Avatar the Last Airbender is one of the greatest shows of all time. I don’t expect much pushback on that statement. As a cartoon it explored themes of love, loss, war, and more, in a way that was understandable for a young audience, whilst staying engaging for older viewers as well.
It has led to various spin-offs and games to become a wildly successful IP. Which begs the question, why does Avatar: The Last Airbender – Quest for Balance look like it was funded entirely by the loose change the executives happened to have in their pockets during a pitch meeting?
The initial trailer, which was announced to absolutely no fanfare, was surely the cause of many confused scowls. My own included. Yet I wanted to remain hopeful that maybe the game could be good, just maybe?
But spending any amount of time with Avatar: The Last Airbender – Quest for Balance eliminates that hope. The tutorial consists of multiple “missions” that are nothing more than simply moving from one location to another. Light platforming aside, it’s painfully linear and unengaging. It doesn’t help that the camera is awkwardly fixed, and the player only has minor influence over it. I assume you can’t pan side to side simply because it saves the developers from having to render a second half of the map.
Cutscenes don’t fare any better. They are predominantly 2D, and they seem to be borrowing their art style from the Avatar the Last Airbender comics. This is actually a pretty cool idea, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Not only that, but it’s done inconsistently. Scenes will randomly be 3D animated, oftentimes so poorly that I half expected my TV to turn into a pre-2000 Macintosh computer. Certain sections of the game forgo the pretense of trying altogether, reducing the plot to a block of text on a static background, as a discounted voice actor version of Iroh, Bumi, or Pakku narrates the story.
For example, the episode where Bumi tests Aang with several puzzles before challenging him to a fight is not featured in the game outside a cutscene. Not only is this an important step in Aang’s journey, but it is already structured perfectly to be adapted into a game level.
However, the episode where Aang needs to go collect frogs to cure his friends of an illness is featured. Granted it does lead to Aang being captured and his first encounter with the Blue Spirit, which is also a very impactful part in the story. But did it really need to include a level where you go around grabbing frogs?
It’s absolutely baffling as to some of the decisions made. Maybe the narrators are to blame.
Speaking of which, the pretense for why they are narrating everything is that the Ember Island play is trying to get its facts right about Team Avatar’s story. This is problematic for two reasons. The first is that it is obvious the game is assuming anyone playing has seen the show. By itself, this is not bad, but the disjointed storytelling and mind-numbing gameplay are sure to turn off even the most dedicated fans.
It also means that anyone who saw the Quest for Balance as an opportunity to get into Avatar the Last Airbender is going to be confused and disappointed. Pretty much for the entire time.
The second is that it acts like this story is going to be more faithful to the events of the show, but there are inconsistencies between the two, with major plot points being rushed and inconsequential episodes getting full service. I mean, at least the Ember Island play episode had the decency to wrap things up in twenty minutes.
Quest for Balance will take up several hours of your life, all of which you’ll be spending wondering why you aren’t just watching the actual show.
This feeling is intensified when playing the random sections that suddenly become a low budget rip-off of Temple Run, or Subway Surfers, depending on which you prefer. Keep in mind, both of those are free mobile games that are more polished and fun than these forced sequences. Or the rest of the game for that matter. The geometry of obstacles doesn’t line up and hit boxes are significantly larger than the actual models.
The rest of Avatar: The Last Airbender – Quest for Balance focuses on fetch quests and tedious puzzle after tedious puzzle. Combat encounters are sprinkled throughout, with boss fights occasionally popping up. But fighting is a chore with its awkward controls and literal hit or miss hit registration.
The boss fights follow the age-old tradition of ‘do this one thing three times’ and then the fight is over. Some of these aren’t even fights; one is literally just a moving box puzzle set to the backdrop of a boss fight.
Moving boxes is actually Avatar: The Last Airbender – Quest for Balance’s bread and butter. Every level seems to be about moving boxes and then moving some more boxes. Then throwing a torch into a pillar to open a door so that you can, you guessed it, move more boxes.
Quest for Balance feels like it’s less about becoming a fully actualized Avatar, and more like it’s about opening a moving company.
The one thing I can give Quest for Balance credit for is that it does use a vibrant color palette that fits within the tone of the show. The character models are decent and the cell shading does look nice, at least outside the cutscenes. I also don’t blame the decision for not making the game fully voiced. Let’s be honest, unless every one of the original voice actors were onboard, it was going to disappoint.
They would’ve been better off completely ignoring voicing any of the characters and instead putting that time into making a game that was actually fun to play.
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Quest for Balance tries to do way too much. The gameplay is unfocused, inconsistent, and unpolished. And the refined storytelling that made the original show so beloved is completely absent. Large sections of the show are completely skipped over, with major plot points being summarized by one of the three narrators, if not ignored altogether. Combat and camera mechanics suffer from the same issues – animations are inconsistent, controls are clunky, and the 3D models aren’t expressive.
Ironically, the poor story delivery makes Avatar: The Last Airbender – Quest for Balance almost unapproachable by anyone who has never seen the original show. And those who do have an interest will surely be let down if they decide to give it a chance.
