Lovely Planet (PC) Review

By Renan Fontes 24.11.2015

Review for Lovely Planet on PC

Lovely Planet is...odd, to say the least. To call it simply a first-person shooter would be wrong; it's more of a platformer with FPS elements, and even then it doesn't seem quite right. Lovely Planet (which Cubed3 previewed last month in its Wii U eShop form, due for release in 'Q4 2015') has an identity so unique, the only game it could be reasonably compared to would be Katamari Damacy, and that's only because it's so unlike anything else.

From the get-go, Lovely Planet holds nothing back style-wise. There is no easing into the gameplay, the tutorial is incredibly short (and almost non-existent in a generation that desperately wants to make sure every single aspect is taught in the first few minutes), and absolutely no story or context is given to what's happening. Honestly, it's for the better.

It's because of this ridiculously fast pace that Lovely Planet manages to fare so well in its opening stages. The soundtrack by Calum Bowen has an upbeat energy that immediately gets the adrenaline pumping, and in no time flat the protagonist is running and gunning through a world where colours simply blend into one another while mowing down geometric baddies.

The goal of each level is always the same: shoot all the shapes while getting to the goal as fast as possible. In a lot of ways, this makes each stage almost like a little puzzle where the best route needs to be figured out for a decent score. Lovely Planet expects fast gameplay, but it doesn't necessarily demand it. There are countless secrets hidden in each of the five hub worlds, but finding them necessitates slowing down the pace to properly and efficiently explore.

Screenshot for Lovely Planet on PC

Ideally, Lovely Planet wouldn't need to slow itself down for secrets to be found. As the main ingredient in its gameplay is its ridiculously high energy speed, every aspect should have followed suit. Even though the secrets are entirely optional, they should have been designed with Lovely Planet's style in mind.

Lovely Planet's biggest problem, however, is repetition. The first area, Lovely City, is by far the best one due to the sheer fact that it's new and exciting right out the gate. Outside of the difficulty being ramped up in later areas via new platforming challenges and more aggressive enemies, nothing really changes.

Aesthetically, musically, and technically, everything stays static from start to finish. There are stage gimmicks later on for variety, but they are too often just frustrating roadblocks. The platforming and first-person elements never mesh as well as they did initially, seemingly fighting against each other, especially in the last few stages.

Screenshot for Lovely Planet on PC

Cubed3 Rating

6/10
Rated 6 out of 10

Good

There's a lot of charm in Lovely Planet, so much that it almost feels wrong to not recommend it fully. The initial presentation sets a fantastic mood and atmosphere, and there's a childlike wonder to the whole experience, but it sadly goes away as stages get increasingly longer and more frustrating. It's sad, really. Lovely Planet has such a strong identity, meshing actual platforming with FPS-style gameplay, but it all clashes so poorly by the end that it can't help but feel like a huge missed opportunity for something really great.

Developer

Quicktequila

Publisher

tinybuild

Genre

Adventure

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  6/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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