Review #830: Avatar the Last Airbender - The Burning Earth

 I never get tired of this game's cover.

 The DS version of Avatar the Last Airbender was quite a surprise, it was a RPG, complete with levels and sidequests. It had its fair share of flaws, but it was good. For the next installment, Avatar The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth, they pretty much followed the previous game's formula, making some tweaks here and there.

 This time around, The Burning Earth follows the plot from the series' second season. No, I have not seen Avatar yet, but I've seen clips and I could recognize some scenes from the show recreated in here. This plot follows Aang's search for a master to teach him how to Earth Bend, which inevitably means he and his pals, Sokka and Katara, meet with Toph, a blind girl that packs one mean rock throw Of course, things ain't that simple, so you know that you'll have to do battle with the Fire Nation again. I don't know how much attention Zuko and his uncle got during this season, but they barely get any scenes in this game. While the previous game took about 11-12 hours to complete, this one took me about 5, and I took my time with it.

 Just like before, when you aren't walking around towns and talking with NPCs you'll be fighting, and battles take place in real time. While you had a full four-man party in the previous game, this time around the game decides your 2-man cell for you. And once again, Sokka and Katara are boring to play as, Sokka has the highest attack power, but his normal attack is a boring club bash, while Katara gets a horrid water-whip thing that overexposes her, to the point that I got so bored when the game forced me on a Katara-only segment. Aang got his 3-hit combo reduced to 2 hits, and Toph also gets a two hit combo, making them the more interesting characters to play as. The 'magic'/bending system has been tweaked, now every character gets a four tier gauge that fills over time, as well as four special attacks they can use. These felt rather weak, and a few felt too situational, but they grant you a few invincibility frames so, sometimes, they were a bit useful. While you have less companions to fight with, they seem to be smarter, not once did my allies die during my playthrough... although they still refuse to use their special moves!

 The game has been made easier, which is a good thing. Finally we get inns where you can rest and heal your HP. Nearly every enemy, except for bugs, you defeat will drop money or a healing items, so you'll be overflowing with those by the end of the game. The herb system is gone, which is a blessing since that was one of the causes for healing item starvation. That said, during the boss fight against Toph.... she managed to land a special move on me, and she kept repeating it over and over again, giving me no chance to get on my feet and recover.

 While the game doesn't tell you, once you reach the 7th and final chapter, you are free to return to any previous stage, as well as go to any inn and choose who will join Aang. While the game is light on side content, the very first map has a rock that only Toph can break, a character that joins on the fourth chapter, and hidden behind it is... a cabbage. I haven't watched the series, so I don't know if there's a special meaning behind it, but getting every character's fourth and final move requires finding all 20 hidden cabbages. Yeah, I've got nothing. Cabbages.

 The game is alright. I think I liked the previous game a bit more because it was a pleasant surprise, but while I think this game did many valuable improvements I just didn't like it as much. Maybe I was a bit overly enthusiastic about the first game. Maybe, as I said before, the surprise of getting a decent RPG out of the franchise colored my outlook a bit more positive. Maybe the previous game had some je ne se quois that this game lacked. Whichever the case, I found this game a bit on the dull side. It's not bad, but it's just very uneventful.
 5.5 out of 10