After crawling through dozens of dungeon rooms, players are thrown into an uncharacteristically fast paced boss battle that requires constant movement. On the same token, the boss battles don't really match the rest of the game.

So instead of a simple hack and slash disposal of an enemy, players are forced to engage in a drawn out fights. The pace of the battles is hindered by a chi meter that limits how often players can attack. Battles play out awkwardly, especially for the ones that require players to switch characters to defeat opponents. Unfortunately, it doesn't come off as well. However, since it is based on an action cartoon, it's only natural that the developers try to stick in plenty of that as well. With a slower pace and so many puzzles, Avatar seems like a great puzzle role playing game. Only by wandering around and talking to other random strangers can players figure out where they should go, and that's just a waste of time. People in the game will tell you to talk to someone, and then never tell players where that person is. A map feature of some sort would have been nice though, since a lot of the levels are fairly large, and players can't see too far ahead of their characters. I was a little wary of all the box puzzles, but the design manages to be unique and different each time, so the gameplay never gets stale. The developers do a good job of balancing the puzzles. Since the game consists of a large amount of puzzle, players will have to become familiar with the abilities of the characters. Aang can fly up onto ledges, Katara can make bridges, and Sokka can use his boomerang to activate switches. They all have their strengths, and each one is an invaluable member to the team. The fire powers sizzle and crackle, the water splashes, the rocks crumble and crack.Р”Р„ang, Katara, and Sokka are all controlled as a group, and players can switch between them by holding the shoulder buttons.

The characters powers are all well animated and look like what they're representing. Lighting from candles and lanterns flicker and sunlight pours into rooms from open windows. There are a lot of nice environmental effects in the game, such as the rainy docks early on. The characters are slow, but everything is fluid and well animated. The top down view of the game manages to work nicely. None of the characters really seem in character, and for a game that is based on such a popular license, that's a huge mistake. There's none of the humor, or conversational quality that the other games, or show, offer. There's plenty of dialogue between the main characters, and the faces in the text boxes have a fairly decent speaking animation, but the conversations feel lifeless. For the GBA version, that path is one of very little storytelling. The same basic plot points are there, just with a slightly different path. Aang and friends are investigating the disappearance of a Waterbender, and along the way discover other Benders are being kidnapped. And while Halfbrick Studios made a semi-enjoyable experience for the handheld, it certainly doesn't feel like the show it's based on.Р”Р‡or all the Avatar games, the same basic story was chosen, though it plays out a little differently on the GBA than it does on the Nintendo DS or the consoles. It happened to Dragonball Z, and now it's happened to Avatar. Someone seems to think that an action packed cartoon is best translated to the Gameboy Advance in the form of top down role playing games. There's a popular idea going around development studios for the past couple years.

Avatar the last airbender games for gba