Book 3: Fire
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| Console: Nintendo DS |
Avatar: The Burning Earth was one of my
favourite games as a kid so naturally, I was very excited about the prospect of
a sequel. I was anxiously awaiting for the inevitable adaption of book 3,
thinking about what special moves they’d give Zuko, what chapters they would
adapt etc. I even made my own custom game cover with crayons and such. I was
looking forward to it.
When the third game was released though I was
thoroughly disappointed. The game went in a completely different direction. The
gameplay was changed so it made far more use of the touchscreen and the art
style was changed to a 3D chibi affair. I played it, but I didn’t like it.
Thought it was a downgrade in every way. The only positive memory I have of it
was the final boss fight against Ozai.
A friend of mine did like it though and when
the game came up in conversation a while back, I was intrigued by his stance on
the title. Honestly, that conversation is where my idea for this Avatar
marathon started. It made me want to revisit and reevaluate these titles.
So, have my thoughts changed in these last 10+
years? Well, no. Not really. I can see more positives than I did back in the
day but I still think ‘Into the Inferno’ isn’t a game worth your time
Let’s dive in.
Into the Inferno is a very basic retelling of
book 3 of the show. It covers around half the season across its 12 levels. From
the opening of the season to the boiling rock prison break to, naturally, the
coming of Sozin´s comet and Aangs final clash with Fire Lord Ozai. I use the
words ´basic retelling´ because the narrative elements in this title are as
barebones as they get. Short cutscenes without a lot of (integrate) movement with
text shown on the bottom screen.
The narrative choices also leave something to
be desired. The game is made for kids so having a story with lots of
complicated and long text is not something you want but ‘Into the Inferno’ goes
too far the other way. By simplifying it all to the extent they have you end up
with a narrative that’s so barebones it loses its nuance and tension. It’s also
hilariously too humorous. This game adapts the darkest episode in the series,
the blood-bending episode in which the bad guy is basically a serial killer,
and with its effort to make everything funny, you end up with a story that has
every bit of personality filed off.
Gameplay-wise, the title makes extensive use
of the touchscreen. It plays and looks a lot like The Legend of Zelda: Phantom
Hourglass in that you use the touchscreen for everything. Movement, combat,
puzzle solving etc. You just press your stylus on the screen and Aang & the
gang will move in that direction. You touch a switch and your character will
hit it. You touch an enemy and you will attack them. It’s that simple. It’s a style
that has been criticised a lot in the past, like for how it can be painful to a
player’s hand, but this very simple-to-understand style is perfect for the
young kids the game targets. It’s just that it doesn’t always quite register
where your tapping. Couple that with a game that’s not that stable, in the
sense that it’s very finnicky with hit detection and it’s not uncommon to fall
through the floor, and you’ve got another frustration.
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| By drawing a path on the touchscreen you draw out the path of Sokka's boomerang. A good implementation of the touch controls. |
Where the previous games were action/exploration titles ‘Into the Inferno’ is an environmental puzzle game first and foremost. You control two characters at once and you navigate them through each level which is set up like somewhat of a maze. There are twists, there are turns and more often than not puzzles. From a stream of lava that needs to be crossed to getting a higher platform to figuring out how to open a gate. Solving these little puzzles to progress, or snag a collectable, is what you’ll mostly be doing.
You solve these puzzles by interacting with the environment, using your bending to ‘bend’ water pools and the like, choosing to split your characters up and play around with each character’s unique abilities. Aang can make mini-tornadoes and can also move earth blocks around. Katara is able to make ice bridges and ice blocks as well as blood bend. Sokka's boomerang can stun enemies and reach objects by following the path you draw. Toph can move earth blocks and metal blocks or raise columns. Zuko, finally, can make a line of fire.
The puzzles are on the weak side. See a fence, there must be a switch nearby. See a pool of water and you know you need to create an ice bridge. It doesn’t get any more difficult than that. For the game's target audience, very young kids, the complexity is fine. For older kids, though it quickly becomes boring. Not enough variety though some of the latter puzzles do tease your brain a fair bit. Kids will be proud once they figure the solution out. I know I was back in the day.
Battles are a thing but they take place sporadically and are rather hands-off. A few times per level enemies will swarm in. The only thing you’ll be doing is tapping them to attack or using your bending to pick up a blob of water, earth etc. to hit them. After three hits, they’re down. The only variation is when enemies are behind something, either a shield or an obstacle, and you have to ‘open them up' to damage them. It gets tedious quickly. Boss battle fair better. They are heavily puzzle-focused and while a bit tedious they are fun most of the time and can be rather exciting. The Azula and Ozai fight, in particular, is not just a highlight in the boss battle category, but a highlight of the entire game.
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| The boss fights are generally fun and, in my opinion, the best moments of the title. |
A field where this game is undoubtedly better than its predecessors is the multiplayer features. You can play the entire game in co-op: each player controls one of the two characters. It makes the entire affair a lot more fun. There’s also a mini-game to tackle, volleyball, which you can even do if player 2 doesn’t have the game through DS download play. With the numerous amount of costumes for this mode, you’d almost think that the developers put more effort into this than they did the narrative or music.
Let’s tackle the music, alongside the graphics, next. The music is bad. Very generic, short, repetitive etc. Like it has been reused from another game. The graphics are fine. As I already said, the character models chibi-style. Small bodies with oversized heads, the same style as the cartoon shorts Nickelodeon made. It’s not my cup of tea but it’s not a bad graphic style in and of itself.
Conclusion
This conclusion comes in two parts. For little kids back in the day, think 5-7, the game is fine. The gameplay is easy to grasp, the cartoon/humorous style is appealing to them I imagine and the lack of text and quick pace and general difficulty is perfect for kids. Nothing too taxing though nothing too special either. For anybody older than, say, 9, I wouldn’t bother with the title. Too simple, too rough around the edges and quite frankly too boring. It has bright spots, better integration of the touchscreen and multiplayer features, but even nostalgia won’t carry this one, unlike the first game.
What bothers me as well as the lack of originality. I thought of the Phantom Hourglass comparison as the best way to describe the gameplay but once I had made this comparison it then dawned on me how similar these two titles actually were. The gameplay, the graphics, the chibi (or should I say toon) world and the character models. It all reeks of Phantom Hourglass and not in the ‘it inspired by’ way but in an uninspired ‘we just did what they did kind of way. Makes me more disappointed that the style that I liked was replaced by this.
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