnt want to degrade it to 3 as it honestly deserves better than that,
so i uprated it to 4 because its actually a decent game, unlike the usual mirriad of unfinished code that development houses tend to lump on the consumer in time for film release deadlines these days.

Lets talk a little about the game.
Visually, its beutifull! i have often found in the past, that jungle based games turn into various "oceans of green" and the landscapes get very "samey samey". Avatar was actually a pleasure to explore, a lot of thought and love went into the maps and landscapes.

Also, throughout various settlements, mining camps, and other projects across pandora gave an interesting insight into this intriguing reality whitch seems to be all the talk across the internet.

First, i played the Human campaign, this had a feel a lot like your typical FPS/RPG. a lot like mass effect or deadspace. Hardly origional, but easy to get to grips with.
Although the campaign was very linear, you didnt neccisarily have to do objectives in a set order, and didnt have to follow a set path, overall, it didnt feel as free as the hype promised.
The selection of weaponry and vehicles, as well as the varied skillset ment that you could do things "your way" in Avatar and in this respect, adds a certain level of Replay value that a generic shooter wouldnt provide, i did find myself feeling a bit overpowered at many points in the game, i didnt find many parts of the game all that challenging, and some "bosses" so to speak, were dissapointingly easy to kill, including the final showdown.
There were some nasty bugs in the game, however nothing gamebreaking. one in particular, you have to fight a certain tribal leader on top of a plateu, and i accidently knocked him off.. we were well outside each others firing range and i had to spend the next 30 mins taking the long way round to even find him as he was stuck in a normally un-enterable crevase in the terrain.
However, there are more than enough missions to make the human campaign long enough to still be entertaining without getting boring although the ending did seem a bit of an anti climax.

The Navi campaign did seem much harder than the human campaign, however, i didnt find it half as entertaining.
Again, i felt somewhat overpowered and devoid of any real strategic challenge, and the weapons, equipment, even the skills at my disposal just wern't as much fun..
It is worth noting however, that both sides do play a lot differently, its a lot more than just "swapping a gun for a sword" that many RPG's do with charachter types.
Also, the Navi campaign uses much more of the "continuous time delayed yet infinate spawning" of enemys in certain areas that i have come to hate in some games as i feel its a "coders cop-out" rather than a tactical development choice.
I did encounter a few more bugs in this campaign, some of them distresingly annoying. And the ending of the campaign was devoid of any final boss.. I get the impression that the navi campaign was rushed and was likely completed close to the end of the games development cycle.

Overall..
Avatar isnt the usual "run of the mill" Movie based game.
This is a cut above the average movie-game and is definately worth a look at its rather modest price tag.
The Strategic "tactical mini conquest game" is also an amusing break from the Real time action, and although a bonus, rather than a key gameplay element, is still implemented well.

I never bought this game, it was given to me as a present. It nearly never got installed due to the stigma of Movie-based games.
This ones actually more than a cash cow in the milking