Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Reviews
A delight for fans of Avatar, this game is so damned good that even one apathetic to the IP like me couldn’t help but fall in love with it.
Look past Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s dull story and you’ll find spectacle and freedom lurking in its Na’vi customs and breathtaking ecosystems.
There are lots of design choices I didn’t mesh with in Frontiers of Pandora. I love the world, but barriers blocked me from fully immersing myself in it, and it’s littered with activities and outposts plucked straight out of the 2010s and planted in Pandora’s soil.
With a story that follows predictable beats, mechanics that provide zero gameplay benefit, and murky visuals, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora delivers an extremely underwhelming experience. PC players be warned of many technical issues.
As far as we are concerned, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is more than a serviceable open-world action-adventure experience, made better for fans who cannot get enough of James Cameron’s masterful sci-fi franchise. That said, for an adventure on a distant moon, it continually hints at a potential to do things differently and with a dose of freshness, but retreats into well-trodden territory to bring us crashing back to Earth. There is always going to be a fascination with the Na’vi, but you just might find yourself backing the RDA this time around.
If you walked away from Avatar wishing a world like Pandora actually existed out there, here you go. This is that world. Seeing Pandora is one thing, but being able to scale its massive treetops, soar high above its floating mountains on an Ikran, and traverse its wide open plains on the back of a Direhorse is really something special. This is the best version of Avatar yet.
Even with its faults, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a stunning visual achievement, much like the films on which it's inspired. Only here, a rich narrative pulls you deep into the Na'vi and explores more tangible means of fighting back against a colonial power that offers a cathartic experience... Blow up a pipeline, save an animal, and explore the vast world of Pandora. That's a heck of a way to close out a year.
This is textbook average entertainment; it won't disappoint, but it certainly won't excite.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is quite a bit better than I thought it was going to be, on the whole. Despite some half-baked mechanics and ideas, I still had a blast shredding outposts in this overwhelming, sumptuous sandbox.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora more than lives up to the legacy of its cinematic counterpart. In fact, the title elevates itself to the ranks of exceptional and essential gaming - an incredible feat for a movie franchise tie-in. Ubisoft, often recognised for their prowess in open-world gameplay, absolutely exceeds expectations with this title. While its foundation may draw parallels to the Far Cry series, the game's unique setting, narrative depth, and immersive gameplay set it apart as a groundbreaking experience.
Despite the fact that Avatar Frontiers of Pandora manages to captivate the player from the very first minute with its masterfully designed world, it misses its great potential by having serious shortcomings within itself.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora held all the cards and, at least from our perspective, squandered them all. This reskinned Far Cry is a mediocrity gallery reflecting the current AAA production stuck in the last decade. The Snowdrop engine does help cover up some visible flaws, but when there's a lack of polished plot, quests, and meaningful gameplay, players will figure it out sooner or later. So, while Frontiers of Pandora may not rank among the worst games of the year, it is definitely one of those games that will soon be forgotten with all the mediocrity.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a gorgeous open-world adventure that, despite having some similarities to Ubisoft’s own Far Cry, has its own identity that begs you to explore every nook and cranny. That exploration won’t be for everyone, but for those of you tired of having your hands held, there’s a lot to see, do, and enjoy.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an extraordinary visual experience, allowing you to breathe in the atmosphere of a living planet. However, the scarcity and lack of variety in the action makes the pace very slow. Still, if you're a fan of the Far Cry games, you should give it a chance just for the gorgeous landscapes.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
While the FarCry formula is certainly evident in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the game does just enough to make it stand out from similar titles that simply tick off boxes in the open-world formula. The world is beautiful and interesting enough to explore, and Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have done well to translate this IP into a worthwhile title for some players, especially fans of the franchise.
While it has some novel ideas, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's extremely repetitive quest design, underwhelming progression, and wholly monotonous gear system make it one of the most forgettable open world games of 2023.
Even if we appreciate how Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora tries to give fans an experience similar to living the movies in first-person, all its excessive problems serve to point out that, in case we need to say it, developing a compelling videogame is way different from making a successful movie.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It's not without its flaws, but Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is still one of Ubisoft's best games of recent years.
A beautiful open world world can't make up for a dull rebellion that succumbs to Ubisoft's by the numbers method.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has some excellent mechanical depth let down by repetitive missions and a very safe story. When you're flowing through the environment taking out RDA soldiers with volleys of arrows, it feels fantastic. Unfortunately, the game doesn't provide many opportunities to use the full breadth of its systems. Still, it's drop dead gorgeous and very fun for what it is.