Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Burning Earth Review

Posted May 24, 2008 by (85)

The Burning Earth is the sequel to last year’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, a substandard action platformer. Having already been released on the PS2 and the Wii, the Xbox 360 port now comes along to further dissatisfy the masses, offering the most minimal of upgrades on a console that has more than enough horsepower to make it stand out. The sad fact of the matter is that The Burning Earth is a sloppy port of what was already a lackluster game.

This might be the best looking version of the game out there, but you’ll quickly realize that’s not saying much once the opening cinematic ends and the game rears its ugly head. There is virtually no distinction between the cut scenes and the in-game engine, except that both sport low-polygon models and blurry textures. The environments are sparsely decorated and repetitive, with little interaction. Sometimes people in the streets just stand motionless as you spar around them. Even more puzzling is the fact that, while characters move their mouths during the FMV sequences, they do not in the in-engine cut scenes, creating a completely conspicuous disparity. At other times, the game opts for text instead of voice, for no discernable reason.

The lack of polish applied to the port really shows when you realize that it is possible to earn all 1,000 achievement points in the first five minutes. There are only five of them, rewarded for earning 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, and 50-hit combos. Combos carry over from one enemy to another so long as the enemies don’t hit you. This means in one single encounter you can snag all five in quick succession, giving us by the far the most inane usage of achievements we’ve ever seen.