Sigh. So much potential here, but it's unfortunately squandered by a remarkably unimaginative application of Ubisoft's tired and reductive open world formula.

Let's start with what's good. The game looks amazing and runs really well (make sure you meet the hardware requirements!). It fulfills the fantasy of visiting a gorgeous planet full of alien flora and fauna. The different biomes have distinct flavors and there's just so much stuff and color and sound through which you can walk, gallop, and fly. I especially loved the thunderstorms: The first time lightning struck a "tree" beside me my jaw dropped. The HDR implementation is very good, especially during the daytime in which the alien sun washes the landscape in an adoring glow. As for gameplay, combat is fairly satisfying if simplistic. There isn't much variety in enemies, but the set pieces offer a lot of opportunity for infiltration strategy and tactics.

Unfortunately, everything else is ... sigh. The main quest is OK, but not great. What bogs it down is that it's structured in a plodding, awkward, and mechanically linear manner. You are told exactly where to go and what to do and really don't have to think about it at all. Still, it has its moments with a handful of set pieces and thrilling action. The story itself is a very on-the-nose retelling of how Europeans treated Native Americans and other displaced peoples, and oh yes don't forget to save the environment. So, on brand. And unlike the 2009 Avatar game, you are not given the choice to side with the humans against the Na'vi. Actually you can only play a Na'vi. Unfortunately you will have to look elsewhere to fulfill your colonial and/or white savior fantasies. "Is our children learning?"

However. There are the side quests, which are what should be the meat in an open world game. Here they are very many, very repetitive, and too often very dumb. Like, incredibly dumb. It's as if the devs blew the whole budget on licensing the Avatar IP and could only afford interns to write these. There are only a handful of quest types, but they are repeated again and again and again. Cookie cutter. Filler. Padding. Bloat. And virtually all are "find this fruit" or "my brother went fishing and got lost". I'm not opposed to grind when the gameplay loop is satisfying and rewarding. I enjoyed the first few iterations of these. By the twentieth time I was bored. By the fiftieth time I was angry. The design team must truly believe this is what gamers consider fun. Folks, let me tell you: we play your games in spite of this mind-numbing routine, not because of it.

The reward economy is also quite broken. I maxed out all skills before the endgame, which removed any material reason to pursue boring side quests. Extra skill points are useless for the main game, though they can be used in the DLC. I also saw no reason to try to get the special "coin" used to buy items, nor find rare materials to craft them, because what I already looted was better. And even if you don't aim to acquire the best gear, you'll be fine. The default level of difficulty is quite manageable. Maybe higher levels of difficulty would require more involvement with this economy, but I assume most players would stick to the defaults.

And collectibles. There are, I believe, about eleventy billion of them. Finding them is a slog, even with online guides.

There is also a variety of mini-games. I didn't hate them and thought they were a nice change of pace, but I think some people would find some of them frustrating because they depend on precision movement.

All the above is pretty much what I expect from a Ubisoft game, but what really bummed me out is how often Avatar punishes you for exploring. I love going off on a whim and messing with the supposed order of the plot. It's part of the joy of open world games: they should let you find your own story. But in Avatar your own story will be about locked doors, inactive terminals, unclimbable hills, and seemingly abandoned bases, which only "activate" later when you hit the right quest checkpoint. And this is not indicated to you. Again and again I tried to make sense of intriguing locations only to find out later that the game simply disabled them. My curiosity and problem-solving skills were "rewarded" by a pointless waste of my time.

In summary, Avatar will let you visit Pandora. And that's cool. Unfortunately, in this rendition it's too rarely an a exciting place.

Want to have adventures in an open alien world? You'll have a much more satisfying experience with Outcast: Second Contact and its sequel.

Sigh. So much potential here, but it's unfortunately squandered by a remarkably unimaginative application of Ubisoft's tired and reductive open world formula. Let's start with what's good. The game looks amazing and runs really well (make sure you meet the hardware requirements!). It fulfills the fantasy of visiting a gorgeous planet full of alien flora and fauna. The different biomes have distinct flavors and there's just so much stuff and color and sound through which you can walk, gallop, and fly. I especially loved the thunderstorms: The first time lightning struck a "tree" beside me my jaw dropped. The HDR implementation is very good, especially during the daytime in which the alien sun washes the landscape in an adoring glow. As for gameplay, combat is fairly satisfying if simplistic. There isn't much variety in enemies, but the set pieces offer a lot of opportunity for infiltration strategy and tactics. Unfortunately, everything else is ... sigh. The main quest is OK, but not great. What bogs it down is that it's structured in a plodding, awkward, and mechanically linear manner. You are told exactly where to go and what to do and really don't have to think about it at all. Still, it has its moments with a handful of set pieces and thrilling action. The story itself is a [I]very[/I] on-the-nose retelling of how Europeans treated Native Americans and other displaced peoples, and oh yes don't forget to save the environment. So, on brand. And unlike the 2009 [I]Avatar[/I] game, you are [I]not[/I] given the choice to side with the humans against the Na'vi. Actually you can only play a Na'vi. Unfortunately you will have to look elsewhere to fulfill your colonial and/or white savior fantasies. "Is our children learning?" However. There are the side quests, which are what should be the meat in an open world game. Here they are very many, very repetitive, and too often very dumb. Like, incredibly dumb. It's as if the devs blew the whole budget on licensing the [I]Avatar[/I] IP and could only afford interns to write these. There are only a handful of quest types, but they are repeated again and again and again. Cookie cutter. Filler. Padding. Bloat. And virtually all are "find this fruit" or "my brother went fishing and got lost". I'm not opposed to grind when the gameplay loop is satisfying and rewarding. I enjoyed the first few iterations of these. By the twentieth time I was bored. By the fiftieth time I was angry. The design team must truly believe this is what gamers consider fun. Folks, let me tell you: we play your games [I]in spite[/I] of this mind-numbing routine, not because of it. The reward economy is also quite broken. I maxed out all skills before the endgame, which removed any material reason to pursue boring side quests. Extra skill points are useless for the main game, though they can be used in the DLC. I also saw no reason to try to get the special "coin" used to buy items, nor find rare materials to craft them, because what I already looted was better. And even if you don't aim to acquire the best gear, you'll be fine. The default level of difficulty is quite manageable. Maybe higher levels of difficulty would require more involvement with this economy, but I assume most players would stick to the defaults. And collectibles. There are, I believe, about eleventy billion of them. Finding them is a slog, even with online guides. There is also a variety of mini-games. I didn't hate them and thought they were a nice change of pace, but I think some people would find some of them frustrating because they depend on precision movement. All the above is pretty much what I expect from a Ubisoft game, but what really bummed me out is how often [I]Avatar[/I] punishes you for exploring. I love going off on a whim and messing with the supposed order of the plot. It's part of the joy of open world games: they should let you find your own story. But in [I]Avatar[/I] your own story will be about locked doors, inactive terminals, unclimbable hills, and seemingly abandoned bases, which only "activate" later when you hit the right quest checkpoint. And this is not indicated to you. Again and again I tried to make sense of intriguing locations only to find out later that the game simply disabled them. My curiosity and problem-solving skills were "rewarded" by a pointless waste of my time. In summary, [I]Avatar[/I] will let you visit Pandora. And that's cool. Unfortunately, in this rendition it's too rarely an a exciting place. Want to have adventures in an open alien world? You'll have a much more satisfying experience with [I]Outcast: Second Contact[/I] and its sequel.