Summary
Parkour in games can be a risky thing. When it’s done right, parkour can lead to some of the best-feeling traversal systems in all of gaming, with players having unprecedented freedom in how they go about traveling through an environment and reaching their objective. But when thoseparkour mechanicsdon’t feel good, it sticks out like a sore thumb and can make the entire game feel like a clunky slog to get through. Thankfully,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorabelongs to the former camp.
Though it isn’t necessarily the first thing that fans remember about the movies, parkour does play quite a big role inJames Cameron’sAvataruniverse, with the Na’vi repeatedly seen scaling trees, climbing walls, jumping off cliffs, and landing on the back of mounts.Avatar: Frontiers of Pandoraembraces this wholeheartedly, and delivers a fast and fluid parkour system, one that even rivalsDying Light 2.
How Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Parkour Differs From Dying Light 2
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Movement Feels a Bit More Fluid Than Dying Light 2
Generally speaking,Dying Light 2’s parkourhas a fairly weighty feel to it. Though the game definitely strays into some more fantastical elements,Dying Light 2, at least for the most part, tries to keep its parkour realistic and grounded. To do that, the player’s speed is capped at a more realistic level, and their movements tend to feel suitably heavy. This givesDying Light 2’s parkour an immediate sense of stakes, as if any jump could result in the player’s untimely death.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, on the other hand, finds itself on the more fantastical end of the spectrum. Though the Na’vi are 9ft tall, lumbering giants, they’re always portrayed as athletic, agile creatures capable of scaling walls in seconds and balancing on the thinnest of branches.Avatar: Frontiers of Pandoratries to capture that, giving its own parkour system much floatier feeling controls. From a surprisingly high-charged jump to the ability to land safely and slide along the floor gracefully after falling from a great height, much ofAvatar’s movements feel grand and elegant.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Parkour Puts More of an Emphasis on the Environment
Dying Light 2features a number of environmental parkour features. Players can run along walls, swing from ropes, slide down ziplines, and leap off pipes, most of which can usually be strung together in a seamless sequence to maintain the player’s momentum. As playersprogress throughDying Light 2, they’re given the option to upgrade factions, one of which gives the player access to more parkour features scattered around the environment, such as an increased number of air vents for gliding, and more trampolines to gain instant height.
But whileDying Light 2has some parkour elements dotted around its map,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s parkourrevolves around its environment. In an average parkour run inAvatar, players will be using exploding mushrooms to bounce their way onto tall trees, bounding off leap pads to make it across wide gaps, clambering their way up ascending vines, and using giant leaves to break their fall. InAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, it doesn’t feel like these environmental features are just put there by game developers for the sake of parkour, but feels like these are real parts of the world that players just happen to be interacting with a fun way, givingAvatara deep layer of immersion.
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.
