Since early December it has been difficult to avoid the vast array of trinkets and advertising pieces with the name James Cameron plastered all over them. Unsurprisingly, his most recent film Avatar is now amongst the highest grossing films, currently over $1.6B, due to its sublime visuals and action. If there is a fault with the film then clearly it rests in the plot that is strikingly similar to that of Pocahontas. Because Avatar rehashes old, yet worthwhile and universal messages, the story is unable to keep pace with the frenzied action which leaves the viewer’s experience akin to that of Toy Story – it was fun while it lasted but in the end there is little substance to come back to. In the short term it will be the centerpiece of BluRay collections and HD televisions but eventually it will be surpassed graphically.
Looking at Cameron’s body of work (with Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Aliens, and The Abyss being among his finest in my opinion) it is rather safe to say that he does not maintain the writing skills of many of his contemporaries. Most of his skill resides in utilizing the tools available, or even developing the tools, to create some of the best action-packed movies we have ever seen. Being that it took him nearly a decade to complete Avatar with its terribly weak story, it is doubtful that he has many good stories left in him. His cheesy story made my eyes roll over so many times that I thought I would develop a lazy eye and need corrective lenses.
With the release of Avatar the film also came Avatar: The Game, which is quite rubbish. Although Ubisoft was in control of the game’s development, some of the ideas had to go through Cameron but it is clear that neither side had a muse inspiring their creativity for the game. In what was announced as a sort of prequel to the events in the movie, it turned out having the same general premise as the film where a soldier is eventually given the choice to fight with or against the Na’Vi people. The story and gameplay are bland and the most impressive feature is on the tech side with its 3D effects.
It is understandable then why people should be guarded when James Cameron says, “I’ve got a lot of stories and I don’t have enough time to make them all as movies.” Cameron clearly overestimates his storytelling ability. There was not one original idea in terms of his storytelling in Avatar with themes which ranged from the plight of Aboriginals to modern American politics. Even the way in which the humans, such as main character Corporal Jake Sully, entered into their own avatar via a large and complicated machine looked very Matrix-like. It is evident that his own source material is not especially ground-breaking when it comes to porting it over to video games as demonstrated in Avatar: The Game, so why would we want another knock off? Cameron also recently stated that,
“…I’m exploring with Ubisoft to see if maybe there’s a relationship around just getting these stories and world ideas into games – just completely independent of movies. You know, good ideas and visuals are exactly that.”
It is disheartening to hear that Cameron believes that he has much to teach Ubisoft’s writers and programmers, recently off of Assassins Creed 2, about the gaming industry. Instead of talking about what makes a good game, he goes back to his trusted “visuals” which are only a single part of what makes a good game. Overall, Avatar: The Game had good graphics but will ward off some future consumers from his products. The fact that he believes that he has something to offer in terms of a setting and story is laughable. If on the other hand he wanted to try to develop some new techniques for making games then that seems much more up his alley. But this is surely not enough for a man with such an immense ego that he only spells his name in capital letters. A partnership is inevitable nonetheless between Ubisoft and Cameron, much like Tom Clancy’s partnership, now that everyone knows his name but hopefully he will restrain himself from becoming too involved in future projects so to keep the damage to a minimum.
Can James Cameron make a difference in the gaming industry? Is it too soon to make any leaps from what we have done when it comes to Uncharted 2 and Crysis? Let us know by commenting below. No registration required to comment.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Mario Cheated On His Own World
Explaining Starcraft to FarmVille People
The Cake is a Lie!
Although he is one of my favorite directors, I don’t think any Terminator movie could be translated into a game too well unless it took from the Terminator source material. Like Aliens: Colonial Marines for instance, which looks awesome, but is derived from Aliens
Also, Avatar being the second highest grossing film of all time is ridiculous. It’s been a month, and it’s only $200 million behind the #1 grossing film of all time, Titanic (also a James Cameron) movie, which had a lifetime gross of $1.8 billion. Avatar is probably going to double that…exceed it at least
Loved Toy Story. Almost as much as Avatar. But let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that one is more original in story than the other. Give anyone a day and an internet connection and they can find a dozen stories similar to just about any blockbuster.
True, the story of Avatar is quite similar to, say, Disney’s Pocahontas. But is that an original story or, obviously, a Disney adaptation.
Well, in the end, no one can predict what place Avatar will take in the annals of cinema history. Not myslef nor the writer of this article. But the guy sure knows how to bring in an audience… again and again and again….
I loathe James Cameron. Oh come on, Titanic? That movie was god awful. I hope to god I never have to see his name on a god damned video game again.
all these people saying he has no writing talent? how easily you forget he directed TITANIC and while the ship in itself is history he made up the entire story besides the sinking himself….
Sure the ideas behind a story might be old, but humans have been around for a long time, and all of the meaningful stories have already been told. It’s no longer about being completely original, it is about conveying the message in a different and interesting way. Visuals and world ideas go a long way to bringing a new and exciting view to an idea once old and worn. I believe Avatar brings a new twist to those classic stories, and tells them in a way which interests the people of today.
Dude seriously? It says “avater the game, by james cameron. But how much influence did he really have in the making of this game? I doubt he had more that a “lets make the game like the movie” say in the development of it. Honestly, ubisoft was just tryig to milk the frachise and go off the hype of the movie with their release of the game.
All in all, this isn’t a topic to bash Cameron about his movie making skills. Wether or not Avatar made you “snore/bored”, you shouldn’t incoprate a movie review into a game review. I believe you’r blatant hate for Avatar has influenced your score for the game. Although not perfect, the game did try to balance the “movie cash in” with fresh gameplay.
I would just advise that, before you make an article like this again, you evaluate your personal objectionisms towars whaterver media is present, and remove them from you’r review.
Reading this brought me back to elementary school, were every kid had their own opinion based on viewpoints and not on facts.
Hahaha…this made me laugh. What are you talking about? The guy’s responsible for the 2 top grossing movies of all time as well as the terminator franchise and you’re saying he can’t weigh in on story telling or setting? Are you nuts?
Sure – Avatar was light on original story but so what? You think he doesn’t know that? The same story has been told a thousand times before and will keep being told because it’s what people want to hear. All JC has done is wrapped an entire world around the same old story and delivered something completely new.
I don’t know about games (and JC probably doesn’t either!) but to say he has nothing to offer because his latest movie doesn’t have much of a plot is plain silly.
And to assume he should restrict himself to developing new technology and leave the story-telling to others just because his latest film was light on plot is stupid too!
In short, I agree that Avatar’s plot/characters/themes were clichéd, unoriginal and (truth be told) a bit bland, but reaching the conclusion that James Cameron should sit down “to keep the damage to a minimum” and that his best work is behind him is over-reaching and intellectually lazy – IMHO.
Cameron’s Avatar game wasn’t bad. What it had as a weak point is that it was rushed so it shipped before the movie came out. Had it been given enough time so that it would have some better content and some more playability, it likely would have been an excellent game.
What I liked about it was the scenery (although I’d liked to have seen more of Pandora than the jungle.) I wish more of the game were playable at night other than the half of the level.
The Risk-like mini game was a nice side project, as well as the sector challenges.
All and all, the game would have been a lot better, had it been given some more time, as well as some additional content.
“fact that he believes that he has something to offer in terms of a setting and story is laughable.”
What? You mean Pandora isn´t a good enough setting?
I agree with the story part, but saying whoever created the wonderful world of Avatar lazy is incredibly disrespectul.
OK I like this idea dude, makes sense to me.
RT
http://www.web-privacy.pl.tc
“it was fun while it lasted but in the end there is little substance to come back to”
No idea what you’re smoking.
I applaud this – Cameron’s ability to deliver a solid story and his skills as a director could help transform the industry. As long as he does not try and tell stories with cut scenes and really helps bring drama and scene to the ‘in-game’ experience.
Love the movie, as simple as it is, I paid for a matinee, and paid for another movie, but jumped theaters to see Avatar again afterwards.
RANT ON: I’d also like to say that $1.6B today is like $800k back then, so I’d say Avatar hasn’t surpassed Titanic by sheer numbers yet. I’m sure it will, but I’d guess $3.6B would be closer to what Avatar has to make to break Titanic’s record.
Oops, just happened. Nevermind.
Hey guys,
Just wanted to say – this was a fairly well-written article with some good commentary. The quality was much better than previous articles I’ve read on this site. (I left a comment on your last “showdown” article). This is closer to the kind of writing I’d like to see on kokugamer. Keep it up, guys!
Don’t realize y every1s bashing on JC so much, I mean I enjoyed Avatar pretty well…. and so what if it was a regurgitation of Pocahantas? I’m pretty sure the story has been told many many times with different variations, JC simply rehashed it and added stunning visuals which might I add were all his by right…. I don’t see anything wrong with that
This writer of this article is atrocious. Please get off your couch and experience life and take an English class or two.