GAMES & GIZMOS

AVATAR:
THE GAME
SAW the movie and loved it, didja? And you think it would be an awesome gaming experience, doncha? Well, prepare to be disappointed then as the game is a poor avatar (get it?) of the movie.

Sure, it's a 3D game. So you can have your avatar pop out at you... but only if you are one of the 1 in 10000 people who will have the required hardware! So, that's a downer there. The game then: has been developed as a third-person shooter with a lot of exploring and a branching storyline which kinda gives you the illusion of playing 2 games.

Avatar takes place on the planet Pandora which is being exploited mercilessly by the Resources Development Administration (RDA), saddening the native Na'vi. You play as Ryder, an RDA operative who soon finds himself in over his head as he discovers the consequences of the RDA's destructive presence on Pandora.

Further in, you need to choose: continue as an agent of the evil RDA or become an avatar side with the Na'vi. Whichever path you choose, unless you have an unbelievably insane imagination, you'll quickly be bored by the characters and the voices and the dialogue. Engaging, this isn't!

Each of Pandora's regions is relatively large and missions involve traveling long distances to get to objectives. Along the way, you encounter different types of enemies that seek to destroy you. If you are a Na'vi warrior, your default weapon is the bow which ain't much fun to use on the PC. You also have a machine gun, and a ginormous spiked club. Melee combats are the most enjoyable parts in Avatar: it is fun to cartwheel toward your target and go chop-chop. If you go the way of the RDA instead, you won't wield any melee weapons and will instead shoot your way to victory. You've got a pair of pistols to get you through if the better guns run out of ammo, but they're all but useless; luckily, your shotgun, flamethrower, and other weapons seem appropriately powerful, if not exactly satisfying to use. And since this is a fantasy game, you also have some pretty lame superpowers.

The best part of exploring, however, are the vehicles and mounts... the rides can be exhilarating.

The game also features a turn-based minigame called Conquest. If you've bought the game and are desperate to squeeze out every last paisa worth of fun, then this Conquest thingie is pretty nice for a while.

Avatar: The Game could have been better with reduced length and ironed-out bugs but as it stands now, it's just one more in the long list of disappointing game companions for awesome movie experiences.

That hot-looking phone there is a collaboration between French handset manufacturer Sagem and Puma (yes Puma, the same guys whose shoes you grew up wearing)! And it's the perfect gadget for this month's issue of The Teenager... it's green (we mean, environment-friendly, duh!), sleek and stylish (just like you, yes, you!) and packed with features (like everything else we love!).

So, the features: a 3.2 megapixel camera, 3G ready, Bluetooth, music player, mobile email, web, solar cell with charge indicator,... wait, what? Yes, solar cell with charge indicator... which means you don't need a plug point to charge this phone... just let it tan in the sun. Awesome, ain't it? And it looks sexy too... yeah, yeah... we just can't get enough of how nice it looks.

And for the sports fans, this beauty's got a pedometer and a GPS tracker and a stopwatch and great looks. And once you buy it, you can even download stuff from the Puma store online. And where do you buy it?

Nowhere yet... they only announced it in February... should be available on the Puma store sometime this month. And the music player ain't any ordinary music player... it comes with a spin and scratch playing mechanism for all you wannabe teen DJs who wanna look good while they spin the tunes... and with this insanely goodlooking phone in your hands, you might look good too!