Review: Lovely Planet

With friendly environments, pleasant music, and bad guys that look like they just need a hug, Lovely Planet isn’t your usual FPS. Lovely Planet leans more on the challenge and precision of a 100% speedrun attempt side of things. If you’re going through the game just to play it, it can still be as frustrating as trying for the perfect run.

I'm not sure what made this little guy cry, but they should be ashamed of themselves.
I’m not sure what made this little guy cry, but they should be ashamed of themselves.

Lovely Planet is nice enough to give you unlimited ammo and infinite lives. Let’s say you want to go for a perfect 3-star run. First off, you need to get it done fast. While you’re getting it done fast, you’ll also need to work on your shooting. While you have all of the ammo in the world at your disposal, you are dinged for poor aim. You’ll need to work on the motto of a sniper with the “one shot, one kill” thought process. You may want to work on your platforming skills as well since there is a lot of jumping in Lovely Planet too.

Spikes may look unpleasent, but don't worry! They don't do any real damage, they just send you back to the start.
Spikes may look unpleasant, but don’t worry! They don’t do any real damage, they just send you back to the start.

If you’re just looking to do a simple romp though the game, you’re still up for a challenge. The game starts to place bad guys around corners or put a few of them with itchy trigger fingers all looking and waiting for you to come out of a door. The jumps can be a little difficult as well since the jumping is almost so precise that it feels a little too strong. It takes some getting used to because most games have been focusing on realism and all of a sudden Lovely Planet says, “jumping should be more fun!”

While the “Meh...” rating may feel a little harsh, it just accurately reflects what this game makes me feel. I realize that it will be around the $6 mark, but even still I can't say it's worth it. If you're looking for something to speedrun and set world records against the Steam community or just want to have a tutorial in FPS mechanics, then you may find some enjoyment here. If not, I would say not to bother. It's got the depth of an Angry Birds game with nice gun mechanics and that's about it. That seems like what they were aiming for and if that's so, then they nailed it on the head, but it's just not for me. I'd probably recommend picking it up for around $1 for a time killer app, but anything more than that just seems excessive.
While the “Meh…” rating may feel a little harsh, it just accurately reflects what this game makes me feel. I realize that it will be around the $6 mark, but even still I can’t say it’s personally worth it. If you’re looking for something to speedrun and set world records against the Steam community or just want to have a tutorial in FPS mechanics, then you may find some enjoyment here. If not, I would say not to bother. It’s got the depth of an Angry Birds game with better gun mechanics than some modern FPS and that’s about it. I’m not sure if this feeling is what they were aiming for, but if it was they nailed it on the head. At the same time it’s just not for me. I’d probably recommend picking it up for around $1 for a time-killer app, but anything more than that just seems excessive.

Jonathan Amarelo Sig

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