The Legend Of Korra is one of the latest releases from PlatinumGames along side Bayonetta 2 and it’s very clear which one was worth their development time.
The Legend Of Korra is a functional and generally quite slick action game. You control Korra, the TV show’s leading character. She is the Avatar, and therefore has the ability to control all four elements: earth, water, fire and air. For the first five minutes that is. The game then decides it’s going to take all the elements away excluding water. As Korra you will need to battle across various empty but recognisable locales from the TV show, although they are riddled with Korra making references to the show, which will spoil Season 2, even though the story has nothing to do with the one in game. As you progress through the game you will unlock the other elements. Each element does feel like an improvement over the previous however and all have their own unique styles.
The Story
The story is utter nonsense and is definitely not the reason to play the game. There are no characters besides Korra and Naga (her ‘polar bear dog’). Mako and Bolin get a brief mention and then disappear until the credits. The objective is to walk from the beginning of corridor A to the end of corridor B whilst kicking the ass of the same 6 character models used throughout the entire game. The story has no charm. The TV series is filled with fun and delightful characters not to mention Verrick. Every single thing Korra related needs to have Verrick! None of this is evident throughout. in fact the only time any humour comes into play is during the end credits. for obvious reasons I won’t spoil it.
The Boss battles were actually fun at first, as you hadn’t encountered that type of enemy at that point. Unfortunately, you have roughly three different types of bosses and you fight them all multiple times across the five-six hour campaign.
Cutscenes
The cutscenes – if you can call them that – are awful, they are look shoddily drawn and are badly animated. They really look like they are animated at about 12 FPS. The South Park Canadians talking are better animated than the talking of any of the characters. They can also be quite difficult to hear and I couldn’t find a single option to turn any subtitles on.
The Shop
There is a shop managed by Iroh – The uncle of prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender – and he sells all sorts of useful items which you have to go to a separate screen to equip in your four available slots. The items themselves are decent enough. Some extra skills for your bending and some basic items that act like potions. The fact that you need to go to another screen to equip them is wasting enough time then the fact you have to buy each item one at a time – when generally you will always buy three potions because that is the limit – will surely waste enough to be frustrated. Korra also has a habit of saying the exact same line every single time you enter her room to change items.
Naga Running Sections
What does this action game need to break up the action? A decent story? Good script? Apparently the answer we wer looking for was an endless runner. Yes. just like temple run. It should be said that this is actually quite a good endless runner and would no doubt do very well as a standalone product. My only issue is that it’s so out of place.
Pro-Bending
This is the best bit about The Legend Of Korra. Pro-Bending, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is the sport created in the TV show. It pits two teams of three – an earth bender, water bender and fire bender – up against each other. The objective is to gain as much territory by knocking the other benders back into the next ‘zone’ until the time runs out. If you manage to knock the benders off the end then it’s an instant win. otherwise it’s a multiple round game. It’s a simple premise and is really fun to play. with three different difficulty levels it should keep you entertained for a fair bit of time. I only have two issues with it. It’s locked behind the wall of completing the story. My other problem is it’s not multiplayer. This could of been a very fun 3v3 player game even if it was limited to 1v1 with two AI players, it could of kept things interesting.
The Legend Of Korra is an average action game and only worth the pick up if you have seen at least the first two seasons of the TV show and enjoy those but if you even so much as like the show more than just watching it, prepare to be frustrated with the portrayal of the few characters you see.