Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of those momentous animations that arrived in the early aughts and took the world by storm. At the time, Nickelodeon’s new series was unlike anything seen before and featured an up-and-coming voice cast led by the creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
And the shocker is that the original series ran for just three years despite covering a wealth of situations as Team Avatar came together to stop Fire Lord Ozai from taking over the natural world under the rule of the Fire Nation.
And then we got a sequel series, and a series of very bad video games. That’s all changed now that Gameplay Group International delivers a pretty fun and technical fighting game that’s rough around the edges. For all Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game does well, it’s bookended by baffling onboarding and obtuse tutorialization. In short, this is a good video game that needs some updates to be great.
EDITOR’S NOTE: It has come to my attention that this game was developed with help from Mike Zaimont, the former CEO of Lab Zero Games. He’s been accused of some pretty nasty things, which I’ve linked in an article from when he was working on Skullgirls.
Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game Is A Sound Fighting Game
While I’m not an affluent fighting game aficionado, I do regularly play Street Fighter 6, Soul Calibur, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Tekken 8. I have my favourite characters and movesets, and I really enjoy the thrill of overcoming opponents that clearly punch above my weight.
Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game is a fast-paced and fresh experience translating the four elemental bending methods to screen in a unique fighting game. For fans of the anime (or the off-kilter Netflix live-action adaptation), this game is beautifully rendered with hand-drawn animation that does a wonderful job of bringing these beloved characters to life.
It’s insane just how much I connected with the animation as I was in a match as Aang vs. Zuko or Korra vs. Zaheer. The work here works well and plays like it would if you were watching an episode or two of the animated series. The attention to detail in how Aang moves is right out of the series, how Toph digs into the earth to use her bending, even how the flames flicker around Zuko —these little details make a huge difference.
The control scheme is tied to light, medium, heavy, and Flow stance —all of which can be chained together to create combos. It’s pretty straightforward if you’ve played a fighting game before, but that’s where it ends, and there’s even an auto-combo available for newcomers.
The Flow Stance Is A Wicked Mechanic
The Flow stance is Avatar’s real standout and one of the best things about the game. Essentially, every character can use the Flow mechanic, and it helps differentiate their movements and skills, which can lead to crazy encounters that will keep you on your toes. Whether by automatically defending attacks when neutral or directional, the Flow mechanic adapts, like with Zuko’s fire expel to move over attacks or have Toph gracefully dodge a barrage of incoming attacks.
It’s easily such a highlight of the game that I’m excited to really focus on each character’s abilities to see who I resonate with the most. So far though, I’m really enjoying Toph and Korra as my go-to characters.
It’s all tied to an energy meter you must keep in mind when in battle. The meter is used for EX specials and super and final techniques. You can store up to five points at a time and earn them by attacking opponents, landing throws, and dodging. Depending on how you play, you can either bank these for specials or use them to get out of a sticky situation like being cornered.
A fighting game like this one feels like it rewards those who play offensively more than anything. You need to be moving, be vigilant in your surroundings, and take full advantage of the Flow stance to counter and retaliate against other players. It’s so rewarding having a combo actually connect and nearly wipe out the other player’s health bar.
I wanted to brush on the story, which was written by Michael Dante DiMartino and series writer Tim Hedrick. It’s not bad by any means but it feels like a filler episode where Harmonic Convergence allows the situation unfolding to actually happen. This is how you can have Aana and Korra brawl it out without the lore being destroyed.
Circling back to the roster, it’s a good start for the series. We do know that there is support for the first year, which will add Bolin, Ty Lee, Lin Beifong, and Uncle Iroh. There is a fifth character to be revealed at a later date. Each character includes three support characters to supplement their combat, with, of course, alternate costumes and colours to select from. In this case, the support characters are pretty impressive given that they can turn the tide when in the right hands.
For all the praise I’m heaping on this game, it lacks good tutorialization. I really get the best experience when I can spend a few hours learning the ropes, the timing, and so on. Here, though, there is a lack of onboarding. To get the best tutorial, you have to select a random character and then go through the steps provided or face other characters while not entirely sure of the mechanics.
Verdict
Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game includes all the elements for a standout experience within the Avatar universe — excellent mechanics, a good roster, a solid roster, and attention to detail. However, it has some growing pains that need to be addressed with obtuse tutorials that really need revision to drive home the basics for those looking for them. And despite a story written by the series’ creators, it leaves a lot of potential on the table.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
