Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth is an adventure game published and developed in 2007 by THQ, particularly its Australian subsidiary. It was released for GBA, Nintendo DS, Playstation 2, Wii and Xbox 360.The company also responsible for bringing to the world of video games other franchises such as Spongebob not only created this title, but was involved in all the entries of Avatar in circulation.

The adventure based on the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender is located in the same canonical universe where the show progresses. The story is centered on four chapters where Aang, the main character, goes through a new location for each one. In the first part he passes through the Earth Kingdom Fortress.

Then, he heads to the Fire Nation. In the third chapter, the avatar is on his way to the swamp. Finally, Aang's last target is the Earthing Kingdom City of Gaoling. Later the adventure continues in various sequels, such as Avatar: The Last Airbender - Into the Inferno, among others.

A game for children or adults?

The game style is very much oriented to fighting mixed with the resolution of riddles, as an infinitely more innocent version of the classic Playstation Soul Reaver. On the other hand, it has a cooperative system to solve the puzzles in which players can rotate between the characters of the series that they know very well, giving it a plus of complexity and forcing the user to work as a team with the other character. In addition to this, several game modes are presented, such as controlling Aang while he's on top of his pet Appa, and just like in the acclaimed Spyro: Year of the dragon, they go through several rings while flying and attacking all enemies in their path.

With regard to the difficulty, it is managed in a way that is very accessible. The fist attack combos are made with a single button and the Avatar powers give the protagonist a very big advantage over the enemies. This may be because, as the developers admitted in an interview where they were criticized for the ease of obtaining achievements, the instalment is intended for children and should not present a real challenge to the adult gamer.

The safe bet

The graphics of the game are not at all risky. THQ preferred to go for the simplest and look for the closest possible resemblance to the tv series. A small change they implemented is the 3D modeling of the characters, a slightly darker color tone and some shadows that are more present compared to the original. The sound, corresponding to the stated target of the adventure, varies between innocent and happy music and childish and somewhat exaggerated sound effects.

The reception of the game was generally negative, very criticized by the achievement system and the lack of complexity in the fights and attack combos of the characters. Similarly, the delivery is fun and simple, so fans of the series and casual players will enjoy it.