Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an action-adventure game rather than a full MMORPG, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be microtransactions. Ubisoft has a history of over-monetizing its games, with Far Cry 6 being a recent example of mostly single-player games that suffered from online stores and premium currencies. There’s nearly no doubt that for even a single-player experience, there will be monetization available in Frontiers of Pando
Although the game's namesake is the planet of Pandora, it would be fascinating to take a look at the state of our home planet during the time period in which it's set. How rough is the Earth's condition at this point? Is there any sympathy to be had for humans looking for a new home, or have they overreached and drained the planet of its resources, moving on to Pandora with the hopes of treating it in a similar man
Maps in expansive story-based open-world games like Frontiers of Pandora have multiple games worth of content spread out across the world, and players may want to skip past flying to their questline’s destination. It’s not common, but a system that trades premium currency for the ability to warp to new locations could be integrated into Frontiers of Pandora to bridge the gap between these massive biomes. While it's likely that cosmetics for these vehicles and animals will be locked behind microtransactions, there's a real chance that the transport itself will be restricted as w
Flying feels incredible, though, and goes a long way in conveying the sheer vastness of this world. Your Ikran isn’t limited to the clouds, but can soar far above them until it flirts with the precipice of space, all before flying back down in a process that not only takes minutes, but teases parts of the map I wasn’t allowed to explore yet, and couldn’t wait to uncover. It’s hard to ignore what Frontiers of Pandora is going for in its design philosophy, and how much of it fails to offer up anything new. But if it manages to flesh out the world of Avatar and its many ideas just enough, those shortcomings could be forgiven. There is a unique appeal to being dropped in a licensed game that goes beyond being a tie-in, and wants to push the universe further with its own spin on things, although it’s hard to tell how compelling its ideas can really be when the gameplay it relies on is made up of things we’ve seen so many times before, and also done better elsewhere.
The RDA has a variety of tools at their disposal to accomplish their goals. Their entire security division is practically an army capable of outmatching most countries. In terms of weapons, they can access just about anything short of nuclear bombs (the one thing they're prohibited from using off of Earth). Assault rifles, flamethrowers, machine guns, and explosives are all fair game. Their forces range from ground infantry to mechsuits. One of their most dangerous weapons is the SA-2 Samson, a rotorwing aircraft with concerning amounts of firepo
The RDA also has an extensive range of non-military equipment, a lot of which could be described as bigger, more advanced versions of machines used in modern construction and mining such as excavators, bulldozers, and dumptrucks. Both automated and manually-operated vehicles are used in the goal of mining unobtan
Combat is also very easy , or it at least it was in the preview build. Human mechs that I recall taking out dozens of Na’vi in the films can be downed with three arrows or fewer than a full magazine of bullets in Frontiers of Pandora, turning outposts into a cakewalk. You are also very tall, so human enemies can be brushed aside with a light punch unless they’re hiding in the mountains or atop tall platforms aiming snipers at you. Even as a new species in a video game that could easily expand on the types of technology and weapons they have access to, Massive hasn’t done much here to take advantage of that. I can use some sort of cool launcher that can fling poisonous or explosive projectiles, but when it’s more of a chore to use than existing weapons, there wasn’t much of a point. Much of it feels uninspired.
Frontiers of Pandora has the potential to allow us an even closer look at the ways these segmented Na'vi differ from one another. While it wouldn't be surprising for director James Cameron to save newer types of Na'vi vs rda for the films, it would also be thrilling to have the opportunity to explore the differences that exist even among the various forest and ocean tribes that we know
Gear is sorted by rarity, and the majority of things can be crafted at tables or your inventory. Bases are scattered around the open world as sources of quests and bastions of safety. My heart was hoping for an exciting new standout feature that would spring forth and impress me, or showcase what Avatar aims to do differently aside from throwing us onto an alien planet with a flying alien horse and loads of sick bows and arrows instead of Montana or Yara. There’s a chance it could, and there’s more than enough verticality in its environments to craft distinct combat encounters and quests, but will it do that? Or will it stick to the safer confines of almost every other open-world game?
