The Spanish men sitting next to the flat-screen moniter were looking at my hair with complete amusement. I think I entertained them more than they did me. Most people dont know that I can speak fluent spanish, hence the reason I was able to pick up on what they were saying – and they were saying some funny shit about my hair – so I decided to see if they were just mere janitors or actually demo’ing some shit at the nerd-fest. The video game adaptation of Jame’s Cameron’s forthcoming movie Avatar has a good concept, but it needs work. I need work too – I could lose a couple pounds here and there and my controls are not completely at par, just like the Avatar.
The idea is to have control of a hologram type of flying machine. The controller is really just a fancy looking hotel key, this credit card key looking device that has 3 buttons on it which allow you to do things with your avatar, like make it shoot its weapons, and fly in certain directions. You take the “controller” and you place it on a desk in front of your moniter (make sure you have your webcam hooked up, because thats how it can read where your controller is). You are limited to how much space you can move in (only about 2 to 3 inches in real life), which got old fast.
Once you have figured out the correct placement of the controller, an image appears on your monitor. POOF! MAGIC! You’re able to see your dirty little human fingers in the monitor, and in what I can only describe as an experience similar to the world famous Haunted House ride at Disneyland where a creepy, fat ghost appears in your cart… a little mech-style robot is at your command. I was able to use two different avatars, a regular robot and one helicopter plane style one. The plane was pretty sweet because it could fly (duh), but the mech robot had a bit more personality. The image is in 3D and had a lot of details. It was as if I had become the puppet master, and this CG image was my outlet for complete and total artististic expression. It was not easy at first to figure out the controls, but as I got used them (just like a puppet master, mastering his wooden toys), I too was able to get comfortable with my new friend. I immediately thought of the endless ways you could program this thing into a video game (imagine Star Wars Episode 4 when Chewy was playing the hologram game on the table). It made me wish they had made an avatar with Princess Leia, if only to have her plead “Help me Obi Wan Lando, you’re my only hope”.
The Spanish men were quick to point out that a lot of the bugs had to be worked out and that the final version (if it ever comes out) will have better controls and more space to move around in. I would give the Avatar toy 3 and a half stars only because of the game control at the present moment, but I believe it could end up at 4 or more stars if they were able to nail the controls better. Until then, you might as well go buy one of those helicopters from the dude sitting in the mall next to the guy selling fake sun glasses and iPhone protection covers, because the controls are about as good as one of those overpriced flying toys.
