Wii Avatar The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth - Wii
Ages: Everyone 10+

Each character has special agility, bending powers, strength and warrior skills and even healing and that's why you keep on switching characters in fighting and puzzle solving. Keeping in mind the various skills and using them is a large part of the satisfaction in playing this game. To play in two persons mode, you start a single person game, connect the second Remote and Nunchuck and at the prompt for the second player, press the button to join.

The game is derived from a popular series on Nickelodeon where an airbending Avatar, Aang, is seeking to become the Supreme Avatar by mastering all four bending powers. Having mastered water bending from Katera in the previous game he now searches for a earthbender. In the series, Toph, the earthbender, a blind girl who senses with her feet is one of the most interesting character – sulky, withdrawn and sarcastic. You take on the characteristics of Aang, Katara, Toph, and Sokka to defend the Earth kingdom city, even Appa, the flying bison is playable. Prince Zuko and Uncle Iron with their firebending moves area teasers for the next Avatar game.

While there are numerous community service tasks to do and puzzles to solve, this is basically a fighting game and that is were you get your advantage points and upgrades. To make this point the games starts out with a match between you and one of your team. As in the cable series, fighting and elegant moves play and important part. So too here, many moves and combos with different character advantages.

As a single player you warp back and forth with the plus button on the Remote. In this setup your companion follows you. Two controllers gives you a live buddy- All characters start out with the basic close fighting attack with the B button, range attacks are accomplished by swinging the Remote from side to side. Holding it upright and then swinging down adds power to the attack. Moving objects requires bending power - the Z button plus following the on screen instructions. The button assignment is not intuitive, which makes you long for the single controller. The instruction booklet gives button assignments without specifying Nunchuck or Remote. Not everyone has absorbed the assignments into their body.

The game has done a faithful adaptation of the cable series and being able to use the powers is great fun.

Fun Factor: great show, great game.

Reviewed by: Editor - 11/07