Movie tie-in games are quite rare these days. Long gone are the days when every summer blockbuster had its own digital retelling, often of questionable quality. I find that the more a licenced movie tie-in games moves away from its particular big screen sibling, the better the final product tends to be. The latest game to put my theory to the test is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which, at first glance, is Far Cry with big blue aliens.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world action game based on James Cameron’s eco-friendly big blue alien blockbuster smash hit.

Developed by Massive Entertainment, the team that are behind The Division, under Ubisoft, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora aim to capture all the thrills of the movies. It does, however, cut its own path through its land of wonder.

Brave New Frontier

In a brave move, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora breaks away from the shadow cast by the films. The game tells an original tale but one that’s packed with franchise-friendly elements to ground it in the films’ world.

You play as a Na’vi orphan who is raised, and trained as a soldier, by the Resources Development Administration – the big bad RDA. After a time-jump of some 15 years you wake up in an abandoned facility during a rescue attempt.

You react by rejoining the resistance, obviously. Your next job is uniting the Na’vi clans to push back the RDA forces.

There is also a heavy personal thread running through the tale. These personal arcs take the lead more often than the grander story. The game also tackles the same colonial themes the movie courted, but they work better here with this focus on the personal side.

You will grow a real bond with your fellow Na’vi, and you genuinely feel like you are there with them discovering your peoples past and ultimately what you truly are and what you really stand for.

Your journey sees you embarking on a journey across the Western Frontier – a never-before-seen region of Pandora. You will discover local Na’vi tribes, while at the same time fighting back against the RDA. Part of the job will see you thwart their attempts to exploit the natural resources of your lands.

Opening Pandora’s Sandbox

Pandora itself is large and lush, as you may expect. The open world features three main areas, with each having their own unique look and feel. Each of the three has their biomes to explore, with plenty of variety on show.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora throws you right into the wilds, and the game doesn’t hold your hand while doing so. You begin with a waypoint, which is helpfully revealed with your Na’vi vision. But, beyond that, getting to the waypoint is up to you.

To its credit, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora handles the moment-to-moment traversal very well. You have the mobility required to run, jump and climb around and take in its lush expanses. Navigating the various terrains and biomes to forge your own path to your goals is quite fun.

The map design also leaves you feeling like never truly knowing what is around the next corner. Whether it’s a wild herd of beasts roaming or an abandoned RDA lab, the map invites you to explore. The movement doesn’t get in the way that accepting that invitation.

There are no ‘radio towers’ to unlock the map and points of interest. Subsequently, much of your exploration and discovery will end up being organic, and rewarding.

Hunter-Gatherer

A lot of your time when exploring, will be spent looking for resources, which are the life blood of the game. There’s a hefty survival element to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. You will have to collect wood to build arrows, or hunt down pelts to craft new and better gear.

The crafting and survival elements also introduce a grading system. You will be graded on how clean your kill was, or how well you pick a fruit. Doing well will see you rewarded with a high-quality resource. But, make a mess and you’ll be looking for another plant.

Far Cry Combat

When not exploring or living off of the flora and fauna of the world, you’ll be knee deep in combat. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora‘s combat has a real Far Cry feel to it, especially when using your bow and arrows to stalk your prey. And this will be quite often.

You will assault a number of different RDA facilities however you see fit, so you can stealth your way in or head in all guns blazing.

Combat on the whole feels well weighted, as you mix both RDA gear with your more traditional Na’vi kit. You’ll have to deal with everything from mechs to snipers and flamethrowers too.

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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora deserves credit for making you feel like you’re on the back foot in most fights. And this feeling of a skewed balance just feels right in the context of the franchise world. Every fight will take your full attention as if you really are up against a technologically superior force with vast resources.

You can run very easily out of kit in a fire fight, and this is a a pain. When this happens, the options are grit your teeth and hope to get the mission done regardless, or run off in search of crafting items. Neither are ideal in terms of enjoying the heat of battle.

Division Roots

There is also a heavy weight put upon gear levelling, where you have to do a bit of number chasing and this side is where you can see The Division roots of the developers showing themselves, as well as a little bit of grinding sneaking in.

You can also upgrade yourself with a healthy skill tree to unlock. However, some of the perks are utterly pointless, and this is a bit of a shame.

Visually, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is stunning. Between its lush biomes and the way everything comes to life in new ways at night, it is one of the best-looking games I have played this year.

The sound effects and soundtrack really help reinforce the visual presentation. The score also frames some of the game’s more touching moments perfectly.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora takes a solid source and runs with it, adding more wonder and more heart to its popcorn-fuelled origins. The gameplay loop can be a bit of a grindy at times, and it can be a little too hard to know where you need to go, to get to where you want.

However, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora never stops delivering new and interesting things to see and do, something that only the top-tier open-world games achieve. This invitation to explore is only helped by stellar presentation and a willingness to forge a new story within the franchise universe.