Yes I said Bender – Follow ol’ arrow head around the Earth Kingdom!
If, like me, you wake up of a Saturday morning to Jammie and Anna on CITV you will know all about Avatar. With little Aang, the last Air Bender (no sniggering in the back thank you…yes I said bender) and his gang roaming around the world on a mission to defeat the evil Fire Nation. Also like me you will know that it is actually pretty deep for a kids cartoon, with well developed characters and well told stories.
So I was pretty excited to see Avatar – The Burning Earth when it dropped through my letter box. To be fair I wasn’t that disappointed either.
For the most part this is a fun distraction
Taking the story into Book 2 Aang, now a master of Air and Water bending, is travelling to the Earth Kingdom to learn how to Earth Bend. But of course nothing is that easy and soon he discovers that the Earth Kingdom is rife with Fire Nation warriors. Using his own skills and the skills of his companions he must learn the ways of Earth Bending and rid the Earth Kingdom of the fire nation. With him are his pals Sokka and Katara, both of whom are playable, as well as his Winged Lemur Momo and the ever present Appa the flying bison.
The Burning Earth is at it’s heart a simple RPG. As you wander about you will need to complete missions set by various non playable characters. These will vary through the game, but mostly consist of your classic “Collect and Return” game play. On your way you will encounter Fire Nation warriors whom you must either defeat or avoid.
Controls are basic, with attack and jump being the most important. The only problem here is the perspective on certain platform like sections. It will look like you are dead on target, jump and miss by a mile!!
The combat system is fun if a little simple. You have at your disposal a basic hit attack. Pressing attack will swipe out at your foe with what ever basic bending move is appropriate to your character. The real fun comes when you have gained Bending points. These allow you to execute special bending moves. At first you are only have one of these at your disposal, but as you level up you will gain more and more. There is a slight problem with some of them, accuracy. Playing as Katara, you can use a water move that will actually miss if you are standing right in front of your attacker; you need to be slightly off to the side! This not withstanding, it is a fun system.
Each enemy has a unique style, from you basic spear men to your Fire Bending masters, each will present a unique challenge. The AI is a little dim but provides a nice distraction from the adventuring.
Speaking of brief distractions, there are of course the obligatory DS style mini games. These are in a mighty change from the normal mini games you get, really fun.
Presentation is pleasant if not ground breaking. The game for the most part is a 3D top down affair, which lends its self well to this style of RPG. The backgrounds and characters are all detailed and more importantly recognisable! Sound wise there is not much to say. The soundtrack is a little tedious, but you do get some proper voice over’s at key moment in the game.
If you are a fan of the cartoon then this will be of interest to you. The characters are mostly accounted for (yes Toph is playable as well) and the story follows the cartoon, albeit a little loosely. What you will be disappointed by is the length, around 6-7 hours of game play. This s short even for a DS RPG.
For the most part this is a fun distraction that should appeal to any one with an interest in the adventures of our little arrow headed friend. Now let me count how many times I managed to say bender in this review!!
The Bad: Short and a bit flaky in places
