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Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth: Reviews

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Game Score: 5/10

The first GBA Avatar game was a mediocre Zelda clone that failed to satisfy a fan of the series like me. This new game, taking place during the second season of the show, does away with the exploration and the sidequests and thus becomes more action-oriented. It's also pretty short, spanning only seven stages and about three hours of playing time. It's not a horrible game but I can't say it does the series justice and it's a pretty average title.

The gameplay is pretty simple: six of the stages are played with a two-person party (with one solo mission) . You can switch between the characters whenever you want and you can also make them do a support move to help you out. It's a neat system but it's not exploited very well. There are six playable characters, two of which have only one move and the rest two. The limited number of techniques you're given is a big let-down and it's also one of the reasons The Burning Earth is such a tedious and uninspired release.

The game is basically split into two parts: lacklustre side-scrolling beat-em-up action and...hitting switches. I'm serious, most of the "puzzles" involve different (but recycled) setups of switches that have to be hit in order to proceed. There are a few other "challenges" between fights, but that's what I remember most. It's obvious that this game was made for kids as it's usually not hard at all to figure out how to solve those switch puzzles (though there are a few tricky exceptions).

The action portion of the game is limited due to the lack of moves you can do and the fact that most characters' "attacks" aren't very efficient. With the exception of Zuko and Sokka, who both have decent multi-hit attacks, nobody is really suited for combat. Considering the fact that more than half of the time is spent fighting, it's no wonder that I didn't have much fun klling soldier after soldier.

Overall, The Burning Earth is a typical cash-in title to a popular show, though it's not the worst offender in this category. It's simply a ho-hum offering from a developer uninterested or unwilling to put enough time and effort to make a good game. In the end, it doesn't succeed as either a series tie-in or as a beat-em-up game.