Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is the last big game of 2023, with stunning aesthetics and unique gameplay, with a vibrant world full of life and detail.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is not a bad game by any means, but once discovering the stunning vistas wears thin, you won’t find much substantial meat to chew on in those forests.

We all wondered how much Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora would prove to be a colorful Far Cry reskin — while there are a lot of recognisable elements here, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does more than enough to stand on its own Na’vi feet as its own very enjoyable game.

Atmosphere is there, and so is gameplay, but things could be better.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s true draw is Pandora itself, and while the gameplay can get a little repetitive and samey, there's enough here to keep you engrossed from start to finish. Come for the sights, stay for the sights.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a game that immerses us in a cinematic universe in a very efficient way. Technically spectacular, with Ubisoft's way of making open worlds. Exploring, collecting and fighting the RDA are the facts for a fascinating experience. But it does not get the most out of it due to issues of gameplay and balance of the experience.

While it's nowhere near a perfect game, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world adventure that fans of the franchise will love. DualShockers was provided with a copy of the game for review purposes.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora features a lush and visually stunning world with very satisfying tactical combat; unfortunately, the anonymous and forgettable story is unconvincing, while the gameplay is undermined by a problematic mission design that can often make our experience frustrating.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a fantastic game even if it leans heavily on its Far Cry roots. Graphically, Pandora is simply stunning to behold, whether running on the land and jumping from vines or soaring through the flying mountains; the visuals are just breathtaking at almost every angle. And while it has solid combat gameplay when it comes to the native weapons, I still can’t tell if the awkwardness of the human weapons is on purpose or not. Not to mention the awful objective markers, hunter vision and hunger system. Oh, I didn’t even tell you that you have to keep your Ikran feed as well. It’s all rather frustrating because I enjoy my time with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and it would be a fantastic game but for those issues above. It all adds up and just amounts to being frustrated with the game which is devastating because there is a fantastic game buried under all these mechanics.

In a year that has provided so many gems including the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it would have been easy for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora to get lost amongst the shuffle. I’d be surprised if this latest Ubisoft open-world game wins Game of the Year awards, despite its best efforts. Yet, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a surprise cherry on top of what has been a fantastic year for video games and I encourage fans of the Avatar movies to put this unexpected charming delight on your ever-expanding wishlist.

While Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora dazzles with its visual fidelity and expands the lore of its universe, its gameplay shortcomings and frustrating navigation prevent it from fully realizing the thrilling potential of embodying a Na’vi warrior in the mesmerizing world of Pandora.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora sticks closely to the established Ubisoft open world formula, serving up a lush environment in which players can get busy skulking around, levelling up, gathering resources and taking out enemy compounds. Stealth and ground combat get the job done without any surprises, aerial combat is turgid, and there's a reasonable parkour system in the mix. However, the narrative here is a letdown; it's bland stuff all the way along, side missions are cookie-cutter stuff and really - unless you're a huge Avatar/Far Cry Primal fan or a younger gamer, there isn't much here you haven't seen before from this dev.