The storyline for The Legend of Korra takes place between the several weeks break between Books 2 & 3 in the television series' narrative. Korra goes face-to-face with a chi-blocker named Hundun that removes Korra's bending abilities and forces her to relearn how to wield the elements effectively in combat. Players will travel across the magical world in linear missions that often involve fighting hordes of the same baddies and some interesting boss characters. The Legend of Korra is ultimately an enjoyable title with a fun storyline that fans of the series will greatly enjoy and other gamers can understand even without having watched the television show before.
The action brawler series is all about the fighting, and PlatinumGames is one of the best developers in the entire genre. The company brings plenty of complicated combos to the game for experienced gamers in the genre to master, but chaining together attacks can be performed as easily as mashing on the face buttons randomly as well. Each button corresponds with a different element, and the bended attacks can fire off all sorts of punches, kicks and projectiles from the schools of Water, Earth, Fire and Wind. Learning each of the elements takes a bit of time, but the reward is worth the effort to see the different attacks chained together in combat in beautiful chains on outmatched enemies.
Missions in The Legend of Korra are fairly linear and are never too complicated. Players will typically face off with a room full of enemies before repeating a similar process against a new horde of enemies. There are some puzzles to complete along the way, and there are a few interesting boss battles as well. Some of the bosses in the game are truly unique and are more than benders gone bad. When players need an extra advantage in combat to defeat an enemy, they can choose to unleash a fully charged "Avatar" state in order to deal even more damage and ultimately come out of a battle victorious.
While combat is nearly flawless in The Legend of Korra, there are other sections of the game that are a lot less entertaining. The Legend of Korra also includes special missions where Korra will take to the back of her animal companion, Naga. These on-rail runner missions are an interesting addition that definitely changes up gameplay from the traditional missions and objectives seen throughout the genre, but some missions are downright frustrating and a pain to complete.
The Legend of Korra also includes a special mode where players can compete against a team of AI controlled players in the Pro-Bending League. The arena based matches places two friendly AI characters on the player's team against a team of three enemy AI characters. The object is to push the other team off of the battlefield with bending attacks, and countering incoming attacks successfully is typically the deciding factor between wins and losses. Pro-Bending is a nice distraction away from fighting through the game's main campaign, but it still isn't as fun as comboing a bunch of enemies into submission with elemental attacks.
One of the most impressive features of The Legend of Korra is the game's fantastic graphics and animations across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game runs smoothly across the three platforms with only a few framerate drops seen on last generation consoles or slower PCs. The game features amazing cel-shaded graphics that are very difficult to distinguish from the television show. All of the original voice actors from the series are accounted for in the new release as well. Helpful tutorials and detailed user interface makes it easy for players that want to get better at the game to learn new combos and attacks as they are unlocked throughout the main campaign.
The Legend of Korra packs enough fun content to keep fans of the show excited for several hours. Multiple difficulty settings and plenty of equipment and unlockables give players reasons to continue playing the game after the main campaign has been completed. Not all of the side missions and game modes featured throughout the game are as fun as fighting in the game's main campaign, and some repeating, common enemies make combat dull at times, but the title is more than just a quick cash-in on a popular series. The Legend of Korra is a game that will be loved by longtime fans of the franchise, and it's a game that is easy to pick up and enjoy for fans of the action brawler genre. Look for The Legend of Korra in stores now!
The Legend of Korra is now available from all major retailers and can be purchased for the MSRP of $14.99 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC and $29.99 on Nintendo 3DS. The Legend of Korra is rated T by the ESRB for Cartoon Violence. For more information on the game, check out the official The Legend of Korra website.
Game Features:
- Single Player
- Based on Books 2 & 3 of Animated Series
- 3 Ways to Play
- Control the Elements of Water, Earth, Fire and Air
- Trophy/Achievement Support
Game Information:
Developer: PlatinumGames
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One (reviewed), Xbox 360, PC & Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: October 21, 2014
Reviewed by Kenny King
