Spending Time with The Last Airbender
Published December 18, 2007
One of the great things about having a child is that you have a great excuse to spend time playing games, building spaceships, and watching great kids' shows. Connor and I have discovered Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon. My friend Adam, who also has a son, strongly recommended the show to us and we decided to check it out.
Last summer we rented disc one of season one and took it with us on a trip. We watched all four episodes and loved it, but traveling prevented us from renting more. When we got home, we planned on adding disc two to our online movie rental queue. Connor was a bit disappointed that we'd have to wait a few days to watch the next episode, but we were definitely looking forward to it. Then it occurred to me to check the Xbox 360® Video Store. Turns out that was a good thought. The full first season of the show was sitting right there for me to download. I snagged the next episode right then and had a great surprise for the kids.
Avatar The Last Airbender TV episodes are available through the Video Store.
Hooray for the Video Store!
This was really our first download from the Video Store, so telling Connor that we could watch a TV show on the console was the first surprise, and the fact that I had the next episode was completely amazing to him. From that point on, we would download a new episode at least once or twice a week, and the console's ability to start playing a video when it is only partially downloaded meant that I didn't even have to plan in advance.
The show has been a real hit with both me and my son. It has a deep story and writing that is both funny and engaging, no matter what age you are. Avatar is drawn in a style that reminds me of anime, but being created and written by Americans I think it is much more approachable. I won't go into any great detail on the story, but the tale features a group of kids (perhaps ten to sixteen years old) using powers and martial arts to take on an evil empire. With complex stories that really capture your imagination, bad guys that are sort of good guys and heroes with self-doubts and guilt, this show has everything you need in a great fantasy adventure.
Over time the rest of the family started watching the show and now we're all hooked, even my wife and daughter (Jada doesn't get it all, but has been seen practicing the various martial art "forms" used by the different characters). New episodes appear in the Video Store about a day or so after they first air on TV, and so now we no longer bother renting the discs.
Avatar The Last Airbender in a frightening mood.
Two Avatar Games
When we first started watching, the new Xbox 360 game wasn't available. But I grabbed the original Xbox title (compatible with Xbox 360) from a used game bin, and it became our favorite for quite a while. The game was fun, but it was single-player only and as I've said before, single-player games aren't the best for playing with your son or daughter. What we needed was an Avatar game that supported two players, included more characters from the show, and took advantage of the Xbox 360.
Well, just a few months ago, we got everything we wanted in the form of Avatar The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth, a new game that follows the events of the second season. It comes as no surprise that Aang, Katara and Sokka are available as playable characters, but Toph is also added along with the ability to play some missions as Prince Zuko, Uncle Iroh and even as Momo. There are even flying missions riding on Appa (a six legged "air bison" for those of you who have never seen the show).
Riding Appa while airbending and dodging fire is all in a day's work.
Game controls are fairly simple, but there is a combo system, special power-ups, and every character has their own unique style of fighting. Connor especially enjoyed the missions where you play as Momo, because his ranged attack is to throw a vegetable or fruit at the bad guys. If you hold down the B button, and charge up Momo's ranged attack, larger and larger fruits and vegetables will appear until Momo ends up throwing a large pumpkin.
Missions aren't all about fighting. There are puzzles and collecting quests, but between the regular bad guys and the many boss battles, it is definitely an action adventure. The game has what I consider the ideal type of multiplayer support, including both single player and drop-in/drop-out co-op. This type of multiplayer allows you to play with your child, working with them instead of against them, but still allows you the freedom to get up to do a household chore. The game also includes an arena mode, where you can set up a duel between any two playable characters (Zuko vs. Momo!) and that mode can also be played either as single-player, or as a two player head-to-head battle.
Set up matches in the Arena and battle solo or against a friend.
Gameplay and Achievements
My son has already played through the game more than once, but the connection to the storyline of the show combined with all the playable characters and the arena mode have made it one of his favorite games. Strangely, there are only five achievements in the game, and you can get all of them within an hour or two of the start. It is definitely the quickest 1000 points I've added to my Gamerscore. Depending on your point of view, this will either make you happy or annoyed, but it had no effect on my opinion of the game or for my son. That's because I've chosen to keep Connor in the dark about achievements and Gamerscore. He gets them while he plays, but he has no idea what his score is and therefore doesn't care. I'm sure that will change at some point, but for now I'd rather he play games for the enjoyment, and not have to worry about points or rankings. This belief didn't stop me from playing through the game once on my own profile though. I'm not so high and mighty that I'd turn down a quick 1000 points!
The Avatar show and the two Avatar games are big hits around this house, and I hope you check them out. Show episodes can be found by going to the Media blade on your console, and browsing in the Video Store under TV Shows, Networks and Studios, Nickelodeon. Start at the beginning, and I hope you find them entertaining. Drop me a line at XboxDad@microsoft.com to let me know what you think of the show or the game(s), and I'll do my best not to tell you what happens on the "Day of the Black Sun" in Season three, Yip Yip! (Er … that last part will make a lot more sense once you've watched the show!)
Article by Duncan Festive Turkey Mackenzie
