The Legend of Korra: The other Platinum game for October

atirador · June 25, 2014, 11:33pm

A new action game from Platinum Games? HELL YEAH!

From IGN:

Platinum Games is developing The Legend of Korra, a third-person combat game based on the Nickelodeon TV show.

The Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Bayonetta 2 studio and Activision will launch its downloadable Legend of Korra game this fall on PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3.

Korra scribe Tim Hedrick is writing the story, which takes place between The Legend of Korra’s second and third seasons. As the series’ leading lady, players will use the Avatar’s fire, earth, air, and water elements in combat to fight familiar enemies such as Mecha Tanks and Chi Blockers, as well as other Benders in the 3-on-3 Pro-Bending arena.

A Webfoot Technologies-developed turn-based strategy version of The Legend of Korra will also hit Nintendo 3DS this year. Where Platinum’s action game is all about fast-paced martial-art combat, the 3DS game will “focus on tactically maneuvering Korra and her allies on the battlefield.”

Look for more on Platinum’s The Legend of Korra game, including our hands-on impressions, later this week.

In-engine screenshots:

Spoiler

http://assets2.ignimgs.com/2014/06/25/lokscreen1jpg-6e4db7_960w.jpg

Spoiler

http://assets1.ignimgs.com/2014/06/25/lokscreen2jpg-b68d3c_960w.jpg

Spoiler

http://assets2.ignimgs.com/2014/06/25/lokscreen3jpg-b68d3b_960w.jpg

Spoiler

http://assets1.ignimgs.com/2014/06/25/lokscreen4jpg-b68d3a_960w.jpg

Here’s a video with hands-on impression of the game (no actual gameplay footage, tough):

A snip from the hands-on preview posted on Destructoid:

Spoiler

(…)
The story here will reference elements from the show and there will undoubtedly be a lot of callbacks that will make fans happy. That said, don’t let that keep you from this game. The action elements are pretty awesome, thanks in large part to Platinum’s skills at making great combat mechanics. All you need to know is that you’re playing as a real badass who can bend the four elements of fire, water, air, and earth to her will.

As Korra re-discovers her various bending skills, she’ll find that she’s stuck using more of the basic attacks with each element. But as you progress and level up, you’ll upgrade your attacks and learn new combos. What makes the fighting top notch here is how seamlessly you can swap between your four powers as you’re unleashing combos on enemies.

Water bending, for example, is good for long-range attacks – either throwing out projectiles, or using a “water whip”-like move to reel enemies closer to you. On the other hand, air bending is best as an area-of-effect attack when dealing with a group of enemies surrounding you. Each bending style offers something unique, and it’s best to mix up your attacks as much as possible. Oh, and you totally can summon an air ball and ride it around just like in the show.

Between your light and heavy attacks, you also have a special charge attack for more powerful bending moves, plus there’s a dodge and counter move as well. Countering is especially encouraged, most of all when dealing with boss-type enemies. It’s a similar counter system to that of Revengeance, where you have to learn the enemy patterns to best time the counter over being babied and getting some notification to time the counter correctly. Though, admittedly, the learning curve for timing is way smaller in The Legend of Korra.

And yes, you can go into the Avatar state. The specifics of what will allow you to summon your special ability haven’t been quite nailed down yet, but ultimately the game will let you know when you can go full out, and at that point you’ll be unleashing all your bending abilities at once for a duration of time.

Again, for an alpha, the combat system was pretty damn fluid. The camera was a little finicky during my hands-on time, but didn’t ultimately hinder my session. I was impressed with how far along the game was already, and there’s going to be loads of time for polish between now and the release date.

Visually, the game was looking nice too. The cartoon-y/cel-shaded look was pleasant, especially when the different bending elements were in use by the player or enemies. Speaking of which, while the big boss is new, most of the enemy foot soldiers were recycled from the past two seasons of the show. My playthrough saw me encountering chi blockers, Mecha Tanks, and some of the Triads too. A nice touch though at least is that chi blockers can knock out whatever last ability you were using for a small duration of time.

The voice actors from the show reprise their role here for the game, and a large chunk of the game’s music is taken from the show too. On top of the core action elements, there’s also a Naga-running section where you have to navigate levels much in the same way as something like in Temple Run. Plus there’s Pro-Bending sections where Korra, Mako, and Bolin will be fighting others in Pro-Bending!

New Live Demo with actual gameplay from Comic Con (jump to 3:35 for gameplay):

po_pimpus · June 25, 2014, 11:36pm

Fuck Yeah, Platinum!

Glad to see they are finally getting some shine from other publishers. Even if it is shitty Activision.

I am worried that there was no gameplay shown, but there is still time for that.

atirador · June 25, 2014, 11:39pm

The fact that the game seems to be downloadable-only might indicate a smaller, 15~20 bucks game?

Not that I’m complaining, a small Platinum action game is better than no Platinum action game at all, wich was my prospect since Bayoneta 2 was announced as WiiU only.

Gasaraki · June 25, 2014, 11:47pm

It should be noted that IGN does have in-engine screenshots on their site too

atirador · June 26, 2014, 12:02am

Yeah, I’m updating the first post with them

Rick_Ross · June 26, 2014, 12:14am

I don’t care about Korra or that Avatar poop. I just like P* since they have a good track record wth action games. Anyone who says otherwise is dumb and gay.

po_pimpus · June 26, 2014, 12:15am

Hey, Activision and Nickelodeon- DON’T RUSH THESE DUDES. You have one of the best developers in the world on this… Let them do what they do and all will be fine.

Let that game cook until its ready… and don’t have some retarded release date like October or late November, when all the heavy hitters start coming out.

Shadowcuz · June 26, 2014, 12:25am

Didnt care when I saw Activision attached to a licensed game based on a show.

When I saw the Platinum Games name on there…

http://i.imgur.com/T7Hg39J.gif

wne · June 26, 2014, 12:30am

so much hype, first the new season this friday and now this

i need new pants

atirador · June 26, 2014, 12:31am

I’ve never heard of the name THE LEGEND OF KORRA before, but I knew Avatar because of the movie The Last Airbender (wich sucks, BTW), so normally I wouldn’t even bother reading about a game like this if I didn’t saw the “Platinum” attached to it.

Hecatom · June 26, 2014, 12:44am

You are missing what it could be one of the best cartoons in recent years.
Forget about that shitty movie that didn’t the original series justice.
Both the original Avatar and ToL of Korra are great shows

Rokmode · June 26, 2014, 12:47am

the movie is great
uncle eeeeroooh
avatar auungg

atirador · June 26, 2014, 12:47am

Now that I’m excited about this game I might consider watching the show. Also, I have a brother-in-law who always says good things about this show…

po_pimpus · June 26, 2014, 12:48am

Hey Activision, as long as you’ve got Platinum on speed dial, a certain wall-crawler would LOVE to work with them…

MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Gasaraki · June 26, 2014, 1:08am

Yo, stahp, plz.

Don’t make me get my hopes up

Saitsu · June 26, 2014, 1:25am

Still hate Parker huh?

crotchpuncha · June 26, 2014, 1:30am

Syke1 · June 26, 2014, 1:59am

Im more excited as to how Kamiya is going to deal with the shippers…

Saitsu · June 26, 2014, 2:01am

The same way he deals with everything else. Without a single fuck given.

Smashbro29 · June 26, 2014, 3:08am

Well the license is kinda ass but Platinum action games are something no one should ever pass up.