Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora review: a visual spectacle held back by old ideas

Na'vigating old ground.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora review; an alien horse and a red tree
(Image: © Ubisoft / Future)

Our Verdict

One of the most beautiful, technically advanced games you'll play but lacks new ideas and invention, still Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora can't fail to raise a smile and really, honestly, should be experienced.

For

  • Technically stunning
  • A huge game world
  • Captures the feel of the films

Against

  • Too few new ideas
  • Lacks narrative focus

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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora: details

Publisher Ubisoft
Developer Massive Entertainment
Players 1
Platforms PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X / S, PC
Out now

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora continues a long tradition in gaming of titles you play just to be smacked around the chops by the graphics; this is a lavish, technically brilliant open world held back by old ideas and overly familiar gameplay. I’ve been here before, from Shadow of the Beast to The Getaway to The Order: 1886; I’ve always found time to enjoy beautiful games with basic gameplay and I really don’t mind retreading old ground to experience one of the most graphically impressive games yet for PS5.

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The Verdict
7

out of 10

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora review: a visual spectacle held back by old ideas

One of the most beautiful, technically advanced games you'll play but lacks new ideas and invention, still Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora can't fail to raise a smile and really, honestly, should be experienced.

Editor, Digital Arts & 3D

Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.