• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Avatar Frontiers of Pandora - New Gameplay (Preview Demo)

rubhen925

Member
Got a chance to check out a demo preview for the game for about 2 hours thanks to Ubisoft Canada. It involved 4 mains missions and a couple side missions. Plus we were able to explore the entire area on the map that was available. Some impressions and gameplay below:

  • Game is massive as in the world it kept stretching when I was flying around and they stopped me from exploring other quadrants of the map. The area I was in was like 10-15% of the map haha. Can't show the map sadly
  • the variety in the flora is insane, so many alien looking plants, flowers, and fruits. Most of them collectible and can be logged into your hunters notebook and can be used for crafting. Mostly cooking
  • there's a bunch of animals as well all alien looking which can be approached and petted, even hunted. Now other than the Ikran which you get in the demo, I don't know if you can ride the other big animals. There was the one still where you're riding a horse looking thing. PR wouldn't comment further.
  • the build we played was on PC and was mostly stable. I didn't run into any performance related issues
  • combat is very similar to Far Cry, but a bit clunkier, especially the weapon switching and sometimes shooting
  • there are a bunch of navi weapons like bows, slings, and staff looking thing that throws explosive pods etc. But the machine gun was definitely the most consistent
  • flying is the highlight for me, absolutely enjoyed flying around the whole map. If there is a place you see on the map or can see in the distance, you can definitely fly it to. Though landing the ikran looked janky most of the time
  • game is always first person except when riding animals.
  • mostly only fought human enemies, helicopters, and exos, i also fought some animals but that was one time. but was assured there's a variety of wildlife to fight.
  • the movement and climbing felt a bit off. Like somewhat janky, but maybe that's just me.
  • can craft weapons, armor, ammo, etc as well as cook food that has extra benefits and buffs
  • there is fast travel, but you got to visit those places and settlements before you can.
It's a beautiful game with lots to explore and do, mostly borrowing elements from Far Cry. Which can be good of bad depending on how much they follow that formula. Let me know if you guys want any questions answered. I'll try my best.

Preview Demo Gameplay
 
Last edited:

rubhen925

Member
There's only one question that counts.

Is it tethered co-op like poop cry 5 and 6 or fantastic co-op like wildlands
sadly coop was not allowed for the demo as that's the one thing i wanted to test. and they helper there would not answer anything about coop. I've asked my PR about this, waiting for reply.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Game is massive as in the world it kept stretching when I was flying around and they stopped me from exploring other quadrants of the map. The area I was in was like 10-15% of the
giphy.gif


Another giant bloated Ubisoft open-world that won't know when to end. I really hope this game bombs so it can shake the company up but who am I kidding?
 
Last edited:

GymWolf

Member
I just need to know if they overhauled the gunplay from previous fc games.
If it feels exactly the same, then i'm not interested.
Dd they improved hit reactions, gore and ragdoll?
 
Last edited:

StueyDuck

Member
sadly coop was not allowed for the demo as that's the one thing i wanted to test. and they helper there would not answer anything about coop. I've asked my PR about this, waiting for reply.
Damn... its massive so I know they know how to with the division, but the fact they taking many cues from far cry I do worry it's similar in co-op.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
I just need to know if they overhauled the gunplay from previous fc games.
If it feels exactly the same, then i'm not interested.
Dd they improved hit reactions, gore and ragdoll?
Here.

  • combat is very similar to Far Cry, but a bit clunkier, especially the weapon switching and sometimes shooting
 

MoreJRPG

Suffers from extreme PDS
I have no idea why but I thought this was in third person. Looks surprisingly decent, like a cross between Far Cry and Mirror's Edge
 
Last edited:

GymWolf

Member
Here.

  • combat is very similar to Far Cry, but a bit clunkier, especially the weapon switching and sometimes shooting
I can get behind clunkier movements and weapon change if the other parts of the gunplay are improved, far cry gunplay while not feeling like absolute shit, it feels pretty much the same since forever, i can't deal with that gunplay anymore in 2024.

Not giving a blue alien fuck about avatar movies doesn't help neither.
 
Last edited:

CamHostage

Member
I just need to know if they overhauled the gunplay from previous fc games.
If it feels exactly the same, then i'm not interested.
Dd they improved hit reactions, gore and ragdoll?

It is not at all Far Cry. Not the same engine, not the same developers, nothing transferred over, no gunplay systems included much less overhauled. This is a new game by a different team on the Snowdrop engine made specifically for the Avatar franchise.

However, the design philosophy uses a lot of the Far Cry / Ubisoft playbook for how to make an open-world game with first-person shooting and exploration work. So there are clear similarities from it being a close cousin, just not from it being a direct descendent of family.
 
Last edited:

GymWolf

Member
It is not at all Far Cry. Not the same engine, not the same developers, nothing transferred over, no gunplay systems included much less overhauled. This is a new game by a different team on the Snowdrop engine made specifically for the Avatar franchise.

However, the design philosophy uses a lot of the Far Cry / Ubisoft playbook for how to make an open-world game with first-person shooting and exploration work. So there are clear similarities from it being a close cousin, but not from it being a direct descendent of family.
Great fucking news.
 

midnightAI

Member
The digital hud keeps throwing me off, is there an explanation why this Na'vi has it? (its not too bad if there is an explanation, it makes perfect sense in games like Horizon with its Focus)

It doesnt look anything special, but, hey, I like Avatar so I'll get it (and it looks like Horizon copied off Ubisoft open worlds now Ubisoft is copying off Horizon (the flying mainly, looks very similar, just not as good)), wont be a bad thing for me though, love Horizon)

(and jeez some of that pop-in is bad, I remember when they first showed 'in engine' (yeh right) footage with zero pop-in)
 
Last edited:

Klosshufvud

Member
Ubisoft games are inherently off-putting. I was looking forward to this but it seems to fall in the same usual tiresome Ubisoft tropes. You'd think someone at HQ would realize by now that the formula was old five years ago already.
 
I was kind of looking to this, but after seeing these gameplay videos, all of my hype is deflated.
The flying traversal sections look really cool, but the on-the-ground gunplay sections looks like a reskinned Far Cry. I never understood why people were so hyped about this other than the impressive draw distance.
 
I just need to know if they overhauled the gunplay from previous fc games.
If it feels exactly the same, then i'm not interested.
Dd they improved hit reactions, gore and ragdoll?
Avatar is a Disney property now. I doubt Disney would allow Ubisoft to incorporate any type of gore or dismemberment in the game, especially since this looks like they are targeting a younger crowd than the usual Far Cry or The Division game.
 
Last edited:

Fbh

Member
Looks OK.
Seems like same ol' Ubisoft formula though it's probably going to be fun in Co-op.

Also did this get a downgrade? People in the graphics thread around here were hyping this up as a next gen visual showcase but nothing in that video looks particularly mindblowing (and that's supposedly the PC version too)
 
Let's hope that someone mods in first person flying if it's not a feature already. Not a fan of breaking immersion like this. Pick one.
 

Xtib81

Member
That looks extremely mid, even technically (horrible draw distance when up high). That HUD also looks uninspired imo.
 
Last edited:

Freeman76

Member
I'll sub to Ubi+ for this one, so bored of their formula but I do love the world of Pandora so i'll try it for that see what they did with it
 

Fredrik

Member
Preview Demo Gameplay

Nice jungle! The gun combat looked great, I liked the sound and animations, very nice. But combat also looked very easy. Is there a difficulty option? Shouldn’t be that easy to take down big enemies. Health regen ruins it too, no real consequences from going Rambo as long as you have 3 seconds to hide behind a wall occasionally.
Is there a male/female option?
 

hussar16

Member
Looks OK.
Seems like same ol' Ubisoft formula though it's probably going to be fun in Co-op.

Also did this get a downgrade? People in the graphics thread around here were hyping this up as a next gen visual showcase but nothing in that video looks particularly mindblowing (and that's supposedly the PC version too)
It did get downgrade .the last two trailers there is a big dip in lightning looking alot more flat. They removed alot of the global illumination lights. Just compare the first scenes of this game of the purple forest to now
 

ungalo

Member
Quite the honest presentation, but now i know i have 0 interest in the game. It's weird because there are some games that have an overall design structure that's very close to Ubisoft games and sometimes i want to play them, i'm not quite sure why it falls flat like that when it's Ubisoft. Even the tremendous work on the art design is not enough to not make it soulless.
 

rubhen925

Member
Nice jungle! The gun combat looked great, I liked the sound and animations, very nice. But combat also looked very easy. Is there a difficulty option? Shouldn’t be that easy to take down big enemies. Health regen ruins it too, no real consequences from going Rambo as long as you have 3 seconds to hide behind a wall occasionally.
Is there a male/female option?
you can choose to be a male or female navi when starting the game. the demo started me as a female tho. I didn't see what difficulty it was on. Most of the normal enemies don't do much damage, but that god damn mech and turret melts your health. I actually died twice there and had to restart checkpoint. if there are more than 2 mechs in the same section you're gonna have your health gone in seconds. Rocket launcher enemies do a ton as well.
 

GymWolf

Member
its weird, I enjoy this guys videos but here when hes praising the game, im looking at the footage and im like "why does it look so shit then?"

I would love a good Avatar game, this aint it, its Farcry Primal with an Avatar skin.
Dude top 3 movies of all time include avatar, and fucking amazing spiderman 2, dude clearly has shit taste :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
Top Bottom