Avatar: The Burning Earth (DS) - Review

 Book 2: Earth

Console: Nintendo DS

Welcome to game 2 of my ‘Avatar Marathon’. What does my Avatar Marathon entail, you ask? Well, it’s me playing and reviewing the 4 Nintendo DS Avatar games from way back in the day SommecallmeJohnny style.

Avatar: The Burning Earth has a special place in the gaming corner of my heart. It was one of my favourite games as a kid. A part of the ‘big three’ with Pokémon Diamond and Ben 10: Vilgax Attacks. I can remember a day in which my brother had a slew of medical check-ups and, lacking a babysitter, I had to come along with my white Nintendo DS Lite and Avatar: The Burning Earth in hand. I started and finished the game in that single day. I was disappointed that it was over so fast but over the next couple of years, I played the games well over a dozen times. Learning its secrets, finding all collectables and becoming the only game I’ve ever 100%-ed.

My history with the game made me a bit… nervous about revisiting it. Thinking back about the game, its flaws jumped to the forefront of my mind and I started to fear that re-evaluation of the game would not be kind. I mean, Pokémon Diamond was the Pokémon game for me as a kid but these days it’s one of my least favourite titles.

I’m happy to report that while all those flaws my mind couldn’t stop thinking about are here, the game has a lot of good points too. It’s a marked improvement over its predecessor, enough so that I feel confident in saying it’s the better title.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

The Burning Earth adapts roughly all of the narrative-heavy episodes in the first half of Book 2: Earth with some additions from later in the season here as well mainly to make sure a certain plot point gets resolved. From the gang’s arrival in the Earth Kingdom and return to Omashu to Top joining the team and ending at the Fire Nation’s attempt to breach the walls of Ba Sing Se with their giant drill.

If going for an adaptation of the first half of season 2 instead of a new narrative like its predecessor is a good decision is up for debate. On the one hand, a new narrative feels much more exciting than just rethreading something you’ve already seen (better) in the show. On the other, as a kid, playing through the same adventure as Aang & the gang can be just as much fun.

Toph, the final member of Team Avatar and my favourite character, makes her debut.

Either way, the narrative is done well enough. In short, too short, but the adaptation is well done. It’s paced well enough, and the cuts and changes are noticeable if you know the story but are otherwise smooth and smartly chosen. The dialogue is once again basic but the personality of the characters shines through more; the (seemingly) more emotive sprites also help in this department. It boils down to personal preference if you think the narrative here is a step-down or not from the 1st game.

The length of the game is an issue. The game's story clocks in at just over 4 hours. With side content, it’s about double that. Tie-in game or not, for a full-priced DS game, that’s short. Again, I was disappointed as a kid when I finished it in one day and I think other kids will have the same reaction when they realise how quickly the story concludes.

Gameplay-wise, the game plays the same as its predecessor but with quite a few changes and adjustments that make for a smoother and more fun experience. The game is split between 3 different gameplay styles—exploration in an isometric overworld, combat sections and mini-games.

The overworld and the combat sections are, once again, where you’ll spend most of your time. In the overworld you run around in pairs as Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Toph, going from point A to B, visiting shops, exploring etc. It’s fun. The parts of the world you travel to each chapter are fairly decent in size. They’re fully explorable and pack in optional mini-games and side activities for you to do and now that you can go back to older areas in the post-game it’s a nice way to extend your time with the game after the narrative has wrapped up. Just make sure you have an extra save when you go into the drill; once you’re in there you can’t get out again.

You can now jump freely and also use your basic and certain special attacks in the overworld. Both are used to get to hidden areas, find items etc. This is a small change that doesn´t affect much but does allow you to interact more in the exploration sections. The camera control of ‘The Legend of Aang’ is gone; the game plays from a fixed perspective. That’s a bummer since, while it wasn’t a particularly good camera, it was still nice. There are some depth-perception issues here in the overworld that a controllable camera would’ve helped out with.

Combat has seen the most changes but at its core remains the same, simple system as it was.  Enemies run around all across the map and will run towards you to start a fight on separate screens. This time, you only get to control two characters instead of four, your basic attack chain caps at two attacks, the special block is gone, you can jump and the special meter is altered.

The combat is basically the same, safe some minor adjustments that do go quite a way in making it better.

Instead of one meter for all specials, you have a four-stage meter and each special attack requires a different amount of energy to use. With this system, you have to think a little bit more strategically; “will I use my meter for multiple smaller attacks or one big attack?”. Most importantly: the combat isn’t broken anymore. All those problems with hit detection, invincibility frames etc. are gone thank goodness. The battles are no longer a drag that holds the entire game down and should be avoided. They’re now just simple and fun but you do still get tired of them rather easily.

Luckily, there’s that 3rd pillar of the gameplay to bring some variety: mini-games. They are more plentiful here as well as more challenging and on the whole, I’d say they are better than in the ‘Legend of Aang’. I do think that putting nearly half of them in one of the game’s seven chapters wasn’t a good idea though; not good for the flow.

Presentation-wise; the game is doing just fine. Another department where it’s better than its predecessor. The rough-looking sprite work in the menus is patched up. They even made use of some JPEGs for the character selection and said character selection now shows your character’s stats like attack power. That you can now access your entire item storage in combat is a neat improvement though. No opening FMV though so that’s a bummer.

The Burning Earth once again has a 3D background where 2D character sheets are laid over. Kind of like a proto ‘HD-2D’ now that I think of it. It’s a simple trick but one that works well. I always found that it looked very nice and I still think that today.

The updated lower screen.

The sound design remains the same as in ‘The Legend of Aang’ but the actual music, as in town music etc., are now tunes lifted directly from the show. Not only does this lend itself to a more authentic experience but they just sound better than any of the tracks created specifically for this game.

Conclusion

Playing the Burning Earth again was a fun and smooth ride through memory lane for me. Even after all these years, it was like riding a bicycle. Only forgot the location of one cabbage. Short, flawed, but very sweet and I’m happy I went back to it.

Speaking more objectively the game is good for what it is; a tie-in game for kids. It is simple but it understood the assignment. It nails the atmosphere of fun gameplay for young kids with some good visuals and sound design. The adapted story from book 2, heavily cut down, leads to a very short game. Too short in my opinion: a chapter or 2 more would’ve easily been possible if you ask me. Cutting down the number of playable characters at one time from 4 to 2 is disappointing as well and the lack of moveable camera ditto.

That said, the game improves upon ‘The Legend of Aang’ in a lot of ways. The combat works, there’s music from the actual show and lots of quality-of-life updates. It’s the better package; while ‘The Legend of Aang’ is longer due to its unique narrative it was a slog to finish. ‘The Burning Earth’ is short but sweet. I do think buying it at full price back then was stretching it but in a sale or reduced priced it was a perfect pickup for an Avatar-loving kid. These days it’s still a good pick-up for someone nostalgic about the game or a new Avatar fan who has a (3)DS lying around.