Recently one of my friends told me about a pretty good cartoon on Nickelodeon that is worth checking out entitled Avatar: The Last Airbender. The story takes place on a world where power is balanced among four Nations: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. Various people in each of the nations have the ability to manipulate their native elements. There is one person in the entire world, the Avatar, which is able to master all four elements, and it is their duty to maintain world peace.

When the last Avatar died, the Fire Nation decided war on the entire world, and there goal is to eliminate all of the other nations so that they can rule the world for all eternity. One hundred years have passed, and all hope was lost since the Avatar was no where to be seen until one day Katara (a Waterbender) and her brother, Sokka, find Aang the last Airbender (who is also the Avatar) trapped in an iceberg.  After getting Aang free it is up to them to stop the malicious Fire Nations plans of world domination before it is too late.

The game follows the plot of the television show pretty closely; in fact the game picks up around events that happen toward the end of the first season and going into the second. The game falls in a beat-em-up action game that is similar to X-Men Legends (although no where as deep) with the way you can upgrade your characters throughout the game. During the course of the game you will have four characters you can control: Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Haru. They each have their own way of getting things done as well as forms of weapons. For instance, Katara is a Waterbender that can also heal your party, which is really helpful later on in the game.

The missions in this game are really straight forward. Many times various characters will have a blue icon above their head and give you a mission to complete such as saving a character or getting them oil for a lamp. There are also missions that involve Momo (a pet of Aang) finding various items throughout each of the levels. Momo can find various things that the other characters can’t find. Since he is so small and inconspicuous many enemies will disregard that he is there. There are also treasures hidden all throughout the levels, and when you get close the controller will rumble and eventually got into “focus” mode where you have to press buttons at a certain time to get the treasure. It is small things like this that provide a nice distraction from defeating hordes of enemies.

The graphics for this game are really disappointing. After playing many other cartoon/anime to game conversions, this one does not stack up. The entire look and feel doesn’t really have the oomph that many other games have. The biggest problem is that the environments are really desolate and seem to be lacking in many areas. Also the characters are not as detailed as in the cartoon, from color to facial animations. This is really disappointing to see. Fans of the series might be able to overlook this fact, especially since this game is targeted towards a younger gaming audience.

Another issue is that you really don’t feel that you are providing those hard hits in the game as when you compare it to the television show. This seems to be a problem with the collision detection. It really shows up when you perform a super move since it doesn’t feel like you have done anything that spectacular.

The music in this game is adequate and seems to borrow from the show. The developers did manage to get the voiceovers from the television show to portray their in-game characters which makes the game feel more like the show. The one-liners that the characters are well known for also make it into the game and will make the game feel special to the shows fans.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is rated for Everyone and contains cartoon violence. It will take up to 25 blocks on your memory card for game saves.

Gameplay: 5.9
The gameplay is pretty solid, but it gets old fast and really doesn’t do anything special.

Graphics: 6.1
The graphics are pretty disappointing as they do not look just like the original characters on the television show. The environments are pretty sparse as well.

Sound: 6.5
The developers got the voice actors from the show to portray their in-game counterparts which is a big plus to fans of the show. The music is also decent.

Difficulty: Easy
This game is made with kids in mind so it is exceptionally easy to beat.

Concept: 5.8
This game is a straight up action game with no real additions that make it stand up above the rest.

Overall: 5.9
Avatar: The Last Airbender is a game that was made for a younger gamer audience, and that is fine in itself. If the developers took a little more time and fleshed out the game more it would have been so much better, especially since Aang can fly in the television show but can’t in the game. If you are a fan of the show and have little ones at home they will get plenty of enjoyment out of it, otherwise it will be best to skip this game.