"A Staggering Sensory Experience" - Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Review

screenrant.com:

is a game that promises a lot just by existing. Developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft, it's a very AAA take on a very blockbuster film franchise, hellbent on creating a beautiful world that's almost impossibly dense with vivid life. Much to the game's credit, it rises to the challenge of rendering Pandora's splendor with care, and a share of somewhat pedestrian elements never manage to overwhelm everything that it does right.

If the world of needs any introduction, lays things out clearly enough, starting in clinical environments controlled by the colonizing force of the RDA before breaking out into the vast wilds of an exotic moon. Like in the films, this setting is integral to a story about resisting the destruction of nature and a way of life built around it, although the basic ideas play out a little differently. The game follows a character born as an indigenous Na'vi but raised by the RDA as they explore the new continent of the Western Frontier and face the threat of a ruthless tycoon's avaricious schemes.

Pandora is the star of the show in, and few open-world environments have ever deserved the spotlight so thoroughly. Across three huge zones and a variety of biomes within them, every vista in the Western Frontier proves to be breathtaking. Playing feels like flipping through a book of concept art, with virtually every aspect from lighting design to textural detail coming together for a cohesive and stunning result. If Massive Entertainmenthad managed this much and then called it a day, would retain value just as a tech demo and sightseeing showcase.

What really sets it apart is the reactivity, which helps dense forests and wide open plains feel like much more than a backdrop. Plants shrink