The Legend of Korra Review

Earth. Fire. Air. Water. Only the Avatar can master all four elements and bring balance to the world. This is the premise of The Legend of Korra, an animated TV series set after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Legend of Korra video game takes place between Books 2 and 3 of the animated series, and has a lot to live up to. The show is praised for its animation, story and music score. The video game has just been released on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 as a digital download title, and the question is, does it live up to its TV show counterpart?

Like any renowned series, Avatar included, any spinoffs are compared meticulously to the core series. When a series is presented by an outside source, or in another form, it’s in danger of departing too much from its origins and angering its fans, much like M. Night Shyamalan’s god-awful Last Airbender film (if you can even call it that). While I cannot say that The Legend of Korra video game is fantastic, I can say that it does not depart from its roots, and is very much set in the same universe as its parent TV series.

The Legend of Korra is a decent game, but actually a very good deal for a $15.00 digital download. The game features a challenging story mode that last about about 6 hours, along with a Pro-Bending game mode. The two modes interact, and make for a game with decent replayability.

Graphics-wise, The Legend of Korra is nothing to write home about. This review is based off the PC version of the game, which is just a simple port from consoles, which the game was clearly made for. The game looks like it was developed for the last-generation of consoles as opposed to next-gen, and the graphics are pretty outdated. That being said, the game is wonderfully styled, with cell-shading that is akin to the show and a vast number of effects that are anywhere from decent to impressive. There could have been more attention to detail in this department, better shadows, and improved textures, but it’s not half bad for an arcade title.

The story of The Legend of Korra video game isn’t awful, just, unremarkable. The whole thing feels like an excuse forcing Korra to re-learn each of the elements and their respective moves in an RPG-like progression, and as an excuse to place “invisible walls” everywhere (well, almost invisible). Much like any Metroid title, the introduction features a “fully-baked” Avatar Korra in the heat of the action, and then is presented in a situation where her powers are stripped from her. Throughout the 6 hour campaign, a few things were askew that couldn’t be ignored. First of all, the game felt pretty empty without Korra’s supporting cast, aside from Mako and Bolin’s brief appearances at both the beginning and end of the game. Jinora appeared as Korra’s guide in re-learning the elements, and Iroh in his spirit store shop, but none of the emotion was there. In fact, the lack of emotion throughout the game is where the game differentiates itself most from the show. There is almost zero character development aside from game mechanics, and there is little emotion in the voice acting, although it should be noted that the voice acting was not bad; it just didn’t match the same emotional quality as the show. While the game had its epic moments, the story had no lasting impression and often felt like it was dragged out to have a longer run time. On the other hand, the story in no way took away from the show, and only added to the experience. What the game developers have done extremely well are the game’s animated cutscenes; fans will be happy to see that they are similar to the TV show’s style and quality, and the only disappointment from these comes from the short length and quality story content. The musical throughout the game also drastically helps the experience. While the music is straight from the show it is well-placed, beloved by the series fans, and is a great addition to the game.

The gameplay itself is one of The Legend of Korra’s strong points. The player can perform both light and heavy attacks with each of the four elements with ease. I say with ease, but this is really only true if you’ve got a gamepad. Platinum Games clearly states that for the best experience the game should be played with a Microsoft Xbox 360 controller or an equivalent. I can attest to this as the game was near-impossible with a keyboard and mouse combo. Most of the game is about being able to move fluidly throughout the battlefield, knowing when to attack, evade and counter For the most part, the combat is entertaining, and features loads of hard-hitting elemental attacks. At times, combat can seemingly slow down at random. However, most of the time, the game responded well to my commands, and it is extremely gratifying to use special move and multi-elemental combos. It takes a while to get used to, and it can be frustrating that AI combatants can perform moves that the player cannot, but with time and patience one can truly learn how to master all of the elements and their individual strengths. Earth is short-ranged and slow, but powerful. Water is fluid and has range. Fire is full of quick jabs and rocket fighting moves. Air brings its large area-of-effect attack types and ranged wind movements (and can be upgraded to include a cool air scooter!).  When Korra is fully upgraded and you’ve learned everything she can do, and how to do it well, the action really starts to pick up. Bosses, which were previously difficult on their own, are thrown at you in pairs or more, and usually with backup. The conflicts grow in scale and difficulty simultaneously with your abilities. In addition to the core combat of the game, there were a few portions of the game in which Korra rode her trusty polar bear-dog, Naga, in an infinite-runner style of mini-game akin to temple run. Korra can bend all of the elements whilst on Naga, allowing easier solutions to obstacles and combat.

It can be rather odd when the electrified chi-blocking gloves of the show can be used as long-range projectile weapons, but it’s a video game. It was a general disappointment to see the lack of enemies and character models. There were only two real enemy factions: the equalist chi-blockers and dark spirits. Triple Threat Triad benders were also prevalent in the campaign, fighting side-by-side with the equalists. Unfortunately, they were simply re-colored character models that were recycled and lacked individuality. At times, the in-game cutscenes were poorly done, and were either extremely rigid or seemingly buggy. And, as with nearly every 3rd Person Action game, the camera can be clunky at times and it can present cases where you can’t really see what it is you’re battling. Generally this was not an issue, but during one spirit battle in particular, the camera is blocked by the very creatures you are fighting against, making for an intense, button-smashing, guessing game. Most of the gameplay will satisfy fans of the show and the genre, and although it may have occasional hiccups, it’s an overall enjoyable gameplay experience.

To tackle the more difficult parts of the game (and trust me, there are quite a few), Uncle Iroh has set up a spirit shop to help you out. Using spirit energy, a currency picked up throughout the game world, Korra can purchase consumables and other items that will aid her in battle. These items can act as anything from potions to additional movesets, with a few familiar objects such as Katara’s water scroll and her Spirit Oasis water from the show.

Aside from the okay story experience is Pro-bending. This is where the game really shines and is, in my opinion, its greatest feature. The fast-paced, arena-style bending that was first introduced in Book 1 of Legend of Korra is back and better than ever. Returning to their original roles as team members of the “Fire Ferrets” Mako, Korra and Bolin compete in the Pro-Bending arena. This gametype is much more focused on range, counter-attacks and strategy. The abilities of Mako and Bolin are based off of your bending levels in the story, giving yet another replay factor to the game: a feature that you’re likely to use, as the third difficulty in the pro-bending tournament is extremely challenging. The mode has a fairly simple set of rules that is presented in an informative rule sheet. Essentially, your goal is to gain more ground and lose fewer people than the other team. There are 3 rounds in a match, each 3 minutes long, and the winner of each round is decided on the number of benders standing as well as territory gained. A team wipeout is an immediate match victory. This game mode sets up a ton of thrilling matches, and more than once I found myself in a tie-breaker for the match point, raised on the central platform in a 1v1 fight to the death with the opposing waterbender. It’s a shame the game doesn’t have any mutliplayer.

All in all, The Legend of Korra isn’t phenomenal, not by any sense of the word. However, the game is a fun and cheap homage to the franchise and doesn’t damage a thing. It’s just not the masterpiece many of us were hoping for. My biggest complaint is that the game often felt like its production was rushed. The missions were noticeably stretched, the attention to detail was average at best, and the quality of the graphics was sub-par. There’s a lot I would change. That being said, for only $15.00, 6 hours of entertaining fights, atmospheric immersion and pro-bending matches should satisfy any fan of the series.