Avatar: The Game Puts the Hurt on Ubisoft

[CyberKnight]

If they wanted to make the game faithful to the movie, they could've just taken Halo (or Call of Duty if you prefer) and reskinned it with Avatar models.

Yes, the movie looked good. Really good. I think I might actually go see it again; I had a fun time watching it.

But there wasn't a single original element in the entire story. It wouldn't surprise me if Michael Blake filed a lawsuit for this unauthorized reboot of Dances with Wolves.

 

[Nazulu]

Well this is unexpected, very unexpected, maybe the masses aren't so mindless as we thought. God it would have to stink really bad for hardly anyone to just snap it up.

 

[DarkSaber]

Further proof that ANY game made to cash in on a film is shit.


...Except for Goldeneye 007.

And Chronicles of Riddick:Escape from Butcher Bay.

 

[_Nocturnal]

If they wanted to make the game faithful to the movie, they could've just taken Halo (or Call of Duty if you prefer) and reskinned it with Avatar models.

They probably could do that.
But they actually tried to make something even better.
This [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/12/avatar-game/] is a nice piece detailing their ideas.

 

[Plurralbles]

I don't buy movie-based games. Even if they were GOOD, I still wouldn't.

The two should be seperated, especially because the game makers completely retard the IP almost every single time.

It would have to be a true gem to even try it.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

So it has come to this. A gaming website decides a game sucks by reading a wikipedia entry...and everyone hops on board.

Once again: I played the game. It sucks.

 

[BonerMacTittyPants]

Were they really expecting a tie-in game to succeed?

Just because it's based on a movie with spectacular effects? I mean, really?


No exceptions Ubi, suck it.

 

[Eatbrainz]

Further proof that ANY game made to cash in on a film is shit.


...Except for Goldeneye 007.

And Chronicles of Riddick:Escape from Butcher Bay.

And that, provided your talking about Pitch Black not the sequel, Chronocles of Riddick, which we dont talk about.

 

[NamesAreHardToPick]

haha I think this article should be filed under "No Surprises Here" instead of "News". Movie licenses for games have a legacy of failure and shovelware going all the way back to ET on the Atari2600 or maybe even earlier.

Personally, I think this is the best thing since sliced bread... nothing shuts down a kid's annoying fanboy/fangirl streak than buying them a horrible videogame based on the movie.

Hey, anyone feel like writing some bad sandbox game based on the Twilight series?

 

[Takoto]

Did anyone actually expect the game to be good?

 

[Katana314]

This is surprisingly good news to me! No one here is denying that 99% of movie-game adaptations suck, and I agree. What's surprising is that the general consumer population actually seems to be catching on somewhat. Before, the idea of half-baking a TV show tie-in would still net you at least 20x the revenue of Grim Fandango.

If it's no longer working, this is one step closer to publishers actually being forced to make GOOD games.

 

[reg42]

The only movie game which I liked was Godfather and Batman Begins wasn't terrible either.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

So it has come to this. A gaming website decides a game sucks by reading a wikipedia entry...and everyone hops on board.

Sometimes the wisdom of crowds actually manages to be correct. When it came out, everybody said the C64 Double Dragon port was one of the worst games of all time. I've played it, and guess what: it is!

DarkSaber, sometimes the best media isn't the one that makes the most money. There's so many examples of great games that didn't sell well. (Yahtzee would no doubt point to "Psychonauts" as an example, but personally I'd say "System Shock" has to head that particular list. IMO it's the best game I've ever played and it sold a mere one hundred thousand units.)

Likewise, there are very mediocre games that sold very badly. "Super Street Fighter 2" on the Sega Megadrive / Genesis is an example. "Dynamite Headdy" was another. Everybody was trading in their copies of "SF2 Championship Edition" to get "Super" only to realise that the soundtrack suddenly stank and the "new" characters really added nothing to the game except to unbalance the difficulty levels. Likewise Treasure's enormously-hyped "Dynamite Headdy", although it didn't stink by any means, looked positively mediocre when compared to something like their earlier releases like "Gunstar Heroes".

 

[Srkkl]

I could tell by the commercials and that little special on the XBL menu that this game was gonna suck.

 

[Grahwo]

Avatar game would have been much more fun if you where sneaking around "ala Dark Messiah style" as blue cathumanthingie, with a big bow and a huge knife.. Hunting humans and what not of other nasty thingies.

Something stealthy, with a solid bashed together well written storyline instead of this.. High pace run with guns blazing 3thperson massive body pile shoot'em up.

I would much rather sneak around in the jungle thingies hunting humans >_> than rush around with some blue Juggernaut and bash them with sticks.

The variety in vehicles, locations and what not.. and the scenery itself is wonderful.. but it does not help when all you do is run and gun >_>




ps.. Though I really did enjoy flying the helicopter, and using that MechWarrior suit.

 

[Nurb]

Ubisoft didn't speculate on how such a hugely popular movie could spawn a videogame that tanked so badly

I think it's time Ubisoft stopped making games if they couldn't figure this out

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

/sarcasm

A game tie in to a movie that was released at the same time and it was a bomb? I am truly shocked.