One Of The Dinkiest Shooters Ever? A Lovely Planet Review

Written By: Tyler

Rating: 7.5/10
Verdict: Don't be fooled by the graphics, there's a pretty intense shooter in here.

Do you love first-person shooters? Are you sick of the grim, violent nature of them? Maybe you are and you couldn't possibly fathom finding something to soothe this pain inside... but fear not, because Lovely Planet is here and it is attempting to give you a first-person shooter that's less ordinary than the rest.

Right from the beginning you realize that something is a little different about Lovely Planet when you compare it to other games in the genre. You're bound to notice the graphics, and that will lead you down the path to discover that it is a lot more colourful and joyful than a lot of shooters... to an extent.

Take a look at these visuals:

SERIOUSLY LOOK AT ME!

They aren't exactly the most mind-blowing thing you've seen, even within the indie community where budgets are smaller and fewer people are there to create. The character models are very simplistic, though some are menacing in their own right, and the environments could have been done by a child. In fact, I believe I've made similar things in my life in my younger years. There are clouds in the sky, and sometimes platforms that you can't reach, but there isn't a whole lot here in the way of atmosphere. Your single gun looks like a stick. The enemies are squares or other shapes with some eyes and mouths. The visuals aren't pretty to look at in a conventional sense, and I know this will be a turn-off to some people.

It does have a certain charm to it in how colourful and joyful it looks. It's a nice change from the kind of graphics we usually see in shooters, because really, the genre is violent by default so having hearts scattered throughout the levels isn't exactly a priority. It's quite literally meant to be a lovely planet, and at first glance it certainly is.

However, if you strip away the cutesy nature of everything, things aren't as lovely as they may have appeared to be. The gameplay consists of you using your semi-automatic rifle to mow down the enemies and progress to the end of the stage. Sounds simple, right? The game is hard.

Even though the goals don't change and sound easy, this is a game of frustration, memorization and sweet, precious death. You fail the level if you get hit once, which can be annoying because there is a bomb-type thing that when it explodes, regardless of how close you are, it's the end for you. You have to kill every single enemy in the stage while avoiding the innocents. Lovely Planet may start off casual and I don't blame you if you're fooled by the flamboyant visuals and the dinky, upbeat (yet fitting) music, but it gets increasingly difficult to the point that you may think it's impossible. You may have to jump in the air and shoot three different things before they hit the ground so your aim has to be on-point. This is a speedrunner at its core, which flies in direct contrast to the look and feel of the game because you would think it'd be more relaxing than it is. I went in thinking it'd be a pretty lightweight game that I could breeze through but it's anything but. It's not an incredibly long game if you don't die as levels can be completed in a minute or so and there are five worlds with about 20 different mini-stages in each, but you will die. Lots.

They've done a good job of polishing the controls as well. You move rather quickly and can jump, there are no iron sights, and shooting feels good, if a little slow. I didn't come across any glaring problems in this regard, so it made platforming and blasting fun. The last thing a person wants in a game where they have to be almost perfect is to have terrible controls preventing that, but Lovely Planet functions well.

It's not a game I am in love with, but it is definitely solid. I think that the graphics could have been more enticing to really make it feel like a lovely planet, but it's hard to concentrate on that when you have to act quickly.