The Legend of Korra is a game for a series of the same name which is also a popular Nickelodeon cartoon. The game’s story was written by the show’s creators and I believe it takes place between the 2nd and 3rd books of the series. As a fan of the series – I found the presentation to be wonderful. Looking and sounding just like the cartoon just made me smile and showed that a lot of care went into many parts of The Legend of Korra’s development.
That’s where things get tricky. Unfortunately that level of care didn’t go into the gameplay. Korra’s elemental powers while needing to be reacquired, this is a video game, are well represented. My issues are mainly with the monotonous gameplay, inconsistent countering system and repetitive enemies. Fighting any combination of the 5-6 enemy types in various locales gets old. The first boss fight is a mech straight out of the show, looks great but you will fight that same mech over and over. Many foes are exactly the same just with a slightly different color scheme. The same can be said for the trio of benders you’ll face repeatedly. Some combat encounters would be initially all but impossible but then suddenly I’d inexplicably complete them with ease.
The countering system can look and feel really cool when executed correctly. But when the game keeps throwing enemies with electrified attacks that you that you can’t counter it gets extremely frustrating. The combat had its high points put those are immediately followed by a valley. Cheap boss fights, a store with many useless items and awkward camera angles didn’t help either. As a huge fan of the show I realized that my affinity for the source material and the game’s relative brevity(4-6 hours) kept me losing interest. The game is not bad but you can’t help but see a wonderful foundation holding up a lopsided experience.
Recommendation: Worth a buy on sale – so many things were done right but they don’t make up for the shallowness
Full Disclosure: The PC/Steam version of this game was provided to GameEnthus by the publisher.
Genre: third person action/adventure
Developer: Platinum Games
Publisher: Activision
Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, PC/Steam
Price: $14.99
Links
http://www.activision.com/games/legend-of-korra/legend-of-korra
http://GameEnthus.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gameenthus-podcast-video-games/id286435007?mt=2
Scale:
Worth a buy – paying full price for fans of the series or genre makes sense – often includes a caveat
Worth a buy on sale – not quite full price worthy but close, – often includes a caveat
No – borrow it if you must play it
Please no – Don’t waste any time and/or money on it