As the release date for both the Avatar film and game draws near, Ubisoft is showing two new areas from the upcoming game set to be a companion to the ambitious film project from director James Cameron. Although we've been getting peeks at the game since our first look in June, we've now been able to get our hands on two new areas and also get a feel for character customization and advancement. The game is being shown off in a private media area at a nearby hotel as well as on the Tokyo Game Show floor.

　　What's New: There are two new areas to play--Verdant Pinnacle and Stalker's Valley--which continue to highlight the play experiences between the human soldiers and the Na'vi on the beautiful but hazardous world of Pandora. The Verdant Pinnacle level let us play as a Na'vi and make our way to an objective point deep on the other side of the massive level. We were able to use the different Na'vi skills in addition to standard melee attacks and weapons against enemies. The area featured a twisting path that offered detours onto tree and rock formations jutting out in places to give us a good view of where we needed to go, as well as a clear shot at human and mechanical enemies. There were also ample pickup items to help keep our ammunition pretty well stocked, although it dipped precariously during some of the more-intense firefights that cropped up as we got closer to our goal.

　　The Stalker's Valley level had a different tone, since the enemies that popped up to stop our soldier character amounted to most everything in the forest. The level kicked off with a military aircraft getting knocked out of the sky and our character getting tasked with clearing out the local wildlife obstructing the military forces on the ground. Whereas Verdant Pinnacle resembled the lush forests we've seen in the movie trailers, Stalker's Valley is a darker place that is anything but welcoming. The level's darker color palette, some fires and wreckage at the start of the area, and all the local wildlife trying to murder anything human all made the valley about as unfriendly as possible. The result was a hefty amount of tension that didn’t let us relax or enjoy the scenery as we did in the Na'vi level.

　　What's Different: The chance to see the menus and the customization possible as you level was interesting. We got a better sense of how both characters are going to evolve over the course of the adventure. It looks like there's going to be tons of weapons to swap out for the human soldiers to suit a player's style. The Na'vi don't appear to have as large an arsenal of traditional weapons. However, they have special skills, such as special attacks, sprinting, and self-healing, which seem to offer a comparable number of customization options. It was nice to see extras like the Pandorapedia, which will track all the creatures you come across in the game. One difference in the work-in-progress version we played was that Na'vi characters seem a little more fragile now. We jumped down from what we thought was a reasonable height for a large alien to safely land, and our character died. We spoke with representatives from Ubisoft, who told us that the version we played is currently undergoing some balance tweaking, so the Na'vi's seeming vulnerability to falling may change in the final game.

　　What's The Same: The gameplay seems solid and offers some distinct variety between the human and Na'vi, though the two character types definitely have things in common as well. The human soldier is all about tech, hardware, and shooting in the traditional sense, while the Na'vi has abilities that are comparable but that deal out less collateral damage to the surroundings. The 3D tech is still a cool feature for those who can support it, although the game looks sharp without it.

　　What Impression The Game Made This Time: Even without 3D, Avatar is shaping up to be a unique movie-licensed game. The game seems to be making smart use of the universe and the characters that inhabit it to create an experience that's in line with the film but is all its own. If the game delivers on the potential we've seen, there's a chance it will break out from the movie game herd and stand on its own as a solid game that happens to be based on a film, rather than an experience that's dependent on a movie license.