PC version reviewed.
The Legend of Korra is a beat 'em up game published by Activision and developed by Platinum Games for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation 4 and PC.
If you told me that an Avatar game was being produced by Platinum Games then I sure would have been over the moon with happiness. Of course Platinum are the successor of Clover Games and many of the key people in the company worked on Okami, which whilst being also being my favourite game ever, is the closest I think we've ever come to an Avatar game. Imagine Okami with an Avatar coat of paint over it... It would certainly be one incredible experience.
Sadly, this game is not really an action adventure/open world puzzle game like Okami that sadly only exists as a great dream of mine. Instead The Legend of Korra is a short beat em' up game. It's a pretty short and sweet experience and must be approached with this in mind, otherwise you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.
GAMEPLAY
The game is fun. Combat is very satisfying and each element offers a different approach such as water being good from range and earth being good in close quarters. It doesn't have any major depth to it but it is pretty fluid, learning and racking up combos whilst wiping out waves of enemies was consistently satisfying and fun for the games short run time - and being fun is the most important thing a game can be.
The quick-time events were actually well used I thought, if you really believe such a thing is possible. I may not like the game very much but Kingdoms of Amalur had a QTE system where you only really had to do them to finish enemies, which instead of being annoying, actually made it really satisfying when you got the chance to end enemies by smashing buttons. The Legend of Korra does a similar thing where most of the QTEs are just there to give you an outlet to hammer out any frustration when finishing an enemy, or to make stunning an enemy feel that much more rewarding.
However the level design is a bit lacking, most of them just comprise of having to defeat enemies whilst confined into an arena by magical walls. The Naga sections were a bit mediocre too, especially the last one that didn't seem to work exactly as intended - you had to take out three machines whilst also surviving their attacks, however sometimes you'd run in front of the machines and still get hit by their attacks as the game raced to push you back behind them.
The Pro-bending league is a neat little addition that will probably take an extra hour or two to beat. It probably has even little depth to it than the story but it's pretty entertaining and gets a bit challenging later on - but there is a lot of satisfaction to be had in making round winning blocks and beating some of the tougher teams after a close game.
STORY
It's not as good as the TV show but I don't think anyone would be expecting that - after reading other reviews it seems some people were... Coming back to visit this point I guess I do understand the complaint. With the actual TV show having such strong characters and well thought out story lines I can understand that some people would perhaps be a bit put-off by this game lacking much of a compelling story or the same charm.
But then again, perhaps an argument could be made that, if you want a good story, you just watch the TV show. Of course that isn't such a great excuse in this age where games can rival movies and TV in the story department but what this game does is allow for the people who want to know how it feels to be the Avatar and smack people around with fire, earth, air and water to get a feel for it in a way that, whilst could certainly be improved upon, would never be possible in the form of TV.
Does it deal with some of the interesting aspects the TV show explores like how it can impact someone mentally to be the Avatar? No, it doesn't. It doesn't even try to explore anything in depth. The story is just there to get you from A to B. For some people that won't be enough and this won't be a game for them. For others that will be fine. For me the gameplay was fun and rewarding, whilst being able to pull off many of the moves seen in the show that made me wish for a game based in the Avatar universe was fulfilling enough for me.
GRAPHICS
The characters looked fine, even if perhaps some the enemies began looking a bit repetitive. I always enjoy cell-shaded graphics though. The cutscenes in the game aren't animated to the same quality of the show however they still look fine.
SOUND
The voice actors from the show reprise their voice roles so that's nice. The music from the show is well used too.
VALUE FOR MONEY
It's worth considering that this game is usually about 1/3rd of a AAA title's price. So vast amounts of content shouldn't be expected. The story only takes around 3 hours to complete on Normal, which is too short really. Add in a couple more hours to complete the Pro-bending league and you're probably around 5 hours, which is still pretty lacking. However of course it does seem like the game has been designed with replay-ability in mind, you don't unlock the Avatar state until very late on, you can keep on doing levels until you've scored platinum in each one, then of course there are harder difficulties too - extreme mode really does seem like a different game to normal.
OVERALL
Despite its short comings in, well being so short, and having largely dull level design the game is really fun. Platinum rarely disappoint when it comes to combat and whilst it may not be the deepest system they've ever devised it is just really fun to use the elements. It's a solid experience, probably one of the best TV/movie tie-in games, easily the best game in the Avatar series and should at least please fans of the TV series, like myself. I'll just have to keep dreaming of the true potential this franchise has, especially in the hands of such talented developers as Platinum Games - just imagine a fully fledged game by them. It has the potential to be the greatest.
