Ready to battle with the elements?
In terms of story, we guess we should mention that the game follows the plot from Season 3 of the animated series, where the Fire Nation decides to use the powers of a comet to destroy the world, and only Aang and his friends can save the day, of course. What makes Into the Inferno much more interesting than other Avatar games isn't the narrative, though; where in the past it's been a lot of combat with not so much depth (and for those Gamerscore lovers out there, an easy 1000 points), Into the Inferno merges fun combat with clever puzzle-like gameplay and platforming elements which keeps the player thinking about their next move carefully rather than just running head-strong from battle to battle.
Both the combat and puzzle elements rely on mastering the use of the four elements: Air, Water, Earth and Fire, and all can be used in a number of different ways to achieve a variety of goals. While the powers themselves all start off relatively simple, as the game progresses you'll have access to a variety of interesting skills at your disposal. When first learning a new element, you'll get a grasp of it by being simply able to move a ball of air or water, for example; simply moving the Wii remote in a circular fashion creates a ball of air which you can then control by moving the cursor around the screen, and that ball of air can then be used to move levers or flick switches in the puzzle sections, but also to knock back enemies when in combat. Water can be used quite similarly as a sort of attack, but will require a source such as a puddle or river that it can be drawn from; and then becomes incredibly effective in later stages where you'll be able to turn water into ice in front of your very eyes, which can be used to freeze bad guys or create pathways over lakes and such.
Flaming foot to the face. Top that.
The different combinations of elements that you'll need to use to progress through each stage keeps things interesting to say the least - we found ourselves temporarily stuck on a couple of occasions, as we tried to figure out what exactly we were supposed to do next to open a particular door or access a new pathway, so the game isn't a walk in the park like some other kids games on store shelves. Hints are given in the form of a slight shimmer that surrounds objects which can be interacted with, but even then it's not always entirely obvious what you need to do to move forward. Combat itself can be as inventive and exciting as you want it to be, with so many skills at your disposal in terms of elements, but also with a number of melee attacks which can be used in conjunction with your elements to create interesting and powerful combo moves on your foes.
Ah, so THAT'S why there's water there!
The attention to detail that we saw in Into the Inferno even just from the first couple of levels we experienced was quite impressive; candles will blow out when you move your pocket of wind past them, filling a nearby empty bucket with water will reward you with a shiny gold coin and doing other mini-puzzles such as this will allow you to unlock more secrets and treasures as you play. While the pathway itself in the game is somewhat linear, you are still given bonuses for exploring what is available to you, and the game will reward your experimentation, which means there will be added incentive to go back and re-try certain levels to pick up on a few things you may have missed the first time around.
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