Fighting games are typically hard to get into compared to other genres, but Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game takes extra steps to help newer players. Beyond a standard bare bones tutorial and combo trials for its characters, Avatar Legends also has an experimental system that teaches players the nuances behind specific actions. Hopefully, this feature is one other fighting games implement in the future, as it vastly improves the learning experience players are faced with.
As of this time of writing, Avatar Legends lacks certain features alongside its new ones, such as Ranked matchmaking or a spectator mode for its online lobbies. That being said, the Training mode comes with an extensive list of combo trials for each character, giving players examples of how to chain together their offensive attacks or special moves. Normally, fighting games provide demos on how to complete these trials, but Avatar Legends takes this a step further.
Avatar Legends‘ inventive mechanic is called Breakdown mode, a system baked into the combo trials players can try with any character on the roster. Every character has multiple Novice, Intermediate, and Master trials, meant to discover how a specific fighter uses their attacks together. However, concepts like timing and precision are hard to communicate through simply a Demo, which shows a complete combo as the game is asking you to perform. Through Breakdown mode, players are given the chance to take control during a demo to learn a combo step-by-step.
When you choose to try the Breakdown of a certain combo, your character will be reset into the position the Demo normally starts in. From there, the game will pause and display the right input needed for the combo to start. After you input the first attack, your character will move into position for the next part of the combo automatically, unless movement or directional inputs are required for that segment. Breakdown then keeps freezing time at every individual part of a combo, allowing you to complete a trial at whatever pace you want.
This helps you get a feeling for the timing of each part of a combo, including how fast you need to input certain commands or where you need your character to be for the combo’s execution. One of the biggest mistakes in fighting games is making combos feel impossible or unintuitive without hours of practice, so Breakdown mode is a breath of fresh air for the genre. The innate pauses during a combo’s Breakdown can help players visualize what they need to do, instead of simply watching a Demo whose fast pace can be somewhat confusing.
Another reason why Breakdown is so fascinating is that it rates players and gives them a score for how well they complete a trial while within the mode. For example, a player can enter Breakdown for a combo trial, then score a 500/1000 for that mission. In doing so, they are given a percentage rank for how well the combo was completed with the right timing. This gamifies Breakdown mode beyond a learning tool, encouraging players to repeat Breakdowns on particular combos their struggling with to earn a better score.
Other tutorial systems in Avatar Legends are unique as well, including ways to learn about the strengths and weakness of different characters. Most fighting games only give you a tutorial teaching about the game’s universal systems, but Avatar Legends has a tutorial for every playable fighter, including secret ones like Avatar Aang or Nightmare Korra. Here, players can learn the strategies behind their characters, including distinct mobility options, aggressive pressure sequences, and more. Much like the combo trials, Breakdown mode’s existence in character tutorials too is a big bonus.
Breakdown mode is arguably the most impressive new fighting game feature since Replay takeover, a feature that lets you take control of your character at any point during a match replay. Replay takeover allows fighting game players to apply hindsight to situations they struggled with in prior matches, or find ways to optimize strategies that weren’t as airtight from past games to refine their skills. In many ways, both Breakdown and Replay takeover are excellent training tools for players to adopt, if they exist in their preferred fighting game.
Hopefully, the positive response to this fighting game innovation in Avatar Legends inspires it to be included in a variety of other titles moving forward. Given the complex nature of the genre, the more tools that exist to aid newcomers or players looking to get stronger are a benefit for everyone. Given how tough Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game is compared to other titles in the genre that have released over the last few years, the presence of Breakdown mode is almost necessary to let players master their character.
What do you think of Breakdown mode in character combo trials and tutorials in Avatar Legends? Leave a comment below or join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!
