Avatar: The Last Airbender - Into the Inferno Review by: EideticMemory - 5.3/10
A Slightly Disappointing Avatar Game - It’s OK.A Slightly Disappointing Avatar Game - It’s OK.
You’ve watched the last season, saw it again, and then re-watched the final battle scene on Youtube multiple times, now what? The game, of course!
Released in 2008,
Avatar: Into The Inferno plays out the third and final book of the Avatar movie series,
Fire. You have the opportunity to play as your favorite animated characters through puzzle-intensive levels.
Let’s dive in!
Graphics: 5 / 10
The scenes, alone, have fairly impressive graphics. 3D objects are depicted with detail and it’s hard to complain; they’re satisfactory.
The problem, however, arises when you look at the characters. Do you remember those airhead candy commercials where the kids’ heads would swell up like a balloon? Then you should have a decent idea of how the characters look like in the game. With heads twice as large as their bodies, you’ll feel like you’re controlling over-powerful toddlers rather than competent teenagers. I’m appalled that for a movie series this popular, the designers left them that way.
Disappointingly, graphic glitches are surprisingly common. It’s a rarity that you won’t find yourself halfway through a wall before you hit the level boundary. While this particular one wasn’t that annoying, there are definitely others that are. For instance:
Imagine that you’re playing one of the easiest games of your life. Then, suddenly, you’re stuck. You look around and there’s no button, no levers, nothing nearby that will bring down the gates and let you progress. That’s exactly what happens here. Some strange glitch often renders interactive objects invisible. I spent thirty minutes stuck on an easy section, only to realize that there was a particular spot where I couldn’t walk. As it turns out, this was the patch of earth that I needed to “bend” to progress.
While you’ll learn to look out for these glitches, they’re surely one of the most annoying aspects of the game.
In essence, the backgrounds are lovely, but the other facets of the graphics, characters and glitches, do harm your gameplay.
It’s with ambivalence that I rate this category a mediocre score of 5 / 10.
Sound / Music: 5 / 10
When you start playing, you’ll hear electronic piano based music. It’s complex and, honestly, sounds okay.
That’s when you realize that you’re in the middle of some firebender camp or similarly dangerous area, what? As a music fanatic, I abhor improper use of music in games. Okay, so it sounds good--but does it fit? does it bring about the right atmosphere? In this case, unfortunately, it doesn’t.
I’m just being rational. If the music even resembled pieces played in the animated series, I could understand. Instead, I’m stuck listening to songs that would work better in some happy, children’s game like Build-A-Bear’s workshop for DS.
On the other hand, it’s easy to stand most of the music pieces. While they’re merely repetitions of 45 second tracks, they don’t get boring or annoying by themselves.
Let’s switch over to sound effects, that is, if there are any. When you’re playing through the levels, they’re virtually non-existent and overpowered by the music. Yes, you’ll hear a low quality sound effect when bending, but they last less than a second and only play when picking up and setting down elemental objects. In other words, they’re disappointing.
To recap, sound effects are mediocre and the music doesn’t fit. At least your ears will enjoy themselves as the gameplay tanks.
5 / 10.
Addictiveness: 7 / 10
Although you’ll find some parts mindless, the game’s surprisingly addictive. Your only chance of getting stuck are glitches and you actually have to think a little when playing through the level. That said, you’ll enjoy the time you spend playing it.
When you reach glitchy parts, you won’t feel like quitting. In fact, it’s more likely that you’ll keep coming back to the game every five minutes to search for the way to progress. I’m not saying that you won’t eventually get annoyed, which definitely happens, but you’ll still won’t be able to stop playing.
Perhaps it plays on the entertaining memories of the animated series, but the game does have a certain irresistible grip on you while playing. It’s like those addictive flash games, such as cubefield, flappy bird, bloons tower defense; They’ll easily get annoying, but you can’t stop trying.
On the other hand, once you tire of it, it’s for good. It’s likely that you’ll spend hours playing it for one day and not feel like returning the next, even if you’re close to finishing.
7 / 10.
Story: 6 / 10.
While the story is based on the animated version, they take a lot of liberty with the levels themselves. Most of your tasks include getting from point A to B and fighting enemies and avoiding obstacles along the way.
While decent, the story isn’t emphasized with respect to the gameplay and the lengthy and puzzle-based nature of the levels only barely associates with the storyline itself.
6 / 10.
Depth: 3 / 10
You have a fair bit to do within each level. Although the individual levels can be completed within ten minutes, they usually take much longer. However, the depth of the story-mode is virtually non-existent; the only exception is the collection of 5 White Lotus tiles in each level. They’re not well hidden and easy to find.
Disappointingly, the only multiplayer option is to play Avatar “Beach Volleyball” with friends. “Emerald Island” is similarly disappointing, only allowing you to spend your tiles for characters and costumes for multiplayer.
With little depth, it should come as no surprise that this category only rates 3 / 10.
Difficulty: 7 / 10
While most the game is mindless, there’s difficulty, albeit illegitimate. I mean, unless you like spending almost an hour stuck at a part because of a render glitch or from some button that blends into the walls, you won’t be happy.
On the other hand, the controls are easy to manage and you don’t need to use the buttons, they’re all on the touch screen. It’s quicker to switch characters by using the buttons.
7 / 10
Overall: 5.3 / 10
Graphics : 5 * 20% = 1
Sound / Music : 5 * 20% = 1
Addictiveness : 7 * 25% = 1.75
Story : 6 * 10% = 0.6
Depth : 3 * 20% = 0.6
Difficulty : 7 * 5% = 0.35
Sum = Overall Score = 5.3 / 10
With no outstanding features, mediocre category scores led to a mediocre overall score.
Unless you wish to collect the game, I wouldn’t recommend buying it. I won’t even recommend trying it out. As this is a clear 10 steps down from
Avatar: The Last Airbender for
DS you should try that title first and see later whether you have any interest in this one.
Of course, if you’ve had any experiences with the game, please share! Comments are appreciated!
Thank you for reading!
Graphics
5 Sound
5 Addictive
7 Depth
3 Story
6 Difficulty
7
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