The Avatar games are an interesting example of a developer iterating their design over the course of a series. I discovered that Halfbrick, in going from their first Avatar game on GBA to their second, streamlined their game and made it more action-focused, trimming RPG elements. Turns out THQ Australia did a similar thing for their second console entry.

The game is now shifted in a co-operative action-platformer direction. There’s still an experience bar but levelling up is simpler, and there are no persistent items besides collectible health potions. They seem to have strived to make the game more accessible and child-friendly, and as a result it can come across as simplistic at times. Fortunately there are improvements, such as much nicer looking and better animated cutscene models, and a slightly deeper combat system with button combos for different moves; fights still amount to mashing though.

A concern with this game is it simply rehashing the plot of Book 2 instead of telling its own story. This is somewhat mollified by having unique dialogue and a rearranged story; for example, the Fire Nation drill attack is foreshadowed heavily and serves as a motivation and the climax of the game (this is the same as the DS game). This adjustment at least added interest to how they would tell the story. Plus there were weird additions like the Omashu governor being an expert firebender, or having Jet, Iroh, and even Momo as playable characters on certain stages (Momo has the ability to throw cabbages at will!). There’s also plot added to the swamp with the Fire Nation dumping waste there, and Jet helping you clean it up (revealing in the process that after the Freedom Fighters disbanded they started helping Earth Kingdom refugees, much like the Kyoshi Warriors).

The real problem with the game, and my co-op buddy’s main complaint, was the motion controls. Characters’ ranged attacks would trigger accidentally, and “focus move” spots required specific fiddly motions that were a pain to get right. The PS2 and Xbox360 versions would obviously avoid this problem.

Being always on the lookout for anything adaptations can add to the universe, I can report that enemies in the game included some kind of warty beaver-rat in various sizes, found in the swamp and Omashu sewer, as well as giant spiders. The Library of Wan Shi Tong also had to include fights, so now there are statues that come to life and can bend fire and earth.

This game has potential but it’s hampered by being overly easy and by its frustrating motion controls. There’s still interest for Avatar fans but in this case the contest between the console version and the DS version is closer, and the GBA one loses out. The console one is a little shorter and probably a better overall package, though (but not having played the DS one for a long time, my memory’s a little hazy).