Check out the final review of James Cameron's Avatar here!
I recently got a preview of James Cameron’s Avatar on the iPhone/iPod Touch. With its deep 3D visuals and complete alien landscape, Avatar looks like it will match the passion of the highly anticipated movie when it arrives December 15th.
Unlike the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii versions, Avatar on the iPhone/iPod Touch isn’t based on the movie plot. The Avatar game takes place 20 years before the movie. Gameloft’s Avatar team says it intended gamers to discover environments within the movie – essentially to see the Avatar’s planetary world before the war featured in the movie.
In the iPhone game, the aliens can connect with the animals on their planet telepathically, giving them protection, but humans are trying to disconnect the link to mine an extremely-valuable mineral. As a former Marine, the hero finds the error in his ways and tries to protect the endangered race and their planet.
Gameloft spent a year with the movie team, working directly with one of the producers for maximum accuracy. More importantly, the creators had access to the movie’s 3D effects and artwork to create the in-game environment.
Hands-on, James Cameron’s Avatar is wide in both content and environment. The perspective is straight Tomb Raider: You look right behind the hero, which is perhaps the best way to take in the lush forests, alien layers and military complexes throughout the game. One stage I played had the hero running past a gorgeous waterfall, flowing perfectly, while the dusk emphasized the glowing blue mushroom trees and damp leaves.
The design is a blend between the Gameloft’s own Hero Of Sparta and the classic The Legend of Zelda. The virtual joystick sits in the lower left-hand corner, the attack and jump buttons on the corresponding right-hand corner, and the energy bar at the top of the screen. Thankfully, the response is much, much better than the overambitious Hero Of Sparta. The vast world isn’t navigated by a map – the designers felt like a legend would be too intrusive – but pressing a navigation button with shoot out an illuminated path to point you in the right direction. Playing the bigger jungle levels was still intimidating and I still felt a little lost, especially since you’re running in all 8 cardinal directions, so hopefully the team will tighten up the navigational device before it ships in a few weeks.
Avatar’s Zelda inspiration comes from the structure of the 15 levels – the focus is on fast action, but levels 6, 10 and 12 are “adventure” stages where you must talk with the aliens, complete quests and discover hidden items. Furthermore, the action levels have hidden orbs that serve as experience points. Collect enough orbs and the game rewards you with shields, energy and other bonuses. You can replay any level to try to find all the hidden orbs.
Combat has some serious variety. There is a gun, a bow and a stick, as well as “magical” alien powers that can be gained through experience points. Avatar works with a combo system, so it’s possible to create a rhythm and occupy the tougher enemies. The adversaries are big – really big – ranging from alien woolly mammoths to Aliens-inspired mech devices, and it felt good to connect nice, juicy hits on them.
The best level, basically saved for last, is the flying sequence with a captured banshee. Similar to God of War’s Pegasus stages, the banshee level has you flying over the lush planet taking out enemies while trying to keep balance. Avatar’s intense speed and visuals truly come through here.
Luckily, as with all new Gameloft titles, Avatar adjust based on your phone. The game should play well on first and second-gen iPhones, but 3GS owners are treated to higher graphic details and longer horizons. In short, the better your phone, the more beauty you can take in.
Avatar looks and plays great, and I expect it will match its technically superior home counterparts, if not the movie itself. Avatar hits the iPhone/iPod Touch on December 15th.
Also, be sure to check out my exclusive gallery of Avatar game pictures, the the scoop on the Avatar movie, info on the Avatar PC game and the official Avatar iPhone homepage.