James Cameron's Avatar is a video game created by Gameloft. The game can no longer be purchased, as Gameloft has removed the game from iOS and Android shops.
Players play as a new avatar driver named Ryan Lorenz. The storyline is narrated by Neytiri, who says that it was told to her by her sister, Sylwanin. The game is a prequel to the events in the Avatar film, taking place approximately 20 years before the events in the movie. Although some characters and elements in the game show similarities to those in the film, the plot is quite independent from that of its cinematic counterpart.
According to Joshua Izzo, every Avatar video game that was released in 2009 is now non-canon, including this one.[1] The game also has minor continuity errors.
Plot[]
Ryan at the training ground.
The story starts with Ryan Lorenz, a marine looking to start a new life on the moon of Pandora. After an accident on Earth in which his wife and daughter were killed, he pulled strings prior to leaving Earth to gain admission into the Avatar Program, a top-secret scientific program created by the RDA, who is running a vast mining operation on Pandora looking for a mineral called unobtanium, which is believed to be a solution to the energy crisis on Earth.
Ryan lost in the forest in his avatar
Once on Pandora, Ryan is linked to his avatar body, a hybrid of human and Na'vi (the indigenous people of Pandora) genetic material. After quickly mastering how to drive his avatar body, he is given his first mission of exploring deeper into the Pandoran forest to locate and mark deposits of unobtanium on his GPS. He completes this, but finds that he has ventured too deep into the forest and has lost all contact with the RDA base of operations. While trying to find a safe place to stash his avatar body for the night, he finds the dormant Tree of Souls. He is rendered unconscious and experiences a very weird and disturbing dream, which is actually a message from Eywa showing him what will happen to Pandora, should the RDA succeed in their endeavor.
Ryan is then discovered by the Ni'awve clan and taken into the hometree so he might learn their ways and of their struggle against the RDA. After the clan's shaman Atanwey had been kidnapped by the humans, Ryan defected to the Na'vi and aided in their warding off of human invaders. The leader, Tsu'hak wanted to move his people from the Valley of Origins, but when he, Ryan and Tsamlok went to clear the way, Tsu'hak was captured. It was again Ryan who freed him, as Tsamlok was injured in the initial attack.
Ryan before his murder
When Ryan returned with Tsu'hak, he learned that Sylwanin was also captured and taken to an RDA base. Full of anger, Ryan went after her and saved her, killing many humans on the way. Ryan then was contacted by Moran and Grace Augustine, who told Ryan to go to the Tree of Souls. There he was confronted by Major Cage and Ryan defeated him. Ryan activated the Tree of Souls and returned to the Ni'awve. They planned to attack Hell's Gate and drive the humans off, but Ryan's human body was shot and killed before the attack started. It is mentioned that Ryan is still remembered as a hero of the Ni'awve people.
Characters[]
- Ryan Lorenz - The main protagonist of the story; defects to the Na'vi
- Major Cage - Head of Security for the RDA base of operations on Pandora
- Sylwanin - The tsakarem of the Omatikaya clan; tells the story to her sister, Neytiri
- Neytiri - Narrates the story of Ryan Lorenz throughout the game
- Grace Augustine - Head of the Avatar Program; appears briefly
- Moran - Ryan Lorenz's contact in Hell's Gate, also an avatar driver
- Ni'awve clan - Numerous members of Ni'awve clan make an appearance
Gameplay[]
James Cameron's Avatar - iPhone iPod touch gameplay trailer
Gameplay footage
Map of the open world area
The game features a virtual on-screen joystick and buttons that allow players to easily control Ryan during the many platforming elements, while also providing them with enough precision to unleash some of the many weapons and combat combos. In some areas, Ryan will be assisted by a Na'vi companion who will assist in fighting.
The game mainly consists of linear hallways in level design, with Uncharted-style climbing. However, there is a open-world segment where the player will do tasks for the Na'vi in the village and its surrounding fields. In this area, Ryan is also able to ride his own direhorse. Unfortunately, the player can not fast travel back to the village so they are forced to take around a couple minutes to backtrack when a mission is complete. The player will visit the open-world area three times during the game, once at day, once at sunset, and once at night.
Ryan will obtain and ride his own banshee in one brief on-rails segment, but the banshee cannot be ridden in the open world area.
The plot of the game is split up into 16 levels, or, "chapters". The game takes roughly 5-7 hours to complete.
The game does not really feature any replay value in terms of collectibles. In New Game Plus, nothing appears to carry over except for Ryan's armor level, as his weapons all revert back to Level 1. The player can select a new difficulty level (Easy/Normal/Hard) regardless.
Weapons[]
- Custom Avatar Assault Rifle
- Na'vi Staff
- Na'vi Bow
All weapons can be upgraded three times. This occurs naturally as you complete quests in the village.
Continuity Errors[]
- One plot aspect contradicts Avatar: Adapt or Die. In the comic, Grace Augustine has known Sylwanin since she was little and would have taught her English at the school. However, the game shows an older Sylwanin supposedly encountering Grace for the first time, with no explanation provided as to how Sylwanin knows English.
- In Avatar, Neytiri believes Sky People do not See and can not learn how to See. This belief does not make much sense when according to the game, Ryan Lorenz is a perfect example that under the right conditions, a human being can learn the Na'vi ways. Sylwanin would have also praised Ryan's efforts to Neytiri, making this continuity stranger.
- Neytiri incorrectly says her name as "Neytiri Dis'kahan A'itey" in the subtitles. The correct form is "Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite".
- Ryan can use force fields and he, and other items, can sometimes be seen floating and defying the laws of physics.
- The Na'vi clan in the game has a combat arena where they instruct Ryan to fight against animals, which can be seen at odds with the animal welfare themes of the series, in which the Na'vi are shown to respect them.
- Ryan effectively goes on a killing spree, killing around 100-300 RDA soldiers throughout the game. It can be seen as strange why the RDA does not disconnect or kill him in his Link Unit until the very end of the game, when they already know he is sided against the RDA and is continuing his rampage. This makes the RDA and the Avatar Program look very incompetent, especially when Ryan is able to break into their fortress. Grace suggests the Avatar Program has been "stalling" John Cage from finding Ryan, but this also raises many questions about how the program could be doing this considering the violent situation.
- This game revolves around a human-Na'vi War that has happened 20 years before the first film, with the RDA trying to bomb and burn the Tree of Souls to the ground because Na'vi-human relations are this dire due to a rogue avatar driver empathizing with the Na'vi and turning against the RDA. This makes the first film seem repetitive and strange, as to why no one mentions any of the events of this game in the film. This also makes the RDA also appear incredibly incompetent, as if they are unable to keep their avatar drivers in line, due to the situation occurring with René Harper later on, and finally with Jake Sully.
- Ryan is said to be Eywa's "chosen one" because he received a vision from the Tree of Souls. Near the end of the game, Ryan must visit the Tree of Souls to somehow vaguely awaken/restore the "Sacred Soul of Eywa" (Vitra aswok Eywa'evengä), with no explanation as to how and why he is the only one who can apparently do this instead of another Na'vi. He touches the tree, it glows purple, and it somehow causes nearby human soldiers to die/pass out, with no scientific rationale as to how this can happen (though it can be theorized the energy of unobtanium may have been activated under the tree, which is known to cause humans headaches).
- The Tree of Souls is called the "Utral Tirea" (Spirit Tree) instead of the "Vitraya Ramunong". While not necessarily a contradiction, this seems to be the only time in Avatar media the tree has been called this.
- Near the end of the game, Sylwanin's name is accidentally written as Silwanin.
- It can be seen as strange as to why Sylwanin is hanging out with the Ni'awve Clan, instead of her own clan, the Omatikaya who do not appear in this game.
- John Cage is apparently killed in the ending, but he appears alive in Avatar: The Mobile Game for unclear reasons. Tsu'hak and Tse'huk also seem to be the same characters, but their names are written differently.
Reception[]
The game is the highest-rated on Metacritic of all the Avatar games released around 2009, with a 78/100. It received positive reviews for its ambitious 3D graphics for phones at the time of its release, even having a zone resembling an open world.[citation needed]
IGN criticized the game's combat, feeling it is one-note and the player can simply hold the combat button down to win battles. They also criticized the camera, feeling it makes platforming difficult because the camera angles make jumping the correct distance too uncertain, leading Ryan to fall to his death many times.[citation needed]
The game's story has been criticized for being somewhat generic and very similar to the first film, with underdeveloped characters.[citation needed]
Trivia[]
Phone cases.
- There were phone cases produced for the game.
- In the game's data, Ryan's texture files are labelled "Jake", suggesting the mobile game was originally intended to be an adaptation of the original film before being turned into a prequel. This could explain many aspects about the mobile game, such as Ryan's avatar looking very similar to Jake, them becoming lost in the forest and being watched by a female Na'vi (Sylwanin, Neytiri), having to fight a man (John Cage, Quaritch) and starting a war with the Na'vi against the humans in the ending. Moran may have also intended to be Norm, hence why he appears with Grace.
