Avatar: The Last Airbender is a Western animated series on Nickelodeon originally designed for kids and has also become an unlikely favorite for adults as well, thanks to its hearty mix of humor, drama, and romance. In that respect, its success in appealing to all audiences is reminiscent of another franchise targeted towards children: Harry Potter. However, judging from the PSP game named simply Avatar: The Last Airbender, whatever charm the animated series has doesn't make the transition into videogame form.

The game takes place in a world where war is being waged among four nations (Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, and Air Nomads), each of which has a given elemental power that people in their nation can "bend", or control at their will. The Avatar is one single being who has the power to bend all four elements and is prophesized to end the war. It turns out that the Avatar is a twelve-year-old kid named Aang who is an Airbender, but has the potential to manipulate all of the elements. The game follows him and friends (Katara, Sokka, and Haru) as they journey around the world.

Avatar is an action/adventure with RPG elements similar to X-Men Legends, allowing the control of two characters as they explore, talk to people to find quests, and fight generic enemies along the way. Completing quests and defeating baddies will earn the duo money and experience points to increase their abilities. However, at the start of the game, all of the characters already have all of their special abilities unlocked, such things like whirlwind attacks and healing spells. Investing experience into the abilities simply makes them more effective and powerful. It's awkward, seeing as how discovering new abilities is what makes games in this genre fun.

The combat is unfortunately too generic. Each character has the standard assortment of punches and kicks, and pressing the d-pad can activate special attacks. A maximum of two characters can be in a party, and switching between them to control the other is as easy as pushing the left shoulder button. With only four playable characters in the game, having a four-character party seems like a great oversight.

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