Who would have thought a cinematic gimmick, largely ignored as a cheap thrill during the Fifties, would come to make a claim across the entertainment industry in 2009? 3D is in and it’s set to take over our lives, that’s if we have the appropriate technology in both our TVs and our consoles, because however beautiful and lush the planet of Pandora looks in stereoscopic, it still has a number of issues. First, Avatar is rendering two images at 720p, effectively sucking the processing power out of your 360, but, with that in mind, Avatar looks stunning.

Even playing it in 3D gives the impression of the world right in front of your face. It’s just a shame that world isn’t Lost Planet 2, as unfortunately what you will be playing is a third-person action shooter that just doesn’t quite have the confidence to give players a full experience. Players will be able to choose between missions as either a marauding, destructive human or the hunted yet powerful and agile Na’vi.

Each controls much the same, with the humans relying on guns and the Na’vi melee attacks and their bows and arrows – anyone else see a similarity between Stormtroopers and Ewoks? The differences are mainly cosmetic and the attacks of each side simple enough that there’s very little difference, making the action feel very contrived and stilted. You’ll still have the option to ride some massive mechs and huge creatures, but the combat is too thin to be really enjoyable right now.

Having said that, the 3D effects really are impressive and suck you into the action like never before. There can be a few times where the characters become stuck in-between scenery and, as is the way with games, the camera will usually be forced up your backside, which is not only irritating but can bring on motion sickness. Avatar also suffers from scenery fatigue, the green jungles looking incredibly similar. All the problems, however, aren’t catastrophic and are nothing a bit of time wouldn’t solve. Though it’ll have its work cut out, there’s no reason Avatar couldn’t carve itself a nice little 3D niche this Christmas.