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Beautiful to look at, but completely dead emotionally

When you launch this game for the first time, visually, everything will blow you away. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has arguably the most impressive graphics that can currently be conjured onto the screen. But behind the unbelievably beautiful facade, unfortunately, lies a game that left me completely cold emotionally and extremely annoyed by its catastrophic voice acting. So, I donned my loincloth and set off to see if there's any real substance behind these blue giants.

The story: Classic sci-fi material without surprises:

The story is basically exactly what you know from James Cameron's movies. You play a Na'vi who was kidnapped as a child by the human military organization RDA and retrained to be a loyal soldier. After 15 years in cryosleep, you wake up – the humans are still blowing everything to smithereens, and you realize, „Oops, I'm actually on the other side.“.

So you're joining the resistance and now you have to race from clan to clan to unite the blue natives and save Pandora from corporate destruction. The story absolutely doesn't reinvent the wheel, but as a typical Avatar adventure, it's perfectly fine. You know from the first minute who's good and who's bad, and that's exactly how the whole thing unfolds. It's solid sci-fi material that serves the purpose of driving you through the world.

The gameplay:

Let's get to the absolute highlight of the game, because gameplay-wise, Ubisoft is pulling out all the stops here. Playing as a Na'vi over three meters tall, the movement feels fantastic. You run, slide, and climb through the fantastic-looking undergrowth like a parkour pro on drugs. You jump meters high, catch yourself on vines, and move through the forest with a dynamism that is a true joy. The combat system is pleasantly versatile. You can sneak through bases like a silent predator with the heavy Na'vi bow, taking out human troops with a single, well-aimed arrow. Or you can grab the humans' assault rifle and let it rip.

But the absolute highlight, without a doubt, is your own flying creature, the Ikran. When you're sprinting towards a kilometer-high cliff, dive headfirst into the abyss, whistle for your mount in mid-freefall, it catches you, and you seamlessly chase through the clouds while the music swells, holy hell, that's pure goosebumps. You can even feed your creature, pet it, and give it a name. In these moments, the game shows its absolute genius.

What's not so great about the game: No soul, terrible voices:

But where there's a lot of light, unfortunately, there's also a hell of a lot of shadow with this game, and that really bothered me in the review. The big drama with Frontiers of Pandora is that it absolutely no emotions It doesn't matter what happens on the screen, whether the world is burning, ancient forests are being logged, or important characters are dying, it doesn't affect you at all. Everything feels sterile and completely polished. As a player, you stand by, admire the pretty lighting effects, but you don't form any real emotional connection with any character. If your friends are in danger, you just shrug and look for the next chest to loot. The game simply lacks the heart to truly draw you in. The atmosphere receives its final death blow as soon as someone opens their mouth. The voice acting is an absolute disaster, especially in German. and also on English.

In German The voice actors sound so wooden and absolutely bored. There's no passion, no anger, and no pain in it at all. When a character is supposed to be desperate, it sounds like a monotone announcement from Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), informing everyone that they've spontaneously decided not to show up again. In English Isn't it a bit worse because the voice actors there have such strange, artificial, and choppy intonation that it immediately ruins the mood? That makes the game really exhausting at times, and you'd rather mute it.

In addition, Ubisoft once again overdoes it with the typical busywork outside of the main missions. The collection system forces you to gather enormous amounts of high-quality materials for the best upgrades, picking them in perfect weather, and hacking fuse boxes with a simple mini-game just becomes annoying after the tenth time.

Who is Frontiers of Pandora for, and who should run away?

Buy when…

• You want to see the most beautiful open-world playground ever and you love visual masterpieces.
• Climbing trees, flying on the Ikran, and pulling off the action is incredibly fun.
• You're embracing the typical Ubisoft principle and having fun taking down enemy bases in various ways.

Do not buy if:

• You're looking for a story that grips you deep in your heart, carries you away, and makes you empathize.
• Bad, lifeless, and strangely accented voice acting immediately ruins the fun of the game for you.
• You don't feel like constant busywork and meticulous herb gathering in the woods.

My conclusion:

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora It really doesn't make it easy. On the playful and visual side, it's an absolute highlight! The world is tremendous, flying and fighting are incredibly fun, and it's just awesome to sweep through this jungle. But the emotional coldness and the catastrophic voice acting unfortunately drag down an otherwise really good game. Those who are simply looking for a damn stylish action game to explore and can overlook the lifeless dialogues will get some really good food for their console or PC. Those looking for an emotional masterpiece, probably not. A gameplay-strong and beautiful adventure that unfortunately lacks a soul.