Best Avatar: The Last Airbender Games

Highlights

• Avatar games have expanded beyond the show to offer unique gameplay experiences and expand the universe in new ways.
• Players can enjoy a variety of mechanics, environments, and challenges in the games while exploring the Avatar universe.
• The Legend of Korra game in particular offers flashy combat, dynamic gameplay mechanics, and a chance to feel powerful in battles.

Considering how massively popular the Avatar: The Last Airbender show would eventually become, it was only a matter of time before the series would also expand to other types of media such as comics, movies, and even a few video games. Over the years, numerous developers have tried their hardest to capture the unique aesthetic and feel of the Avatar universe in their games, and while not all of them stuck the landing, there are still a handful of titles that a lot of fans look back on pretty fondly.

Even today, this series is still receiving brand-new game installments every few years, and since it seems this trend isn’t going to slow down any time soon, and with the release of the hotly anticipated live-action series, it seems like the perfect time to reflect on the best games in the Avatar series, and what makes them all so unique. It should be noted that, since The Legend of Korra has only a single game and is also set in the Avatar universe, that title will also be taken into account.

6 Avatar The Last Airbender: Burning Earth

Metacritic User Score: 4.0

• Release Date: October 2007
• Platforms: Wii, DS, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360
• Developer: THQ Studio Australia

Although Burning Earth‘s core action gameplay can feel a little rough around the edges at times, especially because of how unfair a lot of the enemies can feel due to their relentless attacks and durability, the game does still have some pretty unique mechanics built into it for players to toy with. The game starts with Aang and the team arriving in the Earth Kingdom and chronicles the major events of the second season, leading up to Azula’s promise of revenge.

Along the journey, players will be able to experiment with the different characters’ attacks and abilities to see which fits their preferred playstyle. For example, while Aang is more of a jack-of-all-trades who is capable of using both short and long-ranged abilities, someone like Sokka excels at getting into the heat of the action and throwing out as many punches and kicks as possible to whittle down enemy health bars. Burning Earth also features a pretty fun Dramatic Air Battle multiplayer mode where players can control Aang’s two furry companions, Appa and Momo.

5 Avatar The Last Airbender: Quest For Balance

Metacritic User Score: 4.1

• Release Date: September 2023
• Platforms: Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PC
• Developer: Bamtang Games

Quest For Balance allows players to experience some of the series’ most important events throughout its fairly lengthy story, and although the sheer abundance of tedious puzzles can harm the overall pacing, there’s still a lot that fans of the show will like about this game, including the environments. This is by far the most vibrant and colorful Avatar game out there, with the developers using clever color coordination and lighting effects to help differentiate each of the four nations, allowing them to all have their unique style and aesthetic.

As players make their way through the many missions and extra side trials, they’ll need to keep an eye out for the Pai Sho pieces, which can be used to upgrade each of the characters’ skill trees. Although this can sometimes be little more than a stat buff, others grant characters completely new abilities, such as Sokka, who can unlock the power to resist being knocked down by enemies. The gameplay may not be anything too out of the ordinary, but the admittedly staggering amount of unlockable content in Quest for Balance does mean that anyone simply wanting to experience more of the Avatar universe will have a blast running through it and seeing their favorite locales along the way.

4 Avatar Bobble Battles

No Score Available

• Release Date: April 2008
• Platform: PC
• Developer: Valusoft

Although most Avatar games follow the familiar action-adventure formula, Avatar Bobble Battles is quite a bit different, with the core gameplay instead being more in line with the RTS genre, as players take command of one of three nations that they must lead to victory. There’s a satisfying risk and reward element to the core strategy gameplay which does end up making it pretty challenging, since while sending a horde of soldiers to attack a nearby camp can sound like a good idea, this also leaves the nation’s HQ wide open for an attack, which can cost valuable resources.

There are three campaigns that players can dive into which all center around a different nation, and while they are pretty light on story, it’s still a lot of fun just trying each of them out to experiment with their unique unit types and structures. Bobble Battles’ tutorials can be a little irritating since they are constantly popping up to disrupt the gameplay, but if players can look past this, this chibi-style strategy game is a lot of fun and fairly difficult for what it is.

3 The Legend Of Korra

Metacritic User Score: 6.6

• Release Date: October 2014
• Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC
• Developer: Platinum Games

Platinum Games took what they had learned from their previous hack n’ slash games, and incorporated it into their very own Legend of Korra action title, which not only looks flashy but also feels extremely fluid and fun to play. At the very beginning of the game, Korra’s elemental powers are stripped from her by a chi-blocker, with the story following her journey to retrieve them all one by one while also trying to stop the unnerving evil spirit known as Hundun from hatching an evil scheme.

The game places a high focus on high-speed action and racking up combos through the use of Korra’s attacks and elemental powers. Although she initially only starts being able to Waterbend, as players acquire the other elements, they’ll be able to switch between them on the fly, similar to Dante from Devil May Cry with his Style system. Similar to that beloved action series, The Legend Of Korra also excels at making the player feel powerful with its flashy presentation and devastating combo attacks. Even if the game is far too easy, the sheer spectacle on display here with every combat encounter goes a long way to make up for this.

2 Avatar The Last Airbender

Metacritic User Score: 6.9

• Release Date: October 2006
• Platforms: Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PSP, DS, PC
• Developer: THQ Studio Australia

An action-adventure game always needs to keep players engaged by mixing up its gameplay and level design now and again, and it’s fair to say that Avatar: The Last Airbender game has plenty of variation to ensure things never become stale or unpredictable. While the game features a ton of chaotic combat sections where each character can show off their wide array of unique attacks and abilities, there are also a handful of puzzles scattered throughout the levels that can often be real headscratchers, along with a plethora of hidden items which can be found by paying attention to the rumble of the Wii remote in that version of the game.

Speaking of the remote, the game makes pretty good use of the Wii’s motion controls by making the player swing the controller while holding down certain buttons to perform different attacks. For example, swinging the Wii remote without pressing anything will cause Aang to simply swing his staff around to attack enemies, but doing this while holding down a specific button will prompt him to unleash a large gust of wind as a special move to wipe out an entire group at once. This makes the general combat a lot more engaging and immersive as a result, and even though the game is criminally short in length, the amount of content packed into its runtime is impressive.

1 Avatar The Last Airbender: Into The Inferno

Metaciritc User Score: 7.4

• Release Date: October 2008
• Platforms: Wii, DS, PlayStation 2
• Developer: THQ Studio Australia

Into the Inferno is the final game in the original trilogy of games that covers the three seasons of the series, and as anyone who has watched the show will know all too well, this is where things start heating up in the story as the stakes reach an all-time high. To finally take down the Fire Lord Ozai once and for all, Aang will need to make sure he’s fully prepared for the final battle, with pretty much the entire game re-telling the events that lead up to his final bout with the man himself. Because Aang is more familiar with his Airbending abilities at this point in the story, it means that he, and his allies, can throw out some incredibly powerful attacks during combat, but because the Fire Nation soldiers won’t go down without a fight, it means that the playable characters never feel too overpowered.

Instead, players are heavily encouraged to switch up their attack strategy every so often to deal with different kinds of enemy types, and to try and perform combos to take down their opponents in a stylish fashion. Unlike a lot of previous Avatar games, Into the Inferno also includes quite a few platforming sections that can be navigated by using certain characters’ unique abilities, such as Toph’s small rock platforms, or Aang’s mini-whirlwinds that can physically move objects across a gap. The cartoonish visuals can sometimes be a little distracting and jarring, but this is an otherwise small stain on what many consider to be the best Avatar game released to this very day.