I’m not too big on first person shooter games. There’s nothing wrong with them, but I’m not very good at them.  Plus, most FPS games are about war and darker themes that I’m not too terribly interested in.  I have dabbled in a few early FPS games that were a bit more whimsical, like Chex Quest or Faceball 2000, but those are few and far between.  So when Lovely Planet, a downloadable game for Wii U, Xbox One, and PC came along (Wii U version reviewed here), I was intrigued.  Here was a FPS game with visuals that looked like Katamari Damacy meets Doom.  Or “Katamari Doom-acy,” as I called it (I’m so clever).  So will Lovely Planet get me into FPS games?  Read on to find out!

The gameplay in Lovely Planet is pretty basic. You just walk around in a first person perspective and shoot baddies with a simple rapid fire peashooter magic wand type gun.  Each stage is pretty short, and you must get through as quickly as you can and touch a pillar to finish the stage, but you must also shoot every baddie as well.  The faster you complete a stage, the more stars you’ll earn (up to three for each level).  If you get hit by an enemy, fall of the sides, or shoot an innocent bystander, you’ll have to start the stage over again.

Controls are pretty simple. You can run and look around, shoot your gun, and jump.  And that’s pretty much it.  My favorite feature is the auto aim button.  Press it near an enemy and you will automatically aim at it.  There’s no switching guns or crouching so you can just concentrate on running and gunning as fast as you can.  Some enemies just stand there, but others will shoot at you or lob explosive apples that’ll kill you if they land.  Watch out for other obstacles like deadly red rocks, collapsible platforms, and proximity mines that can hinder your progress.

While I love the simple to understand gameplay and the visuals and music that are like a cross between Katamari Damacy and Loco Roco, the game just gets too hard, too fast for me. It’s really designed for FPS pros who enjoy speedrunning through short levels.  Also the game could’ve used more modes, like an online deathmatch or something.  But it’s still a fun and unique experience that you should try if you enjoy those kinds of games.  At PAX South, Tiny Build showed off a game called Lovely Planet Arcade that looks even more simple and inviting for novice FPS players, and while I don’t know what systems it’ll be on yet, I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it.

Kid Factor:

Lovely Planet is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence. While you do shoot things with an unrealistic looking gun, they just disappear when defeated, and they all look like geometric shapes with eyes anyway, so the violence isn’t very graphic.  And when you get hit, you just hear a ‘smack’ sound and start over at the beginning of the stage.  I’d be OK with any kid playing this, but reading skill is helpful for some of the text, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the high difficulty.  It may be a good compromise for kids who want to play violent shooters like Doom, but aren’t old enough yet.

Tags: Game Reviews