The Legend of Korra (video game)


 * This article is about the video game. For the animated television series, see The Legend of Korra.

The Legend of Korra is a third person video game designed for multiple consoles, based on the series of the same name. It was released on Steam and the PlayStation Network on October 21, 2014, and on Xbox Live the following day. Unlike the previous Avatar games, it was developed by PlatinumGames and published by Activision.

Summary
The game follows a new story that takes place between Books Two and Three. After opening the spirit portals, an ancient enemy of the Avatar named Hundun is released. Hundun seeks to bring chaos to the world, and Korra must fight him and his allies to keep order alive.

A New Era Begins
The game starts with Korra fighting a horde of dark spirits in the Spirit World near the Tree of Time. When she is overwhelmed by the spirits, the screen fades to black and makes a time jump to the week before, when Korra, Mako, and Bolin are getting ready for a pro-bending match in a special tournament organized to help repair the city after the Unalaq crisis. Although Mako and Bolin are quickly thrown off the platform as they were distracted, Korra manages to win the match with a knockout. While she is walking home after the fight, she notices some Triple Threat Triad members with an old man in a dark alley. Believing the mobsters to be threatening the old man, she approaches, which causes the Triple Threats to flee. Korra turns her attention to the old man to verify if he is all right, though he only laughs evilly while vanishing in the shadows, much to the Avatar's confusion. Caught off guard, Korra is attacked by chi blocking darts, which render her unconscious.

Powerless
Gaining consciousness, Korra wakes up to hear the old man telling chi blockers to finish her while she is weak. The old man notices Korra's awakenign and orders them not to let the Avatar escape before disappearing. Korra attempts to bend at the chi blockers to no avail, forcing her to run. With only her fists, Korra fights off the Equalists as she tries to navigate the back alleys. The Avatar deduces that the old man is leading the chi blockers since Amon is gone but has no idea why she is being targeted. Even after some time has passed, Korra's bending abilities were still locked, as chi blocking affects a bender for only a short time. The Equalists eventually outnumber Korra but Naga comes to her rescue. Running through the city, Korra escapes the alleyways and sees Air Temple Island, hoping that Tenzin can help her out.

Battle at Air Temple Island
Korra finds Air Temple Island deserted. However Jinora's spirit appears, telling Korra that the family were currently on their way back from visiting Katara at the Southern Water Tribe but senses that Korra is in trouble. Jinora suggests finding some spirit water in some of the jars to regain her waterbending. However there were many jars on the island, and it turns out that the Equalists have arrived on the island before Korra. The Avatar eventually finds enough spirit water to regain her ability to waterbend, and with it, cleanses Air Temple Island of chi blockers and Triple Threat Triad members.

Gameplay
At the beginning of the game, Korra has her bending abilities blocked, but she can still fight with the different bending styles using only her fists. She is able to make quick light attacks, and more powerful but slower heavy attacks. The player is able to make different combos depending on the attacks and the elements used.

As the game progresses, she is able to unlock the elements one at a time. After an element is unlocked, she can level it up to learn new combos for that element, or get power ups such as increasing her Health and Chi bars.

Korra is also able to block incoming attacks, and if the button is pressed at the correct timing, she will make a counter attack. However, all lightning-based attacks cannot be blocked or countered, but she can still dodge them.

Throughout the game, a player can collect Spirit Energy, which serves as currency that can be traded for talismans, new combos, and other goods at Iroh's Spirit Shop.

Naga
At some points in the game, the player is able to control Naga in running sequences. She can jump over small obstacles, slide through narrow spaces, and attack with her paws to break small objects or inflict damage to enemies. She has a different health system to Korra, consisting of thre lives. Each time she crashes into an obstacle, she loses a life, and losing all three will make the player go back to the latest checkpoint.

Once Korra has unlocked her various bending abilities, she can use them to help Naga: Waterbending creates a watery shield, earthbending makes Naga able to double jump, firebending allows Korra to throw fireballs, and she can make Naga run faster and jump higher with airbending for a short time.

Pro-Bending League


Players are be able to unlock the Pro-Bending League upon completion of the game; its rules are similar to those established in Book One.

This mode consists of five matches of three rounds against the other teams in random order. The player controls Korra on the Fire Ferrets team, using Light and Heavy waterbending Attacks, as well as other abilities such as blocking, counter, dodging, and jumping.

The objective of the game is to push the opposing team back and gain access to their zones. The team who has advanced the most when the time is up wins the round. If both teams control the same number of zones it will trigger a tiebreaker, except when one team has more players on the ring, in which case they win the round. The team with the most rounds wins the match, unless a team throws all opponents off the ring, winning the match by knockout, regardless of the scoreboard.

As the player levels up the four elements during the normal game, the Fire Ferrets team gets stronger.

Allies

 * Korra (playable)
 * Naga (playable)
 * Jinora
 * Mako
 * Bolin
 * Iroh (shopkeeper)

Other characters

 * Shiro Shinobi
 * Ring Announcer
 * Referee
 * Pro-bending Teams:
 * White Falls Wolfbats
 * Bau Ling Buzzard Wasps
 * Black Quarry Boar-q-pines
 * Red Sands Rabaroos
 * Pinnacle Palace Platypus Bears
 * Dragonfly bunny spirits (Story Mode only)

Enemies

 * Dark spirits
 * Equalists
 * Triple Threat Triad:
 * Viper
 * Two Toed Ping
 * Unnamed earthbender

Bosses

 * Mecha tanks
 * Giant dark spirits
 * Hundun

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Tim Hedrick
 * Joshua Hamilton


 * Story by:
 * Tim Hedrick
 * Michael Dante DiMartino
 * Bryan Konietzko
 * Joaquim Dos Santos


 * Legend of Korra Voice Over Talent:
 * Janet Varney - Korra
 * J. K. Simmons - Tenzin
 * Kiernan Shipka - Jinora
 * Steve Blum - Hundun
 * David Faustino - Mako
 * PJ Byrne - Bolin
 * Jeff Bennett - Shiro Shinobi
 * Greg Baldwin - Uncle Iroh
 * Rami Malek - Tahno
 * Jason Harris - Ring announcer
 * Dee Baker:
 * Naga
 * 3 spirits
 * Andre Sogliuzzo:
 * Chi-blocker 1
 * Triad 1
 * Pro-bender 1
 * Tim Dadabo:
 * Chi-blocker 2
 * Triad 2
 * Pro-bender 2
 * Michael Yurchak:
 * Chi-blocker 3
 * Triad 3
 * Pro-bender 3 (misspelled Ro-bender 3)
 * April Stewart - Female pro-bender 1, 2, 3

Critical reception
On the first day of its release, the game received mixed reviews. IGN stated that it could not be recommended to "anyone" and was "a disappointment", while Destructoid called it a "solid action romp" and a "decent game". The game was well received by fans and other players on its Steam Store page, getting "Very Positive" reviews.

Trivia

 * This is the most Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have ever been involved with the creation of a video game.
 * It is the first time new canon information has appeared in a console video game.
 * The game developers are actual fans of the show.
 * The Triple Threat Triad members and other enemies can appear with a color-swapped outfit.