The Legend of Korra (video game)

:This article is about the video game. For the alternate version for 3DS of this game, see The Legend of Korra: A New Era Begins and 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.
In December 2017, three years after its release, the game was removed from online stores due to the license with Activision expiring.
== 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.
== Plot overview ==
=== Chapter One: 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.
=== Chapter Two: 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 has awakened and orders to not let her escape, before he disappears. Korra attempts to bend at the chi-blockers, though fails and is forced to run. With only hand-to-hand combat skills at her disposal, Korra fights off the Equalists as she tries to navigate the back alleys. Although she deduces that the old man is leading the chi-blockers since Amon is gone, she has no idea why she is being targeted. The Equalists eventually outnumber and overpower Korra, but Naga comes to her rescue. Running through Republic City, Korra escapes the alleyways and sees Air Temple Island, hoping that Tenzin can help her out since her bending is still blocked.
=== Chapter Three: Battle for Air Temple Island ===
Korra finds Air Temple Island deserted, though Jinora's spirit appears to her, as the young airbender had sensed Korra's distress and came to help while her family was still on their way back from visiting Katara at the Southern Water Tribe. In an effort to help Korra regain access to her waterbending, Jinora suggests to find Spirit Water in some of the jars on the island. Before Korra can locate the water, however, the Equalists along with the Triple Threat Triad arrived. Despite these threats, she manages to find enough spirit water to regain her ability to waterbend and with it, Korra purges Air Temple Island of chi-blockers and Triple Threat Triad members.
=== Chapter Four: Counter Attack ===
Traversing through the city, Korra encounters a mecha tank. In search of a way to beat the machinery, Jinora's spirit once again appears to her and informs the Avatar that standing her ground and countering may help her regain her earthbending abilities. Korra does as she is advised and successfully unlocks her earthbending, destroying the mecha tank in the progress. After defeating more Equalists and Triple Threats, Jinora tells Korra that she might find the answers she is looking for in regards to the disappearance of her bending in the Spirit World. Korra agrees, though before she can head toward the South Pole and the spirit portal, she encounters another mecha tank. After dismantling it and interrogating the pilot, she makes her way toward the Southern Water Tribe.
=== Chapter Five: Fire and Ice ===
Arriving at the South Pole, Korra faces a Triple Threat Triad member and Equalists. After defeating the Triple Threat Triad member, Jinora's spirit appears to her and tells Korra that attacking with anger may help her regain her firebending abilities. Upon unblocking her firebending, she defeats the Equalists. On her way to the spirit portal, she encounters more Triple Threats, a mecha tank, and Equalist forces, though she managed to bypass them by riding on Naga. After defeating three mecha tanks, Korra finally arrives at the spirit portal, where she is met with a dozen dark spirits and the old man she met before. While he enters the spirit portal, an Equalist and Triple Threat members attack Korra. After defeating the triad member, Jinora's spirit once again appears and reminds Korra about her airbending training with the spinning gates, which leads Korra to use evasive maneuvers, resulting in the regaining of her airbending abilities. After defeating the Equalists, dark spirits appear and push Korra through the spirit portal into the Spirit World.
=== Chapter Six: Spirits Rising ===
Upon entering the Spirit World, dark spirits appear and attack Korra. While she is defending herself, Jinora's spirit appears and tells her that the old man she met before is controlling the dark spirits. Korra stuns the dark spirits and frees them from his control by spiritbending. Having the time to take in her surroundings, she notices several dark spirits surrounding the Tree of Time, deducing something is seriously off. Heading toward the tree, Korra encounters many dark spirits, including three spirit apparitions of the old man, though she manages to spiritbend them all. The closer she gets to the tree, the more spirit attacks she endures, as also pools of dark spirit energy appear and release even more dark spirits. When Korra eventually arrives at the Tree of Time, the old man introduces himself to the Avatar upon her inquiry; stating he is known by many names, she may address him as Hundun, the Master of Chaotic Attack. He informs Korra that he was once a powerful king, causing Korra to mock him as a "sad old man". Hundun did not deny his loss of power, he retorted by saying he had still amassed a vast fortune during his time, which allowed him to enlist a mortal army. As he speaks, the Triple Threat Triad, Equalist forces, and several mecha tanks enter the Spirit World through the spirit portal.
=== Chapter Seven: The Heart of Chaos ===
As Hundun's army closes in, he traps Korra in a series of hallucinations designed to make her suffer for eternity. Korra first faces off against imaginary Equalists on Air Temple Island before engaging in a pro-bending match with dragonfly bunny spirits. The final hallucination depicts Korra in her cosmic energy form fighting against three mecha tanks and several Equalists in Republic City. After she manages to defeat his last hallucination, Hundun orders the dark spirits to attack her. Outnumbered and on the brink of defeat, Jinora's spirit appears to Korra and helps her to let go in order to activate the Avatar State. With it, Korra easily defeats the dark spirits. Surprised at the Avatar's comeback, Hundun orders all his forces to take her down, but she proves to be unstoppable in with the Avatar State. When Korra tells Hundun to surrender, he lifts the ground the two stand on and into the air.
=== Chapter Eight: Old Foe ===
Hundun tells Korra about his background, how he had been defeated by a previous incarnation a thousand years before and that he lived in the Spirit World ever since, searching for a way to regain his powers. Eventually, he had discovered that he has to extract the Avatar's chi to regain his powers, though Korra simply brushes this off and makes short work of the last wave of dark spirits Hundun ordered to attack at her. Korra demands his peaceful surrender one last time, but Hundun only tells her that she has not met his brother yet, revealing his brother to be conjoined and hidden away underneath his robe. The two start to fight, trading blows, until Hundun manages to strike Korra with a vicious uppercut. Weakened, she activates the Avatar State once more and constantly barrages him with all four bending elements, gaining the upper hand. With Hundun gravely weakened, Korra uses her spiritbending to dissipate him.
Jinora's spirit congratulates her, though Korra somberly states that she had to answer for things that happened way before her lifetime. The young airbender consoles her by pointing out that given everything that has happened, facing the White Falls Wolfbats in the finals would be no problem, prompting the Avatar to smile. Korra returns to Republic City and manages to win the pro-bending match.
== 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 counterattack. 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 three 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 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.
== Characters ==
=== 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
** Mushi
=== Bosses ===
* Mecha tanks
* Giant dark spirits
* Hundun
== Credits ==
* Written by:
** Tim Hedrick
** Joshua Hamilton
* Directed by:
** Eiro Shirahama
** Sung Jin Ahn (cinematics)
* 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". Kotaku felt that "Avatar deserves better" than what the game offered. The game was well received by fans and other players on its Steam Store page, getting "Very Positive" reviews.
=== Review scores ===
Publication 	Score
IGN 	Xbox One: 4.2 out of 10
GameSpot 	Xbox One: 3 out of 10
GameTrailers	Xbox One: 6.5 out of 10
Destructoid 	Xbox One: 7 out of 10
EGM 	Xbox One: 6.5 out of 10
PC Gamer 	PC: 63 out of 100
Joystiq 	PS4: 3.5 out of 5
Polygon 	5 out of 10
== Secret codes ==
Unlockable 	Code
"Spirit Korra" costume	PlayStation: Up, Up, Down, Down, SquareXbox: Up, Up, Down, Down, XWindows: 1, 1, 3, 3, Left click
"Chi Blocker" costume 	PlayStation: Up, Down, Up, Triangle, Square, TriangleXbox: Up, Down, Up, Y, X, YWindows: 1, 3, 1, Right click, Left click, Right click
"Shadow Fist" talisman	PlayStation: Right, Right, Left, Left, SquareXbox: Right, Right, Left, Left, XWindows: 2, 2, 4, 4, Left click
== 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.
* This is the third Nickelodeon game to get a "Teen" rating from the ESRB, followed by The Last Airbender (2010 video game) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2013).
* The game developers are actual fans of the show.
* Cutscenes for the game were animated by Titmouse, who had also previously worked on the opening sequence of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
* Iroh's appearance in the Spirit Shop appearances set in between the game chapters is chronologically set before Iroh's appearance in Book Two of the series. When his voice is first heard when the player is first being introduce to the spirit shop, the dialogue card showing his message is accompanied with a '???!' sign, perhaps indicating Korra's confusion as to who is talking. Soon after, Iroh can be clearly seen sitting to the right side of the screen, dressed in his Book Two clothing, and the dialogue card then refers to him as 'Iroh' as he continues talking about his loyalty to the Avatar.
* The Triple Threat Triad members and other enemies can appear with a color-swapped outfit.
* There is a special Equalist enemy that, when approached, will disappear in a cloud of smoke. If a player manages to defeat him before he disappears, they will earn a C-rank item. More often than not, the player will have to defeat him with waterbending, as it is the only element that will reach great distances. He is known to appear in several chapters, however, he does not appear in chapter one. In chapter two, he appears in a wider area within the alleyway, right after passing the white shield guarding the green chest. In chapter three, he appears far away on a bridge when you fight the blue chi-blockers for the first time. In chapter four, he appears on the walkway opposite the player with other chi-blockers while en route to the green shield. In chapter five, two of them appear, each standing on a large rock before the player makes their way through the narrow gorge.
== References ==
de:The Legend of Korra (Videospiel)
es:La Leyenda de Korra (videojuego)
pl:The Legend of Korra
ru:The Legend of Korra
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