Reddit mentions of Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora (James Cameron's Avatar)

Having read the companion book to this movie (Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora), I thought the game actually did a good job of staying true to the world of Pandora. There were a lot of elements of Pandora that were left out of the game but that didn't take away from the game itself.

The gameplay is quite good although the targeting system isn't the best and yes it's a "go do x mission" type game but that isn't necessarily bad. Call of Duty is a "go do x mission" based game too but the presentation is very different and I think that's where people make their distinction of "bad" or "good". (I do like the CoD series.)

As far as having to see the movie before the game or that the game assumes you've seen the movie, that's untrue. The game doesn't go into detail about Pandora or the Na'vi because they seem to have focused on gameplay and not in-depth environment development. They did include an encyclopedia in the game though, so anyone really interested in Pandora or the Na'vi can read all the information they want about it down to the geology and flora/fauna of the moon.

In the end, I think it comes down to people being more willing to accept a "this game is good" or "this game is bad" opinion without actually giving it a shot themselves. Download the demo and give it a try. Or not.

AFAIK Weaver's avatar was used for a kind of diplomacy, and that's how they know her.

Your questions would probably answered in the companion book about the movie universe.

Avatar survival guide has good information about Pandora and Na’vi culture, as well as what’s going on on earth. Been a while since I looked at it, but pretty neat.

I just have a soft spot for it because of this book. They definitely put a lot of love into this world.