Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into The Inferno (DS) Review
I’ve never been someone who is a fan of animated TV shows. Even when I was a kid, I kept my viewing down to a minimum. However, as I’ve grown up and moved out of the target audience for animated TV productions, I’ve noticed there are a few recurring ones that keep “popping up” and have naturally caught my attention. Avatar: The Last Airbender (or Legend of Aang depending on where you live) is one of those series. With several games already made, I decided it was time to try one of them for myself. Into The Inferno is my first experience with Avatar as a series and to be quite honest it hasn’t left as bad a taste in my mouth as I thought it would.
For those not in-the-know, Avatar is an animation series that follows the adventures of Aang and his group of friends, who have been given the task of destroying the Fire Nation, led by the fearsome Fire Lord. The universe in which Avatar takes place is governed by four main regions, each corresponding to one of the elements. Within each region, is someone known as a “Bender”, who has the ability to manipulate the element from their region. Aang, who is an Airbender, is also an Avatar, which means he can control all the elements and harbours great power. Into The Inferno is the third game in the series, and is based on the third “book” (series) of the television show. It sees the Fire Nation threatening to use Sozin’s Comet to wreak havoc on the rest of the world. As I’ve said before, it’s certainly not a particularly enthralling game to play through, but the story does a decent job of keeping you entertained.
The first thing you’ll notice about Into The Inferno is that the characters have a very strange look. All characters have oversized heads and small bodies, giving them an almost cutesy-like appearance. This is an art style reserved exclusively for the Nintendo DS version of the game and to be quite honest, I’m not a huge fan. That being said, it’s perhaps for the best and is the optimal “look” for the game considering the hardware. The graphics themselves run at a very smooth rate, with little to no graphical glitches and some very nice detail in the environments. The environments are, however, a little on the low side in terms of quantity, but those presented are quite nice and fit the art direction of the Avatar series quite well. Some of the effects though, such as the elements and box textures, look pretty low in terms of quality, and it kinda kills the experience to have items of varying resolutions on screen.
Gameplay in Into The Inferno is way too formulaic to be particularly enjoyable and is something that you’ve probably seen in many games before. Players control Aang and one of his friends, depending on the level. All controls are done with the stylus, something done in most adventure games and something that works VERY well. Players can “chain” their characters together in order to ensure that one follows the other too. The system is very simple and works quite well, but it’s the puzzle design and level design that don’t. Most puzzles consist of misplaced barriers in the game that only allow one of the two playable characters through. Then, the other playable character must use whatever abilities they have to allow the other to get through. As said previously, it’s awfully formulaic gameplay and we can only have so many “go your separate way” puzzles before they grow tiring and cumbersome. The use of the touchscreen for the elemental bending powers are a nice touch, however, but unfortunately don’t make the puzzles any more interesting. The game also features combat segments which can be completed by tapping on enemies or by using powers. Using powers definitely spruces up the battle system, but unfortunately there just isn’t any incentive to do so for most of the battles, and as such it ultimately feels pointless and tacked on.
Avatar does has a pretty nice soundtrack with lots of asian-influenced music. There is some minor voicework involved in some of the cutscenes but it’s pretty unbearable. Most of the sound design works well within the game and its setting.
Into The Inferno is a pretty average length game. There are a total of seven levels with a boss battle at the end of each, leaving for some pretty average gameplay times varying anywhere between 4 to 6 hours for the best of players. After completing it, however, there are several things gamers can have some fun with. The Volleyball mode is playable over local wireless connection, and should make the game last a bit longer for those who are interested.
Ultimately, Avatar: Into The Inferno is a game that is perfect for younger children. It’s simple enough for the younger ones to play without any difficulty, and in that regard it’s probably perfect for its target audience. On the other hand, this simplicity prevents the game from having any excess longevity or any ability in compelling the player to continue on. This one truly is one for the fans of the series (and its target audience). An average game.
