Just nine months after releasing another massive game set in a very popular IP�em>Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora�/em>developer Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft have released another massive game set in a very popular IP with the release of Star Wars Outlaws.

In some ways, the classic landmark staples of a Ubisoft game are very much present: the massive open world (well worlds, in Outlaws), a gazillion side quests, and lots of loot and collectibles tucked in every corner. But in other ways, Outlaws tries some new things to stand out from being "another big open world Ubisoft game"?, and while it doesn't succeed at all of them, it does at most of them, creating what has been a mostly enjoyable experience thus far.

Star Wars Outlaws (PC [reviewed], PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: August 30, 2024
MSRP: $69.99

Hello there!

Outlaws kicks off in the city of Canto Bight, a popular tourism and gambling hotspot located on the planet Catonica in the Outer Rim. Star Wars fans will recognize Canto Bight and more specifically its massive luxurious casino from Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, where Finn, Rose, and BB-8 went to attempt to recruit the Master Codebreaker. Canonically, Outlaws takes place between Episode 5 and Episode 6, so it's well before the events of The Last Jedi.

One of the coolest aspects of Outlaws for a Star Wars fan is just how many canonically cool areas, ??characters, and situations you get to experience as you progress. You'll head to Tatooine, the famous desert world orbiting twin suns. You'll also visit Kijimi, the ice planet destroyed by The First Order in Episode 9. Each planet has its own massive slice of the world that you can explore, zipping across the landscape on your speeder and taking on side quests as well as ranking up your reputation with the local faction. Massive really nailed the world design and overall immersion of each of the planets as you explore them.

I thought Massive did a great job of bringing the world of Pandora to life in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and they've done the same here. As you zip through the wilds of Toshara on your speeder, you'll encounter plenty of scenarios that make the Outlaws universe feel alive: merchants transporting their goods back and forth between the cities, rogues and scoundrels waiting to ambush you if you get too close to their territory, a secret imperial outpost where you can sneak in and ?score some goodies.

With my ever-growing backlog of games these days, I've found myself struggling not to focus on just main story quests. But that hasn't been the case thus far with Outlaws. There are definitely way more side quests than I'll probably ever r??ealistically do, but I've found myself exploring other side activit??ies despite feeling as though I needed to complete Outlaws to get a full-scored review up.

There's so much to do, and I'm not even talking about side quests. I've become somewhat of a Sabacc aficionado, and find myself seeking as much Sabaac action as I can. I've gambled on Fathier races, which are essentially horse races, even though I swear they are rigged. I've dumped more time than I care to admit into Space Arcade, an arcade-style mini-game that's like a 3D Galaga. There's so much to interact with and just stumble across in Outlaws that helps build that living slice of the Star Wars un??iv??erse that you get to explore.

Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Story-wise, you'll take on the role of an all-new character in the Star Wars universe, Kay Vess. Kay is young and witty but often hotheaded and a bit too r??eactionary with her decision-making, which has its ups and downs for her line of work: a scoundrel and a thief. She's accompanied by her companion Nix, a cute creature called a merqaal, a small doe-eyed quadruped with a long tail, which is also a new addition to the Star Wars universe.

Nix is a cool companion because not only is he a cute furry creature that will follow you around and let you pet him, but he also is a massive boon to assisting you with being a scoundrel in the world of Outlaws. In most situations in Outlaws, the first priority is to stealth your way in. Some scenarios require stealth, meaning if you get caught at all, it's Game Over and back to? the most recent checkpoint or the start of that mission. Most situations, however, are simply much easier when utilizing stealth.

Kay is armed with a blaster pistol that can certainly be used if need be, for when stealth is no longer an option. But in a lot of situations, it turns things into an uphill battle. Unarmored Imperial Troopers can go down with a single shot, but most enemies are armored, including Storm Troopers and other variants of soldiers. They take 3-4 shots even to the head, before falling. You can eventually upgrade your blaster, making things a lot easier, or even pick up blaster?? rifles from enemies you take out that makes it much easier to blast your way to your destination, but in the early and even mid-game choosing to fight your way through instead of stealthing? often results in having to hide, reload a lot, and hope no one sounds an alarm that attracts more enemies.

Thankfully, Nix makes stealth a much better option. You can issue commands to Nix, such as distracting enemies, accessing hard-to-reach locations to grab loot and items, opening doors, and even preoccupying cameras. You can even send Nix to attack an enemy. And while he won't kill them or anything, it will distract them and even give you the opportunity to follow up on that distracted enemy with a stealth attack of your own that will disable them. Throughout Outlaws, Nix also has some cool bonus perks, such as helping you cheat in Sabacc and telling you what cards your opponents hold. In some games, companions that are with you always can feel annoying or even cumbersome. Nix is not that kind of companion. He's great in many ways and is essentially a staple to the story and gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

As Kay, you'll take on tasks for various entities and factions, often culminating in a decision to be made, each with its own rewards. However, the decision you make will often cause you to gain reputation with one of Outlaws' four Criminal Factions, but lose reputation with another. The four factions are the Pyke Syndicate, the first faction you will encounter on Toshara, the Crimson Dawn, one of the largest criminal organizations in Outlaws, the Hutt Cartel which is the infamous criminal faction led by Jabba the Hutt, and the Ashiga Clan, a faction comprised of the insectoid Mel??itto species located primarily on the ice planet Kijimi.

For example, you may get a mission from the Crimson Dawn with the task of placating the Pyke Sy??ndicate by tampering with some important files on a terminal in an Imperial base. However, when the time comes, you can instead pull a fast one and placate the Crimson Dawn instead. Obviously the faction you side with will result in a reputation increase, while the one you throw under the bus will result in a reputation loss.

As you ris?e up the ranks with each faction you will gain access to certain faction-controlled areas in the cities but also at various poin?ts in the open world on each planet. I mainly focused on raising my Crimson Dawn reputation at the start, and later missions that would otherwise require me to stealth into a restricted area under Crimson Dawn control instead of letting me walk right past the guards who greeted me as a reputable member of their faction.

Even side quests will grant you a reputation with a specific faction, so if someone wanted, they could probably work hard to try and be in the good graces of each faction, which ?could make par?ts of the game much easier if you no longer had to sneak around where you shouldn't be. As you increase your reputation you'll also gain access to exclusive vendors and rewards, as well as exclusive missions that can only be taken on once the faction has its full trust in you.

Overall the faction system feels like a key part of "living the life as a scoundrel", and?? I found myself really thinking things through before making the final decision on wh?ich way to go at the end of certain missions. I tried to stay true to what decision I felt compelled to make story-wise instead of just trying to choose the decision that got me reputation with the faction I was most worried about, but these are criminal syndicates we're talking about. Is there really a good option?

That's no moon.

Despite how much I've loved the universe in which Outlaws takes place, there have certainly been some downsides, as well. I feel like the AI in a lot of stealth-oriented games really doesn't fare well. And while most of Outlaws holds up decently, I still encountered moments where it was just plain bad. You know, sneaki??ng into a super restricted top-secret area, an enemy spots me for a brief second and goes "Hey, who goes there!" before slowly walking towards me. I simply duck and hide behind the same container they were already looking at, and it completely throws them for a loop. "Ah, I guess it was nothing," they say, before turning around. I wasn't trying to cheese it or anything, but ?it happened several times naturally which is discouraging.

There's also some classic Assassin's Creed-style jank due to there being so many things to interact with. I'd go into a side room where there is random scrap to collect as well as a datapad containing some story bits, a button that I can interact with to open and close a door, as well as a ladder leading below to where enemies are patrolling. I try to pick up the scrap but end up somehow grabbing the datapad. I'm not trying to read extra story right now, because I'm in the middle of a stealth op, so I'm slamming Circle to get out of it, then when I do randomly grab onto the ladder from when I was trying to pick up the scrap sitting on the table. Now it's catchin?g up to me slamming Circle so I'm releasing my grip on the ladder and falling down in?? front of enemies, ending my stealth mission and setting me back 10 minutes to the start of said mission. Not a fun time.

I've also experienced some annoyances that have pulled me out of the immersion of Outlaws. While most of the time it's firing on all cylinders in ?the immersion department, I've had times when enemies who are searching for me will all group up in a random building, shouting about looking for me and how important it is to do so, but for some reason not actually doing so. I'm talking 5+ enemies all standing inside the same building just standing around shouting about how I'm done for when they find me. Another element of immersion-breaking is when I'm partaking in the space dogfighting gameplay, zipping through a debris field in the Trailblazer, only to hit a small rod jutting out from the nearby debris that causes my ship to instantaneously just stop in space. At least rip my ship to pieces and explode if I mess up and crash, but coming to an abrupt stop like I'm hitting an invisible wall certainly yanks me out of feeling the perils of dogfighting in space.

None of the issues I've encountered have been game-breaking, but annoying enough for me to wish there was an extra layer of polish in Outlaws. Even still, I've been looking for a more gritty adventure in the universe of Star Wars, and so far, Star Wars Outlaws has been just that. When everything is working great, the tale of Kay Vess has been an immersive and rewarding dive into the scoundrel life in the Star Wars universe. I'm enthralled by t??he story and excited to see how things end. Once I do, I'll be sure to loop back and provide a finalized scored review.

In the meantime, if you enjoy the Ubisoft structure of games but have been overwhelmed by them lately, thankfully Outlaws avoids most of the pitfalls. I feel safe in recommending Star Wars Outlaws to anyone who is a Star Wars fan who is looking for a solid story in the beloved universe, with stea??lth-focused gameplay that allows you to truly live the life of a scoundrel on the Outer Rim.

[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

The post Review in Progress: Star Wars Outlaws appeared first on Destructoid.

We're just a few weeks away from the launch of developer Massive Entertainment and publisher Ubisoft's open-world action-adventure game Star Wars Outlaws. In a post on the official Ubisoft blog, the publisher outlined the post-release content roadmap for Outlaws, detailing what is to come in the?? Season Pass which includes tw??o Story Packs, two Cosmetic Bundles, and a launch day exclusive mission and character pack.

Not so Far Far Away

Players who purchase the Gold Edition or Ultimate Edition of Star Wars Outlaws will automatically get the Season Pass, which includes the Kessel Runner character pack featuring outfits for Kay Vess and her companion Nix, as well as an exclusive mission called Jabba's Gambit. The mission gives access to an additional quest from the notorious Jabba Hutt and his Hutt Cartel. Both of these are available when Star Wars Outlaws is released.

The first Story Pack, Wild Card, is set to release in Fall 2024. Players will infiltrate a high-stakes Sabacc tournament as Kay before encountering notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, before evolving into a bigger game at play?. The Hunter's Legacy and Cartel Ronin cosmetic bundles will launch alongside this story pack, including additiona??l outfits for Kay and Nix as well as cosmetics for Kay's speeder and ship.

In Spring 2025 the second Story Pack, A Pirate's Fortune, will follow Kay as he runs into veteran pirate Hondo Ohnaka, who is attempting to settle old scores with a rut??hless gang of pirates.

Both of the Story Packs sound promising in terms of story, so hopefully the core gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws is enough to make the DLC feel worth exploring. We'll know for sure soon as Star Wars Outlaws is set to release on all platforms later this mo????nth on August 30.

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Even though The Division 2 isn't nearly as popular as, say, Destiny 2, it still enjoys a fair bit of attention. Recently, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment announced that Division 2 would essentially adopt the Diablo 4 seasonal model, switching over to time-limited seasonal characters for progression. Not a popular move.

Since the announcement was made, Division 2 players were understandably unhappy with the fact that they'd no longer be able to take their Agents through seasonal content. Instead, they'd have to rely on seasonal characters to make progress, while legacy Agents would be left to languish in old, out-of-date content. Thankfully, Massive Entertainment appears to ??have taken the players' feedback to heart, to some extent, and the studio has now announced that it's going to "re-evaluate Seasons 2.0 with particul?ar attention to Seasonal Characters with the goal of progressing without them."

The Division 2 developer is reconsidering the introduction of limited-time seasonal characters

This is obviously great and all, but I feel it's worth taking Massive Entertainment's specific verbiage into account. The studio's announcement hasn't outright stated that it would do away with seasonal characters or make the?m optional: the feature is merely being re-evaluated, and it very well could happen that it doesn't actually go anywhere in the end.

It's a shame, too, because the new Seasons 2.0 rework does seem genuinely exciting, even if there is a dearth of fresh content available in The Division 2 at this point in time, and the new seasonal character approach took the wind out of its sails. "This change will not impact the previously announced Year 6 plans," says the annou??ncement, "but it will require us to assess the changes necessary to the new Seasonal Experience, which will be integrated with Ye?ar 6 Season 2 this fall."

More information should be coming in as the developer figures out what's what and what's not with the new model, so fans ought to stay tuned for sure. Masssive has promised that this information will be published with a livestream and subsequently teste??d i??n a Public Test Server, which is obviously good news.

In the end, it's hard to say what's going to happen next with The Division 2. The game has been slowly trucking along in the background, persevering way longer than some of its most prominent competitors, but Ubisoft appears to be confused on what to do with it next. A proper sequel isn't even on the docket yet, and the Brooklyn DLC is still shrouded in mystery??. Time will tell, I? suppose.

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Yesterday was a pretty interesting day for those waiting for fresh details about Star Wars Outlaws. If you were quick enough, that is. Turns out, prior to the new story trailer going live, Ubisoft accidentally le??aked the ?game's release date early. There was a scramble to remove the date and any additional info (August 30, if you're interested), but it was too late at that point??.

Developed by Massive Entertainment �the team behind Tom Clancy's The Division series �Outlaws will be set between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi films. And because it's being published by Ubisoft, many of you will be wo??ndering whether it will be available on Steam.

The short answer is: no, it doesn't look like it will be. According to a press release �as outlined by a recent report from PC Gamer �Star Wars Outlaws will be coming to Ubisoft Connect (as you would expect) and Amazon's Luna cloud platfo??rm. Console o??wners will get to play it on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Not so epic...

It also doesn't look as though it's going to be available on Epic Games Store, either. The general understanding is that Ubisoft is not planning on releasing Outlaws on this or Steam as far as PC is concerned. This could change in the future, but ??you can never be too certain about these things.

As for the game itself, pre-orders are now being taken, and there are a number of editions available. As well as the standard copy of Outlaws, there's also going to be a Gold Edition and an Ulti??mate Ed??ition. Both of these will come with a Kessel Runner bonus pack and season pass. The latter will also get some additional bundles and an art book.

If you do want to play the game early, both of these special versions of the game will give you access from August 27, but be prepared to fork over quite a sum of money for that privilege. It will be a shame if Star Wars Outlaws does get kept back for the �let's be ho??nest here �less popular PC gaming clients. It seems we're still very much living in a world of gaming exclusivit?y, but what do you expect from the likes of Ubisoft?

Whether the game itself will be any good is another thing to consider. Outlaws represents the first ever open-world game set in the Star Wars universe. That alone sounds q?uite intriguing, but? is it enough to part with that extra bit of cash in order to play it three days early? You decide.

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Disney dropped a blog post today teasing what the House of Mouse has in store for fans across the next 12 months. Among the things the company reaffirmed was that Star Wars Outlaws is indeed coming this year.

Oddly though, when the blog was initially published, it specifically stated "late 2024" as the release window for Outlaws. However, a few hours later, the post was updated to remove "lat??e" and now simply lists 2024.

Nothing was really shared on the project other than a vague summation. The blog simply teased that players will "explore distinct planets ac?ro?ss the galaxy, both iconic and new."

We were first introduced to the game when Ubisoft unveiled it during Xbox's 2023 Games Showcase. Set in the time period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws revolves around the underground world of the franchise. You play as an?? outlaw scoundrel by the name of Kay Vess as she attempts a massive heist alongside her companion, Nix.

Developed by Massive Entertainment, the title features a variety of diff?erent forms of gameplay. While it's primarily a third-person action-adventure project, you'll also encounter stealth, vehicular combat, space combat, and more.

The "late 2024" designation may have been removed from Disney's blog, but it's still probably safe to assume that's the targeted window for Outlaws at this point. For whatever reason, Disney and Ubisoft must just not be ready to formally list the game's release date as such. Regardless, there's little doubt we'll be seeing much more of Star Wars Outlaws in the near future.

The post Disney will release open wo??rld Star Wars Outlaws in 2024 appeared first on Destructoid.

When Ubisoft revealed the first-look video for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora a couple of years ago, I thought, “Oh cool, an Avatar-themed Far Cry game!â€?I generally have a good time with Far Cry, but have been a bit burnt out on the gameplay loo??p recently. Turns out I was wrong. 

While Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does indeed have some overlapping elements with the Far Cry series, it’s very much its own game. If anything, it takes those elements and pushes them further, while molding them to fit within the world of James Cameron’s Avatar.

For fans of Avatar in general, Frontiers of Pandora is just what you’re looking for. Even if you’re not, the beautiful world that Massive Entertainment has created mixed with its tight combat system pushes the staple open-world fun of Ubisoft to the next level. Sure, it’s got some of the same stuff we’ve done before: clearing out enemy bases, hunting animals for materials, and more sidequests and collectibles than you can imagine. But even still, it does so with its own unique additions that make Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora its own.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (PC [reviewed], PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: December 7, 2023
MSRP: $69.99

Yo, listen up here's a story

The story starts with you creating your own young Na’vi, who is essentially part of what the RDA (humans) call The Ambassador Program. It’s marketed as a?? program to help bridge the game between Na’vi and Human relations, but of course that’s not the case. Turns out, your tribe, the Sarentu, mysteriously disappeared and you are the last remaining member. The Sarentu were a very respected and prestigious tribe on Pandora, so their disappearance is obviously worrisome to the Na’vi.

By the end of the brief introduction sequence, you are older and much wiser about the real motives of The Ambassador Program, which certainly aren’t favorable to the Na’vi. A resistance group of humans and Na’vi breaks you out shortly after Jake Sully rallies the tribes against the RDA in the movie, which is where Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora really begins. Even though Jake Sully and his actions are referenced, from here on out Frontiers of Pandora is its own story set on the Weste?rn? Frontier continent of Pandora.

At its core, the overarching narrative is mostly what you’d expect; the RDA is bad and up to no good, and the resistance is trying to put a stop to it. They’re up to some ??more nefarious things on Pandora than we’ve seen in the movies, too. But the story also delves into the Sarentu as you learn more about their heritage and what ha?ppened to them. As you progress, you will rally other tribes to join the resistance in fighting back against the RDA, with each one sharing more information with you about the Sarentu and their importance to the world. The story is solid, but made even better by the incredibly detailed and living world of Pandora all around you.

About a little guy that lives in a blue world

Massive Entertainment really put a lot of detail into creating its version of Pandora. The Western Frontier the player can explore is split into three regions: The Kinglor Forest, The Upper Plains, and The Clouded Forest. At the start, only the Kinglor Forest is available to you, and you unlock the other two areas by pro?gressing through the main story. 

The Kinglor Forest is a lush and sprawling rainforest resting under a floating mountain formation, one of the iconic biomes from Avatar. To say the world is beautiful would be an understatement. If you remember the surreal feeling of the forest lightning up at night when seeing Avatar for the first time, be prepared to relive it.

The world is also massive, both in scale and literal size. Colossal trees tower above as you run swiftly through the forest. Some of the most memorable moments I have with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora are just running through the rainforest while scaling monumental tree roots and mushrooms, all while the chirps and calls of creatures echo around me. It feels like an actual living world, which is a big part of what makes Avatar and more specifically Pandora so special.

Also, everything opens up very early, allowing you to explore the world with freedom??. You can tackle a plethora of sidequests as well as hunt down a ton of collectibles. There’s a 3D world map that marks the location of a collectible, quest hub, or important location. Once you’ve acquired the collectible or visited the location, it changes to a green blip indicating you have obtained what was there. I’m usually not a fan of collectibles, but I had a lot of fun seeking them out. Bellsprigs and Tarsyu Saplings, the two primary collectibles, also give you rewards for finding them. Each Bellsprig you touch grants you a permanent max health boost, while each Tarsyu Sapling gives you a skill point. It??’s nice to have collectibles that are not only fun to explore and hunt down, but also worthwhile in terms of rewards for doing so.

Very early on, the Aranahe tribe in Kinglor Forest tasks you with bonding with and acquiring your own Ikran. For those unfamiliar, these are the flying creatures that Na’vi can bond with to mount and take to the skies. To do so, you must ascend to the top of an Ikran Rookery and tame one of the creatures. The journey to the top is a very aesthetically pleasing experience, with a bit of adventure, puzzle-solving, and platforming all thrown together. The outstanding music—which, by the way, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora‘s entire soundtrack is incredible—only enhances t??he journey even more. It’s a very cool experience and ends with you being able to fly across the Western Frontier of Pandora.

And all day and all night and everything he sees is just blue

For how authentic the world of Pandora feels, the same can be said about playing as a Na’vi. For starters, you are taller than a human. It may not seem like much, but with the first-person camera towering over humans, it’s a noticeable dif?ference right away. You can also hold down the jump button to extend how high and far you can jump. Once again, this may seem like a small thing, but it really makes you feel like a Na’vi as you’re jumping across fallen trees and scaling cliff sides. 

Then, there’s the combat. It’s a very tight and realistic feeling. Your primary weapon of choice is going to be the bow, which works just how you imagine it would. Hold down the fire button to pull the arrow back, causing it to go further. It’s always fun when you perfectly line up a s?hot—because of course, there is bullet, err, arrow drop—and hit your enemy. You’ll also have access to a couple more Na’vi weapons like the Hunting Bow?, which is essentially a longer-range bow, and the Staff Sling, which allows you to hurl explosives at great distance.

There are also a couple of RDA weapons. Each weapon seems to have its own strengths and weaknesses. For example, the bow is a one-shot kill on your basic human enemy. However, when going up against an RDA AMP mech suit, you’r?e going to use their own weapons against them: the Assault Rifle or Shotgun. While it may seem like the Na’vi weapons are weaker, they typically are not. You can also craft additional ammo for them on the fly, whereas ammo for the RDA weapons has to be looted, from containers or dead RDA enemies. 

A major part of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is ??the crafting. You’ll collect materials throughout all of Pandora, be it mushrooms growing on the forest floor, honey from beehives hangi?ng from the trees, or even hides and teeth from animals you will hunt. You can use these materials to craft various recipes and designs you’ll unlock by progressing through the story, increasing your favor with the various clans, and completing specific side quests. Some of the recipes are for better types of food which, when consumed, give you buffs. Primarily though, you will be crafting armor and weapon upgrades and mods.

You also have the ability to use your Na’vi Senses. This puts a focused central point of your vision that highlights pretty much anything of note: collectibles, gatherable materials, animals, and even enemies. It’s essentially Eagle Vision from Assassin’s Creed. I like the system, but also wish it was a bit more expanded to? maybe grant you the increased senses for your whole vision, not just the focused center point. Then again, maybe that would make it too strong.

Like him inside and outside

As I said, there are some definite similarities to Far Cry here. You’ll raid RDA outposts and bases, as well as shut down their mining and drilling operations. One of the cooler aspects is doing so eradicates the pollution in that area. A large porti?on of the map in the Western Frontier starts off orangeish-brown with pollution from nearby RDA installations. But each one you take out allows life to flourish in the area. This isn’t just for looks, though. You’ll also gain access to new sidequests, fast travel points, collectibles, and loot by?? doing so. 

I’ve grown tired of the whole “liberate enemy outpostsâ€?system, but can say I genuinely sought them out and enjoyed doing so in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. As I said, they took some of the core systems and added enough nuance from the Avatar IP to make it different and fun. 

There’s also a skill system, with five different paths you can invest your skill points into. Skill points are obtained by hunting down Tarsyu Saplings and completing the main story and ?side quests. There’s quite a bit of diversity in the skills, which is nice. Focusing on the Survivor Skill Tree will give you more health and increase resistance against certain types of damage. The Maker Skill Tree, however, increases the quality of materials you obtain, and improves the quality of equipment you craft.

Each skill also has its own Apex S?kill that you unlock by completing a specific challenge and unlocking every other skill in that tree. All of the five Apex Skills are pretty big, so they are definitely worth going for. I personally found some skills more worthwhile than others, but with all of the Apex Skills being so useful, I found myself wanting to progress through each tree eventually. For example, the Apex Skill for the Maker Skill Tree makes all of your crafted gear and weapons more powerful. I beelined this Apex Skill and am glad I did so, because the now-increased damage my weapons deal is a real game-changer.

I'm blue

Unfortunately, I did encounter a few issues that at least affected my playthrough somewhat along the way. ?I had a pretty well-optimized adventure while playing through the Kinglor Forest area. Howev??er, once I reached the second and third areas, I saw some noticeable FPS drops. The dense forest didn’t have many issues, but for some reason, the open plains were a bit more trouble.

I’m also not a fan of the Combat Strength system in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. I like that there’s no actual experience grinding to level up. Your Combat Strength is calculated based on the gear you have equipped, including armo??r and weapons and their attachments. You can also increase your Combat Strength by selecting certain skills on the skill tree that boost damage or health.

But the main issue here is that the number acts as sort of a hard wall when fighting enemies. For example, if your Combat Strength is 7, almost 8, and you are fighting an enemy that has a strength of 8, you’re not going to have a good time. The enemy takes reduced damage while also deal??ing a lot more damage to you. However, equipping a very minor upgrade that will push your score up to 8 suddenly makes the enemy much easier. In a way, it can feel as though it trivializes the stats on equipment because, at the end of the day, you just want to strive for a higher Combat Strengt??h than your opponent. 

Finally, as much as I like the ?3D world map, in some cases, it’s not very practical from a gameplay perspective. I’d?? often be at the spot on my map indicating there was a Bellsprig or Tarsyu Sapling—both collectibles—which was literally visible on the map. However, the actual location of the collectible was in a nearby cave.

Da be dee da ba di

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does Avatar justice. Massive Entertainment has created a truly immersive and polished Pandora, that quite frankly far exceeded my expectations. Massive managed to create the same feeling of awe that I experienced when the Avatar movie was released almost 14 years ?ago. Running through the lush forests of Pandora with its incredibly grandiose overgrown flora? while the sounds of creatures simply living all around me creates such an authentic rendition of life on Pandora. 

If you walked away from Avatar wishing a world like Pandora actually existed out there, here you go. This is that world. Seeing Pandora is one thing, but being able to scale its massive treetops, soar high above its floating mountains on an Ikran, and traverse its wide open plains on the back of a Direhorse is really something special. This is the best version of Avatar yet. 

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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I have to admit, when I first saw Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, I thought it was just a reskinned Far Cry. If anything, it reminded me of Far Cry: Primal. But I recently had the opportunity to jump into a two-hour hands-on experience of an earlier section of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, where I realized it is not just Far Cry: Blue Edition. Sure, there are similarities to the open-world formula that Ubisoft has mastered over the years. But Frontiers of Pandora also b?uilds upon the formula, while also melding it to? fit the world of Pandora.

In the two hours I got to play, I only got to explore a small portion of the world and experience and even smaller part of the story. However, in the two hours I also got a good feel for what developer Massive Entertainment was going for. In Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, you actually feel like a Na'vi exploring the vast and beautif?ul world of Pandora full of incredible flora and ??fauna.

Eywa has heard you

My gameplay demo dropped me in the middle of a massive forest in Pandora, with no ins?truction on what to do next. Keep in mind this isn't the beginning of the game, but rather an early segment that Massive and Ubisoft specifically picked. My only hint was an apparent quest tracker in the top left of the screen that informed me I was supposed to be gathering some Mangrove ??Hive Nectar for a ritual.

I looked around and saw an intricately lush amalgamation of plants and trees, just like we've seen from the Avatar movie. High in the sky were floating islands with waterfalls flowing off of them, and all around me were the many sounds of Pandora. Inse?cts chirped and buzzed, animals called out to each other, and sticks crunched under my feet as I ran across the forest. As day turned to night, the forest lit up with vibrant hues of blue and purple while plants began to light up and glow in every direction. This is certainly Pandora.

But ??not only was this indeed Pandora—I was indeed a Na'vi. Sprinting felt like second nature, as I zipped across the forest floor. You can hold the jump button, and the longer you hold it, the further and higher you will jump. You'll sprint top massive treetops as you jump from branch to branch, parkouring across the world.

I just wanted to point out that Massive clearly put in the effort to make Frontiers of Pandora feel like Avatar in the important ways. The world of Pandora is so detailed that it may be the most beautiful rendition we've seen of it yet. And from a gameplay perspective, you really fe??el like you are playing as a Na'vi.

I see you

Not long into the gameplay, I found myself climbing atop an Ikran Rookery to forge my own bond with an Ikran. The rookery itself required superb parkour that only a Na'vi could successfully pull off, as I climbed to the top. From here, players get acce??ss to their own Ikran. You can call the Ikran at any time, including when you're freefalling from the highest points of Pandora. Your Ikran will swoop under you allowing to mount it from the skies as you soar through the skies. It's a great fe?eling, and once again creates the real feeling of being a Na'vi in Pandora.

It also provides an insanely fast method of travel, allowing you to fly to each location including quest objectives. It's the sort of feature that always felt missing from the? massively open-world environments Ubisoft is known for.

All energy is only borrowed

After forging the bond with an Ikran, I encountered the RDA for the first time. I was impressed to learn that I'm able to engage in combat from atop the Ikran, firing a flurry of arrows at RDA ships as they tried to take me down. You can also jump off your Ikran at any time, which is a cool added gameplay element. Not only c??an you land on the ground and dismount, but you ??can also jump off from midair. Of course, there is fall damage, so you don't want to jump off from too high.

The gunplay itself felt very concise and tight. For my hands-on, I got to cycle between a standard bow, a sniper bow that had longer range, dealt more damage, but took longer to re-nock, and an RDA assault rifle. I typically used the standard bow against standard human enemies, switching to the sniper bow when things were exceptionally far away. The assault rifle seemed very strong, especially at shredding the armor of the RDA's mech suits. I typically prefer to play first-person-shooter games with keyboard and mouse. However, for this hands-on experience, we were recommended to use a controller. I used a DualSense (PS5) controller and it felt great. In fact, I may even choose to play with a controller when Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora releases.

E??ventually I made my way to an RDA mining outpost where I had the option of stealthing my way in and sabotaging and disabling the outpost quietly, or going in guns blazing. I attempted stealth but was spotted by someone about halfway through, which quickly turned into a firefight. It was an intense battle as more and more enemies swarmed the outpost. But as a Na'vi, the ability to quickly scale up structures an??d out maneuver my enemies made it so the combat never felt unfair by any means.

Overall, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora felt like an accurate representation of pl??aying as Na'vi in the world o?f Pandora. It's clear this is an open-world Ubisoft game, but there's enough different there to make it feel like a fresh experience as well. It's simply fun to explore Pandora as a Na'vi, and Massive has made it feel natural.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora releases on PC, PlayStation 5, and ??Xbox Series X|S ?on December 7.

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