Avatar Frontiers of Pandora Reviews

Perhaps the final high profile release of 2023, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is out for PS5 on the 7th December — and the reviews are starting to drop. This latest open world adventure from Ubisoft is an original tale in the Avatar universe, and while reviewers are heaping praise on the game's luscious alien setting and overall visual prowess, they seem quite torn on the actual gameplay structure.

Indeed, initial impressions are rather mixed, with the title commanding a good-but-not-great average of 74 on Metacritic. Review scores range from 9/10 to 4/10, and that's certainly not the kind of split we're used to seeing when AAA projects are involved.

As for our own Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora review, you'll unfortunately have to wait a bit longer before we can deliver our verdict. But until then, check out some other takes from across the web and let us know if you plan on grabbing this game in the comments section below.

Destructoid - 9/10

If you walked away from Avatar wishing a world like Pandora actually existed out there, here you go. This is that world. Seeing Pandora is one thing, but being able to scale its massive treetops, soar high above its floating mountains on an Ikran, and traverse its wide open plains on the back of a Direhorse is really something special. This is the best version of Avatar yet.

GameSpot - 8/10

Best of all, I never felt like an open-world trashman, dumping junk on the way to the next map marker. Instead, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora made me feel like I was adventuring in a place worth exploring, and I'm eager to go back.

VideoGamer - 8/10

Hiding locations behind simple instructions is by no means novel or groundbreaking. Assassin’s Creed has done it on occasion too. But by hiding the beaten path from view, Avatar asks players to let go of decades of muscle memory and rely on their senses instead. I hope Massive Entertainment’s gorgeous rendition of Pandoran exploration inspires the next generation of Ubisoft-likes in the right ways.

IGN - 7/10

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora features a stunning alien world to explore with a refreshingly uncluttered approach to navigation, countless enemy bases to destroy and Na’vi clan sidequests to complete, and no shortage of exotic flora and fauna to harvest and hunt. However, its combat is pretty one-dimensional, its mission design is a bit on the repetitive side, and its environment is generally lacking in any major surprises beyond visual splendor, meaning that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a solid shooting adventure that’s more inside the box than truly out of this world.

Games Radar - 3.5/5

The vibrancy of the world and the pure alienness of almost everything you encounter make Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora an enjoyable place simply to exist in, with all its otherworldly environments and creatures adding freshness the mechanics lack.

TechRaptor - 5/10

If you're looking for a sparse open world to run around, tackle some military bases, and soar through the skies you might get some enjoyment out of Far Cry: Pandora, but anyone hoping for a deep Avatar experience will want to pass.

Shacknews - 5/10

The problem is that other, similar games have done this dance with more satisfying results. Take the alien exoticism away and you’ve got the “Ubisoft checklist game” that doesn’t even do that thing as well as the last several of those. Even in the licensed game space, titles like Mad Max are practically identical in a framework sense, but so much more fun to engage with.