Summary
One of the earliest video game genres, RPGs began life as simple adaptations of tabletop games likeDungeons and Dragons. As such, these games carried over a slew of tabletop mechanics to the video game world, such asgetting quests from NPCs, upgrading stats, unlocking new weapons and abilities, and the ability to create and customize an original character. As the video game landscape has continued to evolve over the years, the lines defining genres have started to blur, eventually resulting in action/adventure games that contain a handful of RPG elements, just likeAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
After a few years in the oven,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorais finally out and, while it may not be the most well-reviewed game of the year, it’s definitely a title worth checking out for any fans ofJames Cameron’sAvataruniverse. That being said, there are plenty of nitpicks and issues withAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and one of those is the game’s lackluster character creator and subsequent customization, most of which pales in comparison to other 2023 titles.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Character Customization Could Have Been Better
Avatar’s Character Creator Lacks Meaningful Options
Obviously,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandoraisn’t a fully-fledged RPG, and it wouldn’t be fair to hold it to the same standards as sprawling hundred-hour epics likeBaldur’s Gate 3, or evenBethesda’sStarfield. That being said,Avatardoes still borrow a few major elements from the RPG genre, and if it’s in the game, its very existence invites fair criticism, andAvatar: Frontiers of Pandoracertainly deserves some.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s character creator is a tad strange. Presented to the player around 20 minutes into the game,Avatar’s character creator functions pretty much how any RPG fan would expect it to. Players get to choose their skin color, eye color, hairstyle, and a few other cosmetic details, but while there are a good handful of options per category, the vast majority of the options themselves feel a little redundant. For instance, there are three different hair colors to choose from inAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, all of which are just different shades of brown. Skin color options follow a similar pattern, giving players eight different options to choose from, but they’re all slightly different shades of blue.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s character creatordoes offer a few options that are wholly unique to theAvataruniverse, though unfortunately, they’re also quite lackluster. Players can choose from 12 different bioluminescence patterns, which determine the number and style of glow-in-the-dark dots that appear on the player character’s body at night. But the issue here is that these patterns are extremely difficult to see, especially on the character creator screen, so players don’t really get to see what they’re choosing.
Of course, there were always bound to be some restraints when it came toAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s character customization. Being an official part oftheAvatarcanon, it’s completely fair thatFrontiers of Pandoradoesn’t let players get too wild with their customization. An orange-skinned Na’vi with hot rod flames up its arms and body might sound cool, but it would breakAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s immersion pretty quickly. While that’s completely understandable, that doesn’t mean that Ubisoft couldn’t have given players some more significant options for character customization. As it stands,Frontiers of Pandora’s character creator feels a bit pointless and tacked-on.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora
WHERE TO PLAY
Protect Pandora. Become Na’Vi. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora™ is a first-person, action-adventure game set in the open world of the never-before-seen Western Frontier of Pandora. Abducted by the human militaristic corporation known as the RDA, you, a Na’vi, were trained and molded to serve their purpose. Fifteen years later, you are free, but find yourself a stranger in your birthplace. Reconnect with your lost heritage, discover what it truly means to be Na’vi, and join other clans to protect Pandora from the RDA.
