Anyone who reads this review is probably in love with Avatar and has already taken a look at the Wii and/or PlayStation 2 versions of Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno. Those games were awful, to say the least, and should be wiped from your memory. That is especially true after playing the DS version – an entirely different action/RPG that uses The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass mold to create a fun and creative game that’s easy to pick up and play.

Just Magical

Avatar's impressive magic system is quite effective at dealing with enemies and minor puzzles.

Water: Touch any pool of water to form a small ball of H2O. With the stylus still touching the screen, drag it to anywhere you please. This ball can be used to extinguish fire, destroy crates (a frequent barrier in this game) and damage enemies.

Wind: Allows you travel across large gaps. Draw small circles around your character to form a small tornado, causing four arrows to appear. Touch the arrow that matches the direction you wish to travel and lift the stylus – the tornado lifts your character and throws him or her to the next platform.

Ice: Form an ice bridge by drawing over large bodies of water.

Rock: Touch any group of rocks to form a small boulder. Using the same mechanics as the water ball, boulders can destroy enemies and objects and be used to flip switches.

Blocks: Not exactly an elemental form of magic, players can touch specific blocks and drag them to any point on the screen. Jump onto the pillar and drag it to transport your characters to different areas.

More: Create fire to burn enemies and activate certain switches; lift columns of rock up from the ground; and draw a path to throw a boomerang (yes, just like Zelda).

Each form of magic (Avatar refers to the process as “Bending”) is assigned to at least one character. Two characters are playable at all times. The levels were designed around the cast, so if you’re playing as Aang and Katara, expect to use the wind and ice magic several times before the mission is complete. Zuko commands the power of fire, Toph can lift rocks and pillars, and Sokka is the one yielding Link’s boomerang mechanics.

You Look So Puzzled

The puzzles start out very simple but grow to thought-provoking levels as you must separate the two characters (who are normally connected) to solve many different puzzles. As you’ll likely predict, the characters are separated because, for example, one area requires fire and another requires ice. Levels are frequently sectioned off and allow only one specific character to proceed, either by physical barrier, a switch puzzle, or by the type of magic required to pass through. The best puzzles trick the player by requiring two types of magic but allow only one character to enter. How do you solve something like that!? The trick is that it’s much easier than it looks.

Outside of the main quest (which can be played cooperatively with two game cards and two DS systems), there’s a volleyball mini-game where players serve, bounce and return the ball using the touch screen. It’s much simpler in practice than it is to explain (as evidenced by the confused look on my friend’s face when talking about it; that confusion went away as soon as we started playing), so I’ll spare you the mechanical details. Unlike the main quest, this mini-game supports download (single-card) play.

"Only Two, There Are," Said Yoda

Besides the volleyball game, players will notice that Into the Inferno primarily uses only two kinds of gameplay: battling and puzzle-solving. After every puzzle or two is a battle, and after every battle is another puzzle. It’s a repetitive process that, if the individual puzzles weren’t so compelling (and mechanically sound), the game would never have worked. Into the Inferno would have lost itself in its own repetition.

But actually, the only things working against it are the occasional bouts of confusion (ready your thinking cap), the requirement that you must have 30 coins to continue when you die, and the slightly flawed magic elements. The magic system is mostly great, but the tornado can be a bit of a pain if you lift your stylus too soon, which may send your character flying in an undesirable direction (possibly leading to his or her death). Only one bridge of ice may be created at a time. This isn’t horrible, but why not allow us to make an infinite number of them? It just seems wrong to have the current bridge disappear every time a new one is made. It could be blamed on the DS’s small amount of ram, I suppose, but I’ve seen this in console games as well. Such an excuse is no longer viable.

Still, those are hardly reasons to avoid Into the Inferno, the best handheld Avatar game and the best version of this sequel, which is definitely worth playing.

Gameplay: 8.0
The view and gameplay features mirror Phantom Hourglass. Players walk, run and attack using the touch screen, ensuring that this game is labeled a Zelda clone. Despite that, it’s actually very fun. Magic (such as water and rock) may be used to attack enemies just by dragging the element into them. As simple as this feature is, it works really well. Standard attacks are conducted just by touching the enemies, and that too feels pretty good.

Graphics: 7.5
Into the Inferno uses small, super-deformed character models. The look doesn’t do anything for me – I just play the Avatar games and can take or leave the art style. But it suits this chapter, which didn’t need full-size normal-looking characters to succeed. The magic effects are a little on the cartoony side, but that too seems to fit within the Avatar landscape.

Sound: 7.9
A bit more epic and diverse than expected.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The battles aren't tough, nor is the average puzzle. But the puzzles grow more difficult with each level, moving away from the game's simple beginnings to something more complex.

Concept: 7.0
Another Phantom Hourglass clone. But at least this one introduces a couple of features Zelda doesn't have, such as the dual-character puzzles.

Multiplayer: 6.9
The volleyball mini-game (single-card play) is fun for a round or two. After that it's a snooze-fest. Co-op (multi-card play) is nice, but unless you and your friend are equally patient, this game is better when played solo.

Overall: 8.0
Into the Inferno won't speak to every DS owner simply because of the Avatar license. But Avatar fans aren't the only ones who should benefit from this upper-tier Zelda clone. Anyone who enjoyed Phantom Hourglass should at least rent, if not buy, this above-average Avatar sequel.