Avatar: Far Cry of Pandora (Ubisoft)

[Max Peck]

I'll change the title to Frontiers of Pandora when Ubisoft proves me wrong...

Scheduled for release on 7 Dec 2023.

[Blackhawk]

I think the title will stand. It's all Ubisoft knows how to do anymore.

[Max Peck]

I'll still play it, I love me some Far Cry. There were just some things that they showed in the presentation (fighting as an insurgent and clearing enemy bases to take control of territory in particular) that struck me as having a fair bit of Far Cry DNA.

[hepcat]

As long as I can spend hours crouched in a shrub hurling raw meat into an enemy camp and giggling like a loon as various wildlife attack everyone there after doing so, I'm in.

Seriously...hours. I'm a moron.

[Daehawk]

Ya that was fun in Primal.

Wow this looks amazingly fun. Is this a single player story game or a instanced based mmo?

[Max Peck]

IGN: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - The First Preview

Since its gameplay reveal earlier this year, it’s been hard to shake the idea that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is essentially a Far Cry game with a sci-fi setting. That’s not an incorrect assumption for several reasons; this is a wilderness-set first-person game with plants to harvest, animals to hunt, outposts to assault, and items to be crafted. But during a recent two-hour hands-on I discovered that Frontiers of Pandora has a more interesting set of ideas built atop that Far Cry skeleton. I certainly never expected to put the controller down and be thinking more about Mirror’s Edge and Horizon: Zero Dawn than I was about the classic Ubisoft formula.

[Daehawk]

looks really cool.

[coopasonic]

Tomorrow. I watched about 5 minutes on twitch this morning and it sure looks like an Ubisoft game with giant blue people. I'll probably pick it up out of lack of anything else to play.

[Max Peck]

My level of interest is currently at "Subscribe to Ubisoft+ and play it for a month. But not this month." I enjoy all the Ubisoft open world games, but I'm not lacking for gaming options just now. It probably helps that I've never seen the films, so the franchise itself isn't a big draw for me.

[Rumpy]

This seems like it might be a hit with the mainstream, hitting a different market segment than those that usually play the Far Cry games. But on the other hand, I've heard little buzz on this, and it's felt like it just quietly released, so who knows. The only reason I know this is even a thing are due to the commercials for it via streaming services.

[Skinypupy]

Looks kinda interesting. Doubt it's something I'd buy at full price, but definitely goes on the wishlist for a sale

[YellowKing]

Waiting on reviews to determine whether I pay full price, Ubisoft+ it, or just wait.

I do love my Ubisoft open world stuff, but I'm right in the middle of AC: Valhalla and just started Days Gone so I may be at an open world saturation point at the moment.'

[Update] Gamespot gives it an 8/10. Looks like even their negatives aren't all that bad, so looks promising.

[YellowKing]

Ok I took a chance on this one and signed up for a month of Ubisoft+ to try it out.

So far, thumbs up from me. Here's a breakdown:

THE GOOD:

- Visually, very impressive. The world of Pandora is teeming with plant and animal life, and not an inch of the world feels empty. There is detail everywhere.

- They really did a great job making you feel like a Na'vi and not a human player with a cosmetic skin. The Na'vi are 10 feet tall, and you will find yourself stooping to get into human-sized spaces. And when you do run into humans, you tower over them. When you get out into the wild, things really feel unique in that you can leap, climb, and run across the world in a way that would feel very unrealistic if you were playing a human but feels just right as a Na'vi.

- Combat is good. While you do have access to human weapons, and they are pretty powerful, the obvious focus of the game is using your primitive weapons to take down a more advanced race. This is where the game feels a lot like Far Cry: Primal, using your bow to take headshots and using stealth where possible. The human guns will rip you to shreds, and facing a lot of enemies head on is a good way to get killed in short order. On the other hand, the game doesn't force you into a pure stealth playstyle. You *are* stronger and much faster than the humans, so you can rush them or just evade in tight situations. And the primitive weapons do not feel powerless - bows can one-shot a typical soldier, and can even take down mechs and air ships. Your Na'vi senses can identify weak points on enemies that do extra damage or even one shot kills, which feels a lot like Horizon: Zero Dawn.

- While I'm not far enough in to know if the story is all that good, I will say this game has probably done more to invest me in the world of Avatar in 3 hours than both movies did. I feel like I'll actually be looking forward to Avatar 3 after finishing this, because the whole culture and world of Pandora makes more sense to me already.

THE MEH:

- The first hour or so feels really on rails, so you just have to grind it out as they show you the ropes. Don't worry, things do start to open up eventually and you'll have multiple quest lines to pursue (or the option to just set out and explore on your own).

- The game gives you the option at the start to have guided quests with waypoints, etc. or an exploration mode where you have to find your quest objectives with only vague clues. Even choosing the former option, it can get confusing at times as to where you need to go. The world map is pretty horrible with no way to zoom that I've found, and it's difficult to judge distances on it. You can place your own waypoints which is pretty straightforward, but they don't clear automatically so you may occasionally find yourself chasing an old waypoint you forgot you didn't remove.

To add to this, the natural world of Pandora doesn't always provide the obvious path to get somewhere. Need to scale a cliff? There may only be one way to get up there, involving finding the right tree with the right mushrooms growing around it that will allow you to get higher. I wouldn't say it's super frustrating or anything; it's just mildly annoying at times trying to figure out where the developers expect you to go.

OVERALL: So far, so good. If you like the Far Cry games, that's about as close a series as I can compare this to. However, I think they did a great job making it feel like its own thing, and not just an Avatar skin on top of a Far Cry game. I'm really enjoying the challenge of combat (it's not difficult per se, but you have to be on your toes).

It remains to be seen how the crafting goes. There's a fairly robust system of harvesting resources for cooking and crafting new items, but I don't know yet how grindy that might get. It may be one of those things that ends up being somewhat optional since you'll find most of what you need, or it may turn into one of those things where you're slogging along trying to collect 50 plant roots to upgrade your bow. I don't know yet. So far I get the feeling that things are scarce in general, however, and that crafting may be crucial.

So far it's not a $70 game for me, but it's well done and I'm enjoying it.

[Isgrimnur]

finding the right tree with the right mushrooms growing around it that will allow you to get higher.

[YellowKing]

Well Pandora *is* a pretty trippy place.

[coopasonic]

Finished it this afternoon. It was much better than I expected and yeah, it does feel a lot like a far cry game with more resource hunting. I spent a LOT of time with this and really enjoyed it the whole way. If you are a completionist this will take you a LONG time and you will probably hate it by the end... or be really fulfilled, but some of the activities get pretty repetitive but once you learn how it all works you can do most of it pretty quickly. It's just a REALLY big open world and there is a LOT of stuff on the map.

[Daehawk]