Hands On: 'Avatar: The Game' Helps Forecast What's in Store for the Film

One of the first big information breaks on the secrets of James Cameron's Avatar came back in June when the director himself took the stage at E3 during Ubisoft's press conference to talk about the upcoming video game based on the film. In his now notorious talk, Cameron drained the energy out of the room by going on and on about the plot of the game, which mirrors the movie's, revealing so much information that Joystiq remarked "we no longer feel obligated to see it when it hits theaters." What they were shown of the game, however, was stunning. Ubisoft had been plugging away at it for over two years and it showed in the lush, player-interactive world of Pandora.

And now you too can get a first hand look at the Avatar game without having to hear Cameron spoil the movie. That is if you have a PC that meets the minimum system requirements which are, not unsurprisingly, quite beefy. ShackNews picked up on the PC demo for the game, which will be available in full for the 360, PS3 and Wii on December 1st, from the German Coca-Cola Zero site of all places, and now they're hosting it for nerds the world over to try out. Being a worldly nerd, I grabbed the 1.6gig demo and gave it a play through. It was fun, but more surprising was how much context it gave the images we've seen so far from the mega-budget production.


The first thing you'll notice is how absolutely gorgeous the game is. The demo opens with you flying one of the film's futuristic helicopters into the jungle of Pandora, blasting rocks and tree limbs out of your way to get there. After that you've got a foot soldier's view of Pandora, which is without question the densest game world I've ever seen. Every inch of the screen is packed with vibrant vegetation and scenery, topping even the multi-layered atmosphere of landmark games like Crysis and Far Cry 2. But while it's fun to stare at the pretty plants, a good number of them will attack you if you bump into them, and it's not long before you're given little checkpoint tasks that find you face to snarling face with roaming backs of viperwolves (the leaping, smooth-skinned alien tigers seen in the film's trailer).

What follows is fun, if not inventive, third-person run-and-gun gameplay not unlike what is available in most third-person shooters. The difference here is that Avatar has the benefit of requiring a fascinating, alien world filled with dangers great and small. If, like myself, you saw the natives fighting fully armed marines in the film's trailer and thought "Okay, typically bullets and missiles always beat sticks, rocks and teeth, but I'm on board", the game is the first glimpse into just how fair a fight natives v mechanized warfare is (in the mind of James Cameron).

When you first enter a mech and start stomping around the jungle you'll feel pretty secure, until you come across a giant behemoth best described as a cross between a rhino and a hammer-head shark. It may be a funny looking creature, but its purpose is immediately apparent as bullets bounce off its thick hide and it uses its wide head as a shovel, knocking the mechs off of their feet.


Funny enough, even with the myriad of official photos released and the set of trailers, playing the game was the first time I had any real appreciation for the size difference between the Na'vi and the humans. The promo materials so far make it clear that they're a tall race, but when you fight one in combat you realize just how much of a height advantage they have. The Na'vi in the game stand almost as tall as the mechs, which goes a long way to assuage the Ewoks battling for Endor visions I had been comparing the film to in my head.

The PC demo can be run through in a brisk 30 minutes or so and only allows you to play on the side of the humans, the final product will have both Na'vi and marine campaigns, but it's a satisfactory introduction into the world of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game. It didn't exactly sell me on a purchase, but then again I don't exactly love third-person shooters, particularly not on the PC (I have a feeling this will be more enjoyable as a casual game from the comfort of your couch). It did, however, further foster my interest in the movie. The visuals of the trailer are so flashy, colorful and fantastic that it's hard to take it seriously, but once you can understand them in context on your own terms, it really does help clear up what kind of a vision Cameron is going for.

[Again, if you have a capable PC, get instructions on how to get the demo here.]