It’s one thing when a movie-game emerges and no one bats an eye or gives a care because we already know it’s just another movie-game. We ignore it because it’s destined to hit the ground flopping and run the gamut of reviewers with poor scores. However, when someone like James Cameron gets up in front of several thousand gaming journalists and runs his mouth about a franchise that actually gets its own day, then we come to expect that when he says the game isn’t just another movie-game, then it better not be another movie-game.

The problem comes in with Avatar is that it’s been over-hyped and doesn’t appear to come close to living up to it *cough*Halo 3*cough*. Demos of the Avatar game were on display at this year’s Tokyo Game Show and we even have up a gameplay montage from the Ubisoft studios but all the game really happens to be is a sub-par, sucky Lost Planet 2 rip-off. Just imagine Capcom’s epic-scaled, cooperative, multiplayer shooter scaled down with linear, one-way environments, much smaller boss battles and the option to play as a species that mimics the gameplay likes of a less enemy-populated Dynasty Warriors. That’s the extent of the game…possibly better than other movie-based games but nothing groundbreaking by far.

If there’s one thing I’m not going to knock about the game are the environments, though. The developers did amazing job bringing the colorful atmosphere to life and making it so unique and gorgeous. However, hype can’t live on environmental visuals alone. The inclusion of vehicular operation adds an extra layer to the game’s overall value but, again, it’s like mixing in the Hornet from Halo 3 and the mechs from Lost Planet 2…original much? Not really.

With the game launching so close to Lost Planet 2 it’s a wonder why anyone would even bother with the already disappointing Avatar: The Game. I guess what’s worse is when the acclaimed director wasted twenty minutes on stage during the Ubisoft conference at this year’s E3 only to have this sub-par game come out of the mix. Disappointing much? Well if you spend that much time on stage and not show any footage of the game then it better live up to some kind of expectation when a demo or trailers are released. However, the game didn’t live up to those expectations when the in-game footage was released.

Then again, a lot of people weren’t even all that wowed with the Avatar movie teaser trailer, especially after all the hoopla was spewed over how magnificent it was going to be, so I guess it’s no different for the game.

At least when Raven Software said they weren’t aiming to make X-Men Origins: Wolverine another movie-based game they made sure everything they showed didn’t look like just another movie-based game. Maybe if James Cameron’s Avatar manages not to bomb as a software title and movie, they’ll put a little extra effort into making it original the next time around.