James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (works with Wii MotionPlus)

"...a good third-persona action proposal which excels in its atmosphere.  Daniel Escandell, VandalOnline.com
"A good adaption of the movie.  Lennard Verhage , PSFocus.com
"...a surprisingly good video game for a game which derives from a film.  Cynamite.com
"A good adaption of the movie.  Lennard Verhage, PSFocus.com

IGN.com 7 of 10
James Cameron has delivered some movies of monstrous proportions. Titanic, Aliens and The Terminator have all come to us courtesy of the Canadian filmmaker. This December sees the release of the long-awaited Avatar, a movie about an alien moon called Pandora and the battle over its riches. Cameron's last movie, Titanic, set all sorts of box office records. That puts the expectations for Avatar at near impossible levels and naturally paves the way for a videogame adaptation. It's a game that I had high hopes for and though it does its best to play to the movie's strengths -- featuring a lush jungle world and 3D visuals -- Avatar: The Game ultimately suffers from unpolished and thin gameplay elements...You can choose to fight for the Na'vi, or for the RDA as pictured here. Both branches of the game last between four and six hours -- more if you take on all of the side tasks -- but each tell their own story and deliver their own style of gaming. Will you play a straight action game with limited platforming as you fight for the natives? Or will you tackle a third-person shooter and lay waste to everything in sight using guns and flamethrowers? Or will you wind up playing both sides to double your game time? It's a nice concept and the two sides of the Avatar: The Game coin are different enough to make each feel distinct. Neither, however, plays well enough to make it a standout...Avatar: The Game feels like all of the development effort was put into building out the look of Pandora. In 3D, if your TV or monitor can handle it, the world comes to life. Even in standard HD or SD, the lush jungle is inviting and exciting. Take all of that away and you aren't left with much worth talking about. The gameplay feels like it needs more work. Loose controls, bad melee combat, weak mission design, and a wonky camera dull the experience. Middling storytelling doesn't help matters, and it ultimately fails in matters of motivation. The thrill of the fight just isn't here, and that's a problem for an action game. - Erik Brudvig

ImpulseGamer.com 8 of 10
Initially this was an extremely difficult title to review and it didn't help that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie but was quite lukewarm to the game. To compound the situation, the links with the movie were tentative at best and the fiddle some control system bordered on frustration and quite a bit of swearing on behalf of this gamer. However after a few hours, the game began to grow on me and even though some of the gameplay was flawed, the amazing graphics and wondrous universe of James Cameron's Avatar was turning this mediocre game into a healthy gaming experience...Story wise, it revolves around the RDA who have come to the moon of Pandora to mine for a special mineral that may solve the energy crisis on Earth. Unfortunately the local inhabitants are in the way but a group of clever scientists have managed to clone these Na'vi with human DNA and by connecting yourself to a mind chamber, you can then control these avatars. This was hopefully to stop the impending war to come but obviously it didn't work and this is where the player must make a choice, fight for the humans or fight for the Na'vi. In terms of character creation, you get to pick your character, male or female and to some extent what they will look like. Lastly you need to pick a "fun" name for your character and that's about it which is a little reminiscent of an RPG game, although the game is heavily steeped in action...Even though there are quite a few negative reviews for this game, if you put the time into it, it may actually pay off. I suggest a rent before a buy and yes at times it feels like a buggy BETA but for fans of the movie, it actually works well as a movie game and once you have ironed out those fiddly controls and stopped falling from high ledges and worked out how the camera works, Avatar surprisingly works well. If only they spent a little more time ironing the bugs and this would have complimented the movie rather well. - Tyrone Williams