Avatar - Xbox 360

I have not yet seen the film (which by all accounts looks quite good) but having just played the game it’s got to be said that good ol’ Jimmy Cameron has let his imagination run wild and created an amazing world, with a level of detail that hasn’t been seen since Peter Jackson decided to put some hairy feet on Elijah Wood and film the results.
 
To avoid upsetting the Cameron faithful, the plot of the game is wisely set up before the events of the film, thus avoiding any accusations (and possibly, loss of sales) to those wishing to avoid spoilers.
 
The game is essentially an over-the-shoulder shooter, much like Gears of War and Resident Evil 5.
 
Controlling the character of Ryder (who can be either male or female depending on your choice), you are assigned to help the RDA on the planet of Pandora. 
 
Upon arrival you find yourself doing a few missions, such as defending the base from viperwolves and setting up a few defence perimeters, ensuring the safety of the camp.
 
Pandora is a vast and tropical world, and your mission objectives can be some distances away. Fortunately, there are various vehicles available to Ryder, including a car that can only be described as Warthog-lite.
 
After you have completed a few missions, Ryder is required to enter his/her avatar for the first time – a moment that should hold much wonder, but sadly feels hollow and dare, I say it, clunky. All that happens is that your character changes and then some general tells you to go and do a mission. The only thing that does happen is that the creatures and plants of Pandora are less aggressive to your presence (mildly).
 
Along the way, Ryder has to chose a side – the Na’vi or RDA – a decision that will naturally decide the plot and nature of the game.

Being 12 ft tall and essentially lanky versions of the Smurfs, the Na’vi run a lot faster than their human counterparts. They also nip around from place to place by using trees that can teleport you from one place to another. Go figure….
 
Graphically Avatar is very impressive. At first the lush world of Pandora is a little overpowering and it’s only upon second inspection that you can appreciate the level of detail that has gone into creating this game.
 
It’s a shame then that the production level is brought down by some rather weak voice acting, which gives the impression that it was recorded by the same enthusiastic bunch that voiced Resident Evil back in the late 90s. This is particularly noticeable when interacting with the NPCs – try to shoot them and they’ll just say “who gave you a gun?”, with about as much panache as bucket of magnolia paint.
 
The controls are also rather questionable. There is no option to zoom in with your weapon, and on too often an occasion the camera will waywardly position itself to your disadvantage.

Kudos should be given to the developers for making use of the 3D technology that is also present on certain screenings of the film – should you have a 3D-ready tv, this adds a whole new perspective to the game. However who these days has a 3D-ready tv?
 
No doubt two or three years down the line when they are readily available (and affordable), Avatar will be seen a giant leap forward for 3D technology, but until then most of us will have to enjoy it in all its 2D glory.

Despite being a graphical and technological triumph, Avatar is ultimately flawed by its controls and repetitive gameplay. It’s by no means a bad game, especially by film tie-in standards, but neither is it a great one. If you enjoyed the film and are looking to learn more about the universe, it’s worth checking out.
 
Verdict: 6.5 out of 10
 
The Good
Good graphics
3D technology is great, if a little ahead of its time
 
The Bad
Repetitive
Poor voice acting

Among the other topics, were:

• Assassins Creed II
• Modern Warfare 2 (and “that level”)
• Avatar
• Super Mario Brothers Wii
• Lego Rock Band
• The Saboteur
• Doom
• Bayonetta
• MAG
• Mass Effect 2
• Medal of Honour (AKA - ”Modern Warfare 3″)
• Andy and Colin’s top 10 of 2009

Surrounded by hundreds of costumed manga fans, my counterpart and I checked in, grabbed our shiny press passes and hit the expo floor.

First on the agenda was Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, which was being shown in action by a Ubi rep.

The action on screen seemed faster than previous titles, with an increased feel of playing ex-Third Echelon agent Sam Fisher as more the aggressor than sneaky spy. The rep quickly grabbed one enemy, before using the ‘mark and execute’ trait to shoot two others in the head, breaking his captive’s neck and shimmying up a nearby pole.

It remains to be seen whether any of the earlier title’s stealth-based sneaking has remained intact in Ubi’s interesting reboot of the series, but I’ll certainly be happy to see Sam’s return in early 2010.

Right across from the Splinter Cell zone another rep was showing off a build of Avatar: The Game.

Avatar

Donning a pair of 3D glasses I studied what appeared to be a decent recreating of the upcoming movie’s lush worlds and brutal firefights, with the rep starting out in a helicopter-hunter-killer-flying-thing before hitting the ground and burning the hell out of a massive, slavering beastie.

The 3D effects were excellent, but I was assured by Ubi rep Phil Brannelly that the effects could be turned off for those of us without a 4,000 inch TV screen. Appearing to be a decent cross of Cameron’s world with a Gears of War-style shooter, it remains to be seen whether Avatar will break the trend of rubbish film tie-in games.

Bayonetta

Across a busy street of massive sword-wielding manga fans I spied the raven locks of Bayonetta, Sega’s latest slice-em-up, which features a witch who carries a sword, user her hair and clothing as a weapon, can conjure up a giant boot to kick anything into the distance and has a gun strapped to each limb.

Playing very similarly to Devil May Cary, I was quite drawn with Bayonetta’s outlandish attacks and artistic style, but I fear the game is too similar to Devil May Cry to really stand out on its own. But, from what I played, it hasn’t ruined the simple ‘slice things, shoot things, repeat’ method of the DMC games, and so will no doubt be a riot of action in early 2010.

Hidden away in a nearby metal container was a build of Valve’s necrotic flesh-em-up Left 4 Dead 2, which will offer more missions, more guns, and more of the brilliant co-op action the series does so well.

Though I didn’t get to play it (there was a large queue of spiky-haired ninja in the way) it looked like as much fun as the last game, and a representative promised me it will lay fan’s fears to rest after the ‘boycott Left 4 Dead 2’ campaign took root in a disappointed fanbase.

The queue for Left 4 Dead 2

Leaving the zombiefied remains of new Orleans, we swung by Lego Rock Band’s stall, where a team of confused-looking people dressed as anime animals were trying to pull off the Kaiser Chief’s Ruby while little Lego versions of the Chiefs danced on the screen – this is just more of the same old Rock Band I fear, just with Lego – it will be interesting to watch the sales figures for yet another Rock Band title, and whether or no the public have cottoned on to the money making scheme yet.

2K was up next, who were showing the E3 video of Bioshock 2 – in all its art deco loveliness – on one wall, and had about 30 gamers blowing enemy after enemy away on Borderlands on the other four.

Though reviews for Borderlands have been overwhelmingly positive, I took the time to ask PR director Alex Bickham why the 2K team decided to do away with the realistic feel of the game and instead replace it with a cel-shaded, cartoon style for the wasteland shoot-and-loot experience.

“It was an insurrection.” He told me, furiously handing out posters to the game’s many fans, “the team took the build and went off and added the cel-shading behind the developer’s back, then they came back, showed it to the team and the bosses and they were like ‘wow’, so we decided to go with that.”

Not one for cel-shading myself, Colin thinks it’s sure to be a fun title to play, and was wondering if the wasteland scavenger approach (which brought back memories of the excellent Fallout 3) might have had something to do with Borderland’s makeover? Either way, the game looked like a fast-paced shoot-em-up with a decent co-op experience tagged on, and we’re sure to have a review of that for you soonest.

Wandering amongst the katanas and bunny ears, we came across the final gem MCM had to offer us – Star Trek Online, the MMORPG sensation which has got every Trekkie jumping up and down at the chance of becoming a starship captain – including Colin.

Star Trek Online

While I settled in to play a decent build of the space combat section, happily blowing away Klingon ships with my starship’s weaponry in a very pretty space theatre, Colin asked an assistant (whose name he forgot to write down…) a few Trekkie questions:

Who can you play as?
“You can play as a federation officer, a Klingon, Vulcan or a Romulan.”

What about the Borg?
“You can’t play as the Borg yet, but we are considering that for DLC.  The Borg are definitely going to feature in the game – in a mission you will have to defeat them in a space battle.  They are going to be huge and it will take about 20 players to defeat them”.

What is the plot?
“It’s set 30 years after the movie Star Trek: Nemesis, and there is a big political struggle around the Neutral Zone.  It’s an endless universe and there will be various missions for you to check out.  It will be presented in episodic form to give the player that typical weekly TV impression”

Does the JJ Abrams vision of Star Trek feature in that at all?
“There’s a funny story about that.  The development team went to see the film last summer, by which point the game had been in production for 3 or 4 years.  As we watching it we all gasped in horror when Vulcan was destroyed – but by the end of it we all like ‘oh ok, this is a new timeline, so it shouldn’t affect anything. But yeah, since the game is a MMO there is plenty of scope for sending players to different timelines – a recurring theme in the Star Trek series”.

Personally I found the space combat bit to be a little tricky to master, with a difficult and unruly camera that was, I was told, able to be clamped to the rear of the starship – I just couldn’t find the option to do it. Other than that it was great fun, shooting phasers and firing torpedoes into wave after wave of Klingon ships. The ground section, which was a ‘rough build’ (in the assistant’s words), was a bit jagged around the edges, but judging by the commitment the team have put into the game I’m expecting Star trek Online to be something special – so watch this space.

And so, our business done, Col and I made for the Jubilee line, dodging dozens of manga fans, people clutching signs offering ‘free hugs’ (what’s all that about? Answers on a postcard please), and made our escape.

Expect a report from next week’s Eurogamer event soon!