The Legend of Korra Video Game Review

When a video game based on The Legend of Korra was announced, I was excited because Platinum Games was developing it. As I stated in my Bayonetta review, they are the king of action games, providing high-quality titles that are nicely paced, fun, stylish, and replayable. Also, we have Tim Hedrick, one of the writers of the show, writing the story, and creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko having some involvement. What could go wrong?

Oh, yeah, the critics weren't favorable towards it. Fan response, on the other hand, was positive, according to many Steam reviews. I was hesitant to buy it, but I quickly got over that and purchased it. Um... it's not AS bad, but it's certainly not an impressive title.

The story takes places between the second and third seasons. Korra has defeated Unalaq and decides to leave the spirit portals open that way spirits can enter the physical world. If anyone is wondering why the later seasons leave the outcome of spirits living among humans aside, this game sort of does.

Korra encounters a mysterious old man named Hundun, who blocks her bending abilities, and seeks to cause chaos. There on, she fights against the Equalists and the Triple Threat Triads from the first season and the dark spirits from the second season, while slowly regaining her bending abilities one by one.

A common complaint I hear is that aside from Jinora, who pops by to guide Korra, hardly any of the other characters from the show appear. Mako and Bolin appear for a few seconds before disappearing from the plot; Asami, Lin, Meelo, Jinora, Kya, and Bumi are nowhere to be found; and Tenzin is only heard in stock footage of the main intro.

The game does manage to capture the look of the show, with cel-shaded character models and backgrounds that brings us into the world of The Legend of Korra. The animations are nice and fluid, and it runs smoothly at 60 frames per second. The cinematics, on the other hand, aren't as great. They were done by Titmouse rather than Studio Mir, and they look pretty stiff in some parts.

Instead of original music, the game uses tracks from the first season, the most notable being the prologue, "Chi Blockers", "Firebending Training", "On the Lam", and "Greatest Change." Is it clever that the developers use familiar music or lazy that the composer couldn't come up with original tracks?

Now that I've talked about the presentation, how's the gameplay? Decent, I suppose. The Legend of Korra is a beat 'em up game in the style of, say, Bayonetta. Korra can jump, dodge, guard, and counter enemy attacks. At the right time, she can deflect attacks (except earthbending and electric shocks) and perform a quick-time event in which you push both analog sticks forward or to mash a button to finish off enemies, which I will admit is pretty cool. Even without bending, Korra is quite capable at melee combat.

As you progress, she will regain her bending abilities one by one. Waterbending focuses on long-range attacks; Earthbending is slow, but strong against enemies; Firebending focuses on short-range attacks; and Airbending is more quick and useful against crowds. The problem with Airbending, however, is that it's a little overpowered, and once you earn it, you might find yourself using it a lot. As you continue to use each element, you will gain experience points and collecting enough will upgrade your bending, unlocking new combos.

While you do fight different enemies, there really isn't much of a variety. Take the Chi Blockers: the green colored ones will directly attack you; the blue ones will throw bolas to trap you; and the red ones will shock you, either up close or at a distance. I get that the color swapping is appropriate so you can tell each of their attack patterns, but they're still Chi Blockers in the end. This is also the case when you fight the Triple Threat Triads, who are also just color-swapped character models, but little bit tougher.

Spirit energy serves at the game's main currency. In the chapter select menu, you can access Iroh's shop to purchase new techniques, as well as talismans to enhance your performance and healing items. Once you use healing items, they are not carried over when you have to restart from a checkpoint, forcing you to buy them again when you die and choose the option to go to Iroh's shop. Then when you resume the stage, you have to manually equip the items again, then rinse and repeat once you run out. It can be kind of tedious, but I'm fine with it because you can easily access the shop if you die.

When you're not fighting enemies, there are also two types of mini-games to bring some variety:

We've seen Pro-Bending in the show and it seems like a cool sport and it is quite refreshing to make gameplay out of it. You control Korra, accompanied by her AI-controlled teammates, Mako and Bolin, who have to bend the opposing team out. This can result in knocking all the players out, or advancing in the arena by pushing the opposing players back one zone within the three-minute time limit. It does start to get old after a while, though, continuously knocking players with Waterbending or deflecting their projectiles, which can wear out your fingers. And good luck trying to win the tournament on the highest difficulty; it took me a couple of hours.

At the end of certain levels, Korra will ride her polar bear dog, Naga, in endless runner stages reminiscent of Temple Run. You go through the stage without bumping into any sort of obstacle and reach the end of the level. Korra's bending abilities can come in handy, whether it would be shoot fireballs to clear a path or double jump with Earthbending. I do enjoy these stages, but it does require some trial-and-error as you'll be bumping into corners if you don't turn or bumping into obstacles that will bring the stage to a halt.

All in all, this game came so close, yet so far:

• It captures the look of the show, but the presentation is pretty lacking due to its lackluster story and absence of most of the characters.
• The combat is okay, but it gets pretty monotonous after a while, doing the same attacks over and over. Fighting the mechs, giant spirits, and final boss feel tedious and long, but unlike, say, Devil May Cry 2, they're a bit fast-paced, but not by much.
• The game is really short, having only seven chapters, taking you a few hours to play through the story. There is some replay value if you want to unlock all the trophies/achievements. I'm currently trying accomplish that.
• The mini-games are fun, but after a short while, they get old pretty fast.

When I heard Platinum Games was making this, I was optimistic about it, and hoped for it to be at least decent. I got just that, but it could have been better. The main story was way too combat-heavy, not giving us time to breathe. Games like Devil May Cry, God of War, and Bayonetta were able to put aside combat for additional tasks like simple puzzle solving. How about some bending puzzles that doesn't involve breaking barriers for treasure chests?

However, I'm not reviewing this game for what it could have been. But for what we got, I suppose I got my money's worth and I don't regret buying it. After all, it's a short game and it only costs $15. At least it's not more expensive than that; Angry Joe would have a field day if that was the case. Still, my feelings for this game are really conflicted. In the end, I say...

THINK FOR YOURSELF

It almost got my HEAVILY FLAWED rating because it's functional and I wasn't too put off by its simplicity, and had some fun with it. It's somewhere on the same level as Beyond: Two Souls in which I was close to being disappointed, but I did have somewhat of a worthwhile experience. I'd say give it a rental, but it's only downloadable. It's nowhere among the worst licensed games ever made, but it's not one of the best either.

Platinum sort of dropped the ball on this one. It's really making me wonder if we should really be excited for a game just because a certain developer or designer is working on it. Actually, that would make for a nice discussion.

**sigh** What I'd give to play Bayonetta 2 right now.

Discuss here.