Getting Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora to even work wasn’t definitely worth the ache

When Ubisoft introduced that it was making an Avatar sport, I admit to it wasn’t essentially high of my checklist of video games to play. I wasn’t a fan of the movies (don’t love them, don’t hate them) and the sport appeared sort of generic within the teaser trailers. But when it got here nearer to launch, I admit I modified my thoughts. I had nice religion in builders Massive Entertainment in spite of everything they’ve accomplished with The Division, and if anybody could make an open-world exploration sport, it’s Ubisoft.

Also, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was popping out on the excellent time. Any earlier within the yr and it might have been drowned out by the deluge of extra thrilling video games, however early December is the proper time for a by-the-numbers Ubisoft sandbox title. As I used to be mentally worn out from the extra advanced titles 2023 has thrown at me, I used to be prepared to like Frontiers of Pandora.

Now, after having performed it, I’ve one factor to say:

I fucking quit.

What within the Ubisoft assist cellphone tree…?

Let me paint you an image: I personal a number of gaming PCs, together with the one on which I do most of my work. Admittedly, I haven’t constructed a brand new one shortly, so that they’re not probably the most up-to-date rigs in existence, however they’ve managed each different sport this yr with out concern. And Frontiers of Pandora solely functioned on one of them. When I attempted to load it into my house PC, it was comically damaged — we’re speaking quest triggers that don’t, invisible enemies and my character falling into black voids each couple of minutes.

Even after I loaded the sport up on my work PC, the one one that would assist it, it’s nonetheless having points. I used to be even anticipating some bugs – in spite of everything, it’s a Ubisoft sandbox. I used to be not anticipating the sport to be fully unplayable, with a number of in-game bugs, entire sport crashes and even a number of save-game corruptions. After a sure level, I had to surrender – it was simply an excessive amount of work. And whereas the sport is likely to be marginally extra practical on console, I’ve heard some gamers are working into the identical bugs there.

So to that finish, I’ll warn you up entrance that this sport doesn’t get a score from me. Because I can’t overview a sport that I can’t play. I put a number of hours into the sport – I actually tried my hardest to expertise as a lot as I may. But even after Ubisoft and Massive have launched a number of patches, the sport continues to be barely practical on my PC. And imagine me after I say I attempted all of the fixes I may consider and nonetheless bought crashes and corrupted saves.

So right here’s what I considered Frontiers of Pandora, for what time I managed to play it.

It was all going so effectively: The good things

The sport takes place on the titular Pandora – and I hope you’ve seen the films, as a result of the sport does little-to-nothing that will help you perceive the world and the lore. It doesn’t even clarify what an Avatar is, however fortunately it doesn’t matter an excessive amount of. You’re an orphaned Na’vi, stolen by the villainous people of the RDA for brainwashing, however are saved when your Avatar trainer stuffs you in a cryochamber for 16 years whereas the occasions of the movie collection occur.

When you awake, you’re instantly thrust into the world of the Resistance, a human-Na’vi cohort making an attempt to oust the RDA from Pandora, in addition to the precise Na’vi tradition. You’re a Sarentu, a member of a misplaced tribe of nomadic storytellers – which kind of implies that you’re free to discover the map as you want with out anybody questioning you. You should unite the native Na’vi tribes with the Resistance to battle the RDA whereas studying about your individual misplaced tradition.

If this sport will get one real praise from me, it’s that it’s beautiful. The world of Pandora is as lush and delightful within the sport as it’s within the films, and the varied biomes the participant can discover are all breathtaking, particularly as soon as your character will get a flying mount and may view them from above. There’s additionally a verticality to the terrain I hardly ever see in sandbox titles like this – the Sarentu is ceaselessly scaling cliffs or climbing bushes and it feels pure. The number of natural world helps maintain the visuals fascinating.

The motion and gunplay are additionally satisfying. Usually in a title like this, first-person navigation could be restricted to human agility and velocity. In Frontiers of Pandora, the Na’vi protagonist is quick and dexterous sufficient to parkour throughout the forest, making navigation on the dense forested areas extra enjoyable than anticipated. And if your individual blue toes aren’t adequate, the sport affords a number of animal mounts, together with the winged ikran, to hurry the method.

The protagonist has entry to a handful of weapon sorts, all of which get the job accomplished of slaying villainous RDA forces. There’s not a lot selection, even with the compulsory crafting system, however there doesn’t actually should be. The Sarentu comes with a built-in capacity to see enemy weak factors, that means that fight is as quick paced and crisp in the beginning of the sport because it’s going to be.

I additionally admire how low-key the “gamey” components are. There’s a restricted HUD that reveals you a basic well being and power meter, in addition to a compass which you’ll flip off in settings. Everything else solely seems once you use the in-game Na’vi senses (mainly Eagle Vision) to go searching. It’s clear and retains the participant’s eyes on the fantastic thing about the world round them. Does anybody keep in mind that previous King Kong FPS from 2005? Frontiers of Pandora’s HUD jogs my memory barely of that, particularly should you flip off the entire optionally available components.

Enough concerning the Resistance: The unhealthy stuff

Since everybody already is aware of how I really feel concerning the sport’s technical points, I received’t repeat them right here. The major drawback with Frontiers of Pandora itself is that, for a sport so exotically lovely and with a lot story promise, it’s fairly fundamental. It’s a by-the-numbers sandbox with a humdrum major story and a map filled with factors to find. Like I mentioned earlier than, I used to be wanting ahead to “basic” after a yr full of utmost highs and lows, however that doesn’t change the truth that the sport by no means exceeded my expectations.

The story itself can also be – effectively, I don’t need to say a “let down,” however there’s a glimmer of what may have been that will get smothered in banality fairly early within the sport. The Sarentu participant character comes throughout as earnest and heartfelt, desperately wanting to attach with Pandora’s residing spirit Eywa and their very own historical past. Had that been the sport’s story, I believe I might have loved it extra. Instead, they virtually instantly get shanghaied into serving to the Resistance, which feels prefer it calls for extra loyalty than it deserves.

The entire sport is about begging three Na’vi tribes to assist the Resistance, when it feels prefer it may have been concerning the Sarentu and their siblings studying extra about themselves and Pandora. The Na’vi they meet are actually prepared to show them till they begin blathering concerning the Resistance. This is my good distance of claiming not one of the facet characters are deep or fascinating and I failed to attach with nearly everybody other than the Sarentu’s siblings.

This is compounded by the truth that there’s no actual risk from the RDA. Yes, they’re colonizing Pandora and should be stopped, however there’s no sinister villain performed by Stephen Lang able to fly in and menace the Sarentu. There’s a villain – a besuited RDA pencil pusher and his navy lackey – however they solely make a couple of appearances and for probably the most half the participant character is battling faceless RDA troops. It begs the query, if one Na’vi (who’s barely a Na’vi) can take aside the RDA bases like they’re manufactured from LEGO, why do we’d like the tribes to cooperate with us so badly?

So must you play Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora?

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is at its finest when it’s letting the participant discover Pandora and be a Na’vi – in different phrases, when it’s giving any fan of the Avatar movies precisely what they need. The sandbox is so lovely that, in some other yr, I’d need to give it a prize for its artwork design and the in-game motion and navigation is ideal, significantly as soon as the participant will get a mount.

However, should you’re anticipating greater than a cookie-cutter sandbox title with boring characters and a narrative that doesn’t appear to go anyplace, then you definitely’ll in all probability be upset. As acknowledged, I can’t price the sport as a result of I can’t end it (I can barely play it), however from what I’ve seen, I doubt there are any big and spectacular surprises ready for me within the closing third or so of the sport.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is on the market on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Ubisoft gave GamesBeat a code for the needs of this “review.”