V Rising is similar as players explore this open-world survival as a newly awoken vampire. They therefore must learn how to explore and survive safely as a vampire while also avoiding the dangers such as the forever appearing daylight hours and other foes that may wish to destroy t

Which isn’t a bad idea, and Avatar’s range of exploration and combat fits snugly into the blueprint, especially when you are on the side of one faction vying for territory against another. You’ll take over outposts by completing some pedestrian objectives, or save wildlife from patrolling grunts while exploring the world. There are also resources to gather, locals to help with everyday problems, and discoveries around which are designed much like modern Assassin’s Creed games. Although, most of these were already taken care of in the portion of the world I was allowed to explore, so it was hard to get an accurate idea of what moment-to-moment gameplay would be like aside from scripted missions. It wasn’t ideal, but Pandora remains a gorgeously massive place.

Besides being able to freely travel by horse across an authentic look at the west while deciding if Arthur is going to continue his outlaw ways through robbing trains and stores, or leaving the majority of that beh

The Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora approach might even improve on some criticisms of the film by getting away from the baggage of a "white savior" narrative, setting a Na'vi Vs RDA on the path to be the hero of her people rather than a character from another world. Her unfamiliarity with her own planet will let players experience the thrill of a first flight like Jake Sully's banshee ride in the original film without having to retread the movie's central gimmick. The word "avatar" may not even be particularly relevant here, but the focus on finding a way to reveal a new world to the audience is definitely being targeted once m

Although not much focus has been put on the feature in the game's announcements and gameplay reveals so far, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora can, alongside single-player mode, be played online in two-player co-op. As is the case with another Ubisoft FPS series, Far Cry , players will be able to join their friends at will, with the option to drop in and help each other with the occasional level, or to fight side-by-side throughout the entire game's campa

The first thing I noticed when jumping into the game was how much of its control scheme and gameplay mechanics feel transplanted from Ubisoft’s long-running open-world series. I can pull back a bow similarly, or sprint forward to clamber up platforms in ways that feel almost identical. You can’t shake the similarities, so much so that it wouldn’t be a stretch to label Frontiers of Pandora as a licensed side project, one that takes an existing universe and applies the Far Cry model to it.

When trying to track down an objective, instead of a map marker you are given a handful of generic descriptors that are meant to encourage natural exploration of the world, but in most cases I would simply follow the quest icon and walk around awkwardly until I stumbled upon what I was searching for. Pandora is a fairly homogenous mixture of bright colours and alien fauna, meaning it was difficult to pinpoint proper landmarks or feel like I was making a mark on a place I would come to fondly memorise. It felt like an extra hurdle, and one that doesn’t do enough to differentiate itself from its contemporaries. Sprinting can feel weirdly slow too, making on-foot traversal of Pandora a bit of an afterthought once you have access to a flying mount who can be summoned from literally anywhere. When I could fast travel or soar into the sky, walking around on my lanky blue legs didn’t feel worth the trouble without knowing exactly what side missions would await me on the ground.

**Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora ** is Ubisoft's upcoming game set in the world of James Cameron's hugely successful Avatar franchise. When not adjusted for inflation, the Avatar movies are some of the highest-grossing movies of all time, with the first Avatar recently reclaiming the top spot from Avengers Endgame after some cinematic re-releases, and its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water breaking records upon its release in 2

Your mileage with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will vary depending on two things: your love for Far Cry, and your love for Avatar. If you’re the only person on this planet who loves both of these things more than anything, then I have some amazing news. Otherwise, this feels like a visually stunning open-world game without the mechanical or narrative depth required to help it stand out in a year of masterpieces. I want to see more from the full game, but only for the benefit of my doubt that it offers something beyond these lukewarm initial impressions.

Currently, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora seems to be a current-gen exclusive. It will release on Amazon's cloud-based gaming platform, Amazon Luna, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5, with players on the latter console receiving exclusive access to the Aranahe Warrior Pack for free at launch. There’s been no word regarding any support for previous-gen hardware or a Nintendo Switch release for the game, and a release on these platforms seems highly unlikely with Ubisoft's press release stating that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora had been exclusively developed to maximize the power of new-gen consoles and