Avatar by Gameloft is a platform/fighter that rises above that simple classification and conveys a wide-eyed sense of wonder by it’s beauty, graphical splendor and brilliant overall design to offer a game that you’re compelled to finish just to see what’s around the next corner.

  

Avatar creates a gorgeous and mysterious world for you to climb, jump, swing and fight through, full of beautifully designed creatures and lush foliage presented in a palette of colors, animations and sounds that offer a feast for your senses.  It’s probably one of the most beautiful games the Iphone has ever seen and also one of the best.  

You get to choose either a male or female avatar to take through 15 levels in Pandora two decades before the events of the movie.  The animations are nice and the controls are good except for a few difficulties during some of the jumping and platforming sections where finding the right angle can be frustrating and requires some trial and error.  The checkpoints are plentiful and divide the game into nicely sized bites.

  

You start off with a staff but soon pick up a bow and unexpectedly you’ll even find yourself with dual-wielding assault rifles to fight off the mechanical robots that start to appear.  There are plants that will regenerate your health and a magical Navi attack that deals area damage to multiple enemies but takes awhile to recharge.  You’ll also automatically upgrade your fighting skills along the way. Even with all the creatures making your journey uncomfortable, most of my retries came from the difficult and varied platforming or falling into poisonous plants.

  

Avatar is long and deep in gameplay.  Along the way you’ll enter a Navi village where you’ll get to interact with the villagers, explore a large open valley while riding a horse and complete quests for the villagers.  It’s a surprising addition that breaks up the gameplay and gives an epic feel to the game.

There is a narrative story similar to the movie that drives the game and leads you to the islands in the sky to capture and ride a banshee.  The flying could of benefited from the use of the Iphone’s accelerometer but there’s only one control option available in Avatar.

  

With it’s ease of play, wonderment, variety and grand design Avatar stretches the boundaries of gaming on the Iphone and despite some minor control issues is highly recommended and gets 5 stars.


goyami@comcast.net