Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth (Wii) Review
Avatar the last Airbender: The Burning Earth is the videogame tie-in to the second series of the successful Nickelodeon cartoon of the same name. However, rather than take the chance to immerse the player in the wonderful world of elemental bending the developers seem to have taken the easier path. The result is a videogame that disgraces the name of the series completely from the low production values and visual eyesores to the repetitive combat and shoddy controls. Make no mistake; this game embodies everything that could be wrong with the worst of the Wii titles and its not even a port!
A nation under siege
The story of The Burning Earth follows that of the series rather closely. Aang, the hero of a world at war, journeys to the earth kingdom in order to learn how to control and bend the element of earth in an attempt to master all four elements. However the Fire Nation, otherwise known as the bad guys have begun to invade the kingdom in an attempt to bring another country of the world under their dominion. Naturally Aang and his companions have to stop this from happening. The game is divided into multiple chapters which each serve as different areas, such as an earth kingdom outpost, a captured city or a dense swamp. Within each area are a number of short levels which consist of some simple platforming interspaced with combat against your enemies. Sometimes there may be a boss at the end but essentially the formula holds the same all the way through.
Wii games NEED bad motion controls
The controls for the game are rather simplistic in nature and are fairly indicative of general trends in action/platforming titles. Theres a button for punch, kick, jump and block. Moving the Wii remote also initiates a range attack which can be charged by pointing the Wii remote upward. Youll essentially progress through the game by beating up some enemies, jumping on some platforms, pushing a block into place and then rinsing to repeat again. Levels are typically quite linear with the chance to go off the beaten track being quite rare; a fact demonstrated by a fact that 75% of the secret scrolls in the game are located in plain view on the stage. Combat is boring and unexciting as the enemies are generally unchallenging. As your characters gain more experience a few more combos become available along with increases to your attack power.
The biggest gripe with the combat however is the way motion controls are implemented. Ranged attacks are the bane of your existence in the game as often the swing/flick to release one attack will initiate the charging of another. Charged ranged attack ends up being a synonym for death as the player finds themselves consistently paralysed in a single spot unable to cancel the attack whilst getting cooked by a powerful bosss fireball. If you have anything less than perfect patience maintaining your cool is almost impossible. While at any one time you can control up to two characters which the player can switch between at their leisure there is no change to the gameplay whatsoever besides the fact your foes are getting smacked silly by a different element. Certain locations in levels require the player to stand on a panel and perform a specific controller motion to open the way with some sort of bending skill. Not only are such places annoying but success requires a large amount of specificity in your controller motion and the little window showing you how to move the remote isnt always particularly accurate. While it certainly isnt anything special, theres no doubt for me that the gameplay in Avatar is just as good on paper as any other generic title in the same light. However, breaking the game with annoying motion based antics is enough to make anyone go out and buy a different console version.
Ventriloquism
Upon booting up the game initially it seemed to be quite promising visually. The opening cut scene was quite nice and the art style seemed quite appropriate. All that changed when I was dropped into the first level. While the backgrounds are relatively decent looking the character models, enemies especially, are very basic. Some of you may remember the days when you could pick out the different shapes that made up the character models. You can certainly look forward to that if you ever get the profound joy (sarcasm) of playing this title. The worst was yet to come upon entering an in game cut scene. The characters have no lip movement whatsoever. When Aang is talking he is looking around the same way he does when you stand still while playing and after the high quality animation of the television show it knocks you for six straight away. Ideally clips from the show would have been great but something that looks like it was hurried up to make the PS2 launch is simply not acceptable.
On a slightly better note the game does utilise the voice cast from the show (whether they look like theyre talking or not) as well as a few themes. Characters will occasionally throw in a catch phrase or say something humorous throughout your adventure. Effectively the voicing is the one thing that has actually made it to the game intact. Soundtrack wise its a mixed bag. Some of the nicer tunes from the series make a good transition but the rest is really nothing to write home about.
A disappointment, especially for avatar fans
Being somewhat of a fan of the series I have to say that I was simply unable to enjoy this title at all. The game carries some form of disappointment in nearly all areas from the gameplay to the presentation. Although it may not be exactly the same genre, (since Avatar is an action/platform hybrid) the very fact a game such as Super Mario Galaxy exists is enough to turn any self-respecting gamer away from either considering this title. This lazy title doesnt even stand up to the quality of the Wii launch range. Avatar Aang may be the last airbender, but this will certainly not be last cheap cash-in Wii title to cause disappointment.
