by FHF on Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:09 pm
Finally played avatar last night up at foggy notion (trying to win the $100 of course). First impression, if you like Ironman, you will definitely like Avatar (I like Ironman, by the way). It seems to have a fairly similar rule set and game play, but in my opinion the shots are a bit harder in Avatar.
Some observations:
1- Lighting the Navi characters seems to be pretty similar to lighting the MARKs in Ironman. Lit characters carry over from ball to ball, but it's a bit easier to get than Jericho mode since you really only have to hit the navi targets once through and then hit all the shots once (timed). Of course, it didn't seem to be nearly as lucrative as Jericho mode.
2- Stacking the Link multiball with the AMP suit multiball seems pretty similar to the WarMachine Ironmonger stack in Ironman, and can definitely be pretty lucrative. Seems you can get them in any order, although there may be some subtle caveat that I missed.
3- Starting all the modes is also similar to Ironman, especially in the sense that this does not carry over! I like this feature in both games since it is kind of a throwback to a lot of EM's in that you really have to kill it on one ball rather than just sort of plowing through the game (like 24). I wasn't able to do this, and it seems like it could be pretty hard to pull off. Would definitely be interested to hear what happens if anyone completes it. Of course, it's a 50 million hurry-up in Ironman, which can be pretty huge. Apparently it starts some sort of wizard mode that may or may not be actually there??
Overall, I think I actually like Avatar better than Ironman. Starting the AMP suit multiball is pretty tough (compared to Ironmonger) and the Link shot is at least as difficult as Warmachine, although it doesn't have the nasty kickout. I'm pretty sure that just like Ironman if you beat a mode it will carry over, but all the modes seem pretty difficult to beat. Would really like to know what the Wizard mode is since that will probably have a major impact on strategy, etc.
Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change. - RWE