I love arcade-type beat ‘em ups, even though they aren’t my forte. All the button mashing and side-scrolling might be annoying for some, but to me they bring back memories of simpler times when I didn’t care much about plot lines. Times where I was satisfied with being the overpowered “good guy” who always beat the endless number of “bad guys”.

The Burning Earth is just that type of game. Its well-balanced combination of solving puzzles and brawler fighting makes it appealing to most fans of the series.

I can appreciate this genre, despite its lack of complexity, so I’m going to rate this particular game fairly with the standards of a brawler.

Released in 2007, The Burning Earth lets you play through the second book of the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender, Earth. You get to play as the eight characters, including a flying bison and a winged lemur.

So without further ado, let’s dive in!

Great Graphics that You’ll Enjoy - 9 / 10

I loved the clear sprites and well designed backgrounds. While I’d have enjoyed a rotating view, the Top-Down viewpoint really did give the game an arcade feel to it that I liked. There isn’t much to dislike, except for a few places where the single-point view rendered 3D awkwardly. In those cases, paths appeared obstructed, when they really weren’t.

Comparing The Burning Earth with its prequel The Last Airbender reveals noticeable improvements in the clarity of the sprites. On the other hand, the scenery in individual levels does not reflect much improvement, if any. That said, the graphics are indeed noteworthy (in a good way), so it was not a poor decision to keep with graphics of similar quality.

Isn’t it great when there’s nothing to hate? The designers did well.

9 / 10.

Thematic Music that gets Repetitive - 6 / 10

If you don’t pay close attention, it may seem like the same track plays over and over throughout the game. This actually isn’t the case. While the tracks sound very similar, they have slight changes in instrumentation and perhaps composition.

But wouldn’t this eventually get tiresome? Yes, yes it would. And it did.

At the start, I loved the music. It reminded me of a particular track I heard on Civilizations several years ago and I wouldn’t be surprised if one had copied off the other. I’d describe it as middle-eastern, which fits with the dry scenery. After a while though, the music does get tiring. I ended up muting it from time to time, myself.

As for the sound effects, they fit well. They aren’t drowned out by the music and they fit the actions. There’s just that right balance so that they don’t get tiring, aside from the fighting effects. Since it’s to your benefit to make the same attack over and over, the effects did get annoying. However, there’s enough fighting moves so that this can be avoided, if you really can’t stand it.

6 / 10.

It’s a brawler of Avatar. Of course it’s going to be addictive! - 7 / 10

As easy as I found some of the levels, I could not stop. They were just hard enough to keep me engaged, yet easy enough so that I didn’t get stuck for long at any one part. This game comes to show how it’s the simpler ones that are often the most addictive.

Entertainment value plays a large role in its addictiveness. The variety of options in combat combined with the time/score pressure kept me playing each level from beginning to end. At the same time, it’s not the type of game to be finished in one sitting, although it definitely could. I found that spending between half-an-hour and an hour per day worked best in terms of enjoyment.

If you’re a fan of the show and you use the game for pure entertainment, you’ll be satisfied.

7 / 10.

Mediocre Presentation of a Great Story - 5 / 10

The storyline is a bit rough at spots, but it manages to get across the plot to the reader. It does this through short text paragraphs as the beginning of each ‘chapter’, which isn’t ideal. Luckily in-game sprite dialogue does appear, although its severely underused. That makes it seem like the game was uninspired in its creation.

There’s also small illogical skips in the plot. A few seconds after Toph says that she’ll never teach Aang airbending, she’s doing exactly that. What?

Things like that don’t bug me much, since I know the storyline well and can understand the events going on. However, I do want to note how difficult it would be for someone new to the series to try to understand the game, since he/she really wouldn’t get a good picture of the plot.

Not much Depth - 2 / 10

Throughout each level, you only move from left to right. The screen shifts with you as you progress. That means there’s little chance to explore and the barren backgrounds leave few extras to find. However, there are hard-to-activate crystals and green bottles surrounded by a maze of spikes. If you dare to take the risk, the struggle may be worth it. However, for a cautious player like me, I’d rather skip on the extras on the first run through to avoid the risk of a game over.

Besides unlocking additional levels, the extras themselves do not warrant an additional playthrough. Who would want to do all that button mashing all over again for one green bottle half-way through the level?

Thus, depth is virtually non-existent.

2 / 10.

Finishing levels are easy, but earning the necessary scores are not. - 6 / 10.

When you start playing through the first few levels, you’ll wonder why I didn’t rate this lower. The levels don’t require much deep thinking on the part of the player. In fact, small kids and older adults alike won’t be overwhelmed by the difficulty. To fight effectively, just button mash. Before I recognized the game as a brawler, I tried to think my way through the fights. It can’t be that much different from the DS version, right? And I couldn’t have been more mistaken.

I soon realized that I suffered significantly less damage when I just approached the fire nation soldiers and kept pressing the fighting controls. Individual bosses aren’t too difficult either. It’s all about finding the point of weakness and following a repetitive pattern to dodge the opponents’ strikes and win.

So why, then, did I rate the difficulty so high? The answer has two parts. To unlock the final five levels, you must get a score of A on the first eight. A horribly completed level nets you with a C, which is still very generous. Still, trying to avoid spikes, trees, or enemy fire and completing within a short amount of time to get the A does pose a challenge. You can’t be careless and you have to scramble.

There are also moments of intense difficulty, which don’t always appear at the end of the level. These are parts that require a lot of thinking or strategy. They’re usually preceded by incredibly easy parts, which adds to its unexpectedness. Wouldn’t you be surprised?

While Burning Earth isn’t even close to being hard, it’s not the easiest game in the world to beat. You’ll play through casually until you realize that you must replay through the first eight levels to get those As. That’s when the game takes a turn.

6 / 10.

If you’re a fan of the TV series, You’ll enjoy it. Try it out - Overall: 7.1 / 10

Graphics : 9 * 30% = 2.7
Sound / Music : 6 * 20% = 1.20
Addictiveness : 7 * 35% = 2.45
Story : 5 * 5% = 0.25
Depth : 2 * 5% = 0.10
Difficulty : 7 * 5% = 0.35

(The 7 for difficulty doesn’t come from the section rating, since more difficulty isn’t necessarily a score riser)

Sum = Overall Score = 7.1 / 10.0

As you can see, I’ve ended up with a score lower than the 8.9 average the game currently holds in the VGR. But that’s only because I’m being objective. As a fan of the series, I could easily have overlooked some of the blatant problems for the simple fact that the game is based on one of my favorite TV shows.

Overall, the game shined when it came to graphics and addictiveness, which were crucial. It really fell short of expectations when it came to the story. I didn’t enjoy the way blocks of text were used to tell the events versus more in-game dialogue. I also grew bored of the music as I kept playing.

That said, it’s easier to overlook minor problems when you enjoy the series it's based on. Plus, Brawlers are more fun when you know the characters. Because of that, I’m only recommending the game for those who have watched the show. If you haven’t watched the show, yet, that’s even better. Go watch it!

So if you like the series and think that it’s awesome that there’s a couple of Avatar games in the RGR, you should try it out!

This is an excellent review. Wonderful details. Smoothing and flowing wording with great grammar. I also really liked the format. Different from what I usually see so kudos for originality. Keep up the good work.