Cgmagazine had the opportunity to recently sit down with Ubisoft to get a hands-on preview of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, an open-world FPS title based on James Cameron’s legendary film property. On paper, a studio renowned for its open-world efforts, such as Ubisoft, sounds like the best bet for a licensed game based on a popular film franchise. Thankfully, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, at least from the roughly 3 hours or so I had with the game, seems to be shaping up to be one of the better takes on a licensed open-world game sans any tight-fitting crime-fighting underwear present.
I was given a vertical slice of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, with my save file taking place relatively early on during the campaign, with the added bonus of a few different weapons at my disposal, thrown in for good measure.
Despite only a portion of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s map available to me during my session, I was impressed at the scope and variety of the handful of biomes that I did get a chance to explore. Ranging from dense forests, the hollows of trees, RDA encampments, and even floating islands on the horizon, there seems to be enough variety in the game’s location to give prospective players plenty to explore.
In fact, the sheer volume of the map’s scope made trekking it on foot feel a bit tiresome after a few minutes of gameplay. Thankfully, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora features a flying mount that can be unlocked after a story mission involving chasing down and taming a wild Ikran, a reptilian flying creature that the player can call on after completing the quest.
“Despite only a portion of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s map available to me during my session, I was impressed at the scope and variety of the handful of biomes that I did get a chance to explore.”
Take Flight, the quest required to unlock the mount, tasks the player with gradually chasing and taming an Ikran, ultimately asking the player to climb a precarious mountain filled with large gaps and chasms a-plenty. Ubisoft must have been listening to fan feedback as one standout, or, rather, the lack of any obvious marker or on-screen UI pollution made my journey up the mountain more organic and exploratory, despite its primarily linear design.
Upon release, my demo-ist assured me that the full game would include options to tweak how much information is displayed to the player, which is a nice bonus for those who prefer a streamlined approach and a notable improvement to Ubisoft’s approach to open-world titles.
Making my way to tame my Ikran was a fun jaunt through Pandora’s open world, with the climb itself consisting of platforming sections and some light puzzle-solving mechanics that took the form of organic locked gates, requiring the player to find individual nodes or petals that when damaged unlock the main gate or growth. In essence, these gates felt similar to power nodes on a grid found in more contemporary/urbanized environments in other games.
Platforming in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora feels pretty standard, with the added reflexes and prowess of the player’s Na’vi character, which mostly translates to having a higher jump ability and a better tolerance for fall damage. Outside on-foot traversal, Frontiers of Pandora gives players the ability to focus in on and examine many of the flora and fauna of Pandora, craft items and even cook different recipes. Food is a big part of the main gameplay loop of the title, requiring the player to eat every now and again to maintain the ability to reap the full benefits of health regeneration, something critical when in a firefight with the RDA.
“Aerial combat is also a big part of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and feels as robust as it does on land…”
The player Na’vi can also tame animals in the overworld or an enemy encampment. However, this was something I could not accomplish successfully during my playtime with the game outside the mountable Ikran.
Speaking of the Ikran, flying around in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was easily my favourite part of my time with the title. Flying around in Pandora makes traversal faster and more fun, thanks to solid controls and the lack of major restrictions that impede where the player can go. Experience points can also be used to not only level up the usual gamut of player skills but also skills for your Ikran mount, which include things such as the ability to barrel roll and faster cooldowns.
“…flying around in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was easily my favourite part of my time with the title.”
Aerial combat is also a big part of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and feels as robust as it does on land, with the player able to use their full arsenal of weapons against the RDA while in the skies. Combat itself is a decent mix of both Na’vi equipment and RDA military-spec gear, which helps things feel distinct when switching between the two.
I found Na’vi weapons, such as the bow, particularly good for taking out flying enemies, while guns and the like were perfect for on-ground threats or more intimate clashes with opposing forces. Finally, RDA bases were a pretty significant part of Frontiers of Pandora‘s open world, acting as enemy strongholds that, when conquered, reward the player with fast travel points, exp caches and loot. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s probably because Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is basically the closest we’ll get to a fantasy-themed Far Cry, which might sound derivative but, in truth, is a formula that works surprisingly well for James Cameron’s cinematic world.
Despite not being a fan of the film franchise, I always admired Avatar for its technical prowess and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora seemingly takes the fully realized world of Pandora and puts it in a game that truly feels like it captures the essence of its source material, making it something worth keeping on one’s radar, particularly if you’re a fan of the series.
