J
ourney to the Savage Planet is a gaudy sci-fi
adventure that excels at assimilating ideas
from other games, but struggles to bring much
that’s original to the table. You play an interstellar explorer
whose ship has crash-landed on a mysterious world.
Your job is to evaluate the planet for potential colonisation
on behalf of your employer, the totally not oppressive
Kindred Technologies.
Savage Planet offers a blend of platform-based
exploration, light puzzling and lighter combat. The planet
is an eye-catching collection of floating islands dominated
by a vast alien megastructure at the centre. You start at the
frozen fringes of the planet, and to explore further, you need
to collect resources to unlock new equipment, such as a
jetpack and a grappling hook. You then traverse new paths,
unlocking more equipment.
Savage Planet feels great beneath your fingers, and its
motley alien world is rife with dramatic vistas and strange
wildlife that constantly invites exploration. It also seemshuge while being impressively self-contained. You can
complete the main story in five to ten hours, although the
optional side-missions and abundance of secrets will
roughly double that time.
However, the game never really evolves beyond these
basics. The platforming is fine, but not amazing. The puzzles
are gently enjoyable, but rarely captivate. The combat has
some neat little gadgets, such as acid grenades and a sticky
goo that can snare enemies in place, but most of the alien
creatures you face aren’t especially challenging.
That said, Savage Planet also has comedy. It’s an openly
ridiculous game, blending Paul Verhoeven-like capitalist
satire with 1990s TV-style slapstick humour. Almost every
alien you kill gunges you with vibrant goo when it dies, while
your spaceship’s viewing screen constantly blares adverts
for the latest life-improving space product.
It’s intermittently funny, but unfortunately, it approaches
humour like a medieval siege, barraging you with stupid
jokes and stupider noises (nearly all the aliens make some
kind of fart sound, for example). The funniest
character is your own protagonist, whose
hands silently convey more humour than the
rest of the script. The way he shakes goo off
his fingers after poking an alien plant in its
bulbous eye; the way he stumbles out of your
spaceship’s cloning machine after being killed
for the umpteenth time – these elements add
a unique flavour to Savage Planet.
Journey to the Savage Planet is the
equivalent of a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s
daft, colourful and rarely less than pleasant, but
it’s also never especially challenging.
RICK LANE/VERDICT
An entertaining
sci-fi adventure,
but despite
all the noise it
makes, it fails to
stand out from
the crowd.OVERALL SCORE
65 %%
Journey to the Savage
Planet/ £23.99 inc VAT
DEVELOPER Typhoon Studios/ PUBLISHER 505 GamesS AVAG E
+^ Visually delightful
+^ Intermittently
funny
+^ Enjoyable
explorationSAUSAGE-^ Humour can irritate
-^ No real ideas
of its own
J
ourneytotheSavagePlanetis a gaudysci-fi
adventurethatexcelsatassimilatingideas
fromothergames,butstrugglestobringmuch
that’soriginaltothetable.Youplayaninterstellarexplorer
whoseshiphascrash-landedona mysteriousworld.
Yourjobis toevaluatetheplanetforpotentialcolonisation
onbehalf of your employer, the totally not oppressive
Kindred Technologies.
Savage Planet offers a blend of platform-based
exploration, light puzzling and lighter combat. The planet
is an eye-catching collection of floating islands dominated
by a vast alien megastructure at the centre. You start at the
frozen fringes of the planet, and to explore further, you need
to collect resources to unlock new equipment, such as a
jetpack and a grappling hook. You then traverse new paths,
unlocking more equipment.
Savage Planet feels great beneath your fingers, and its
motley alien world is rife with dramatic vistas and strange
wildlife that constantly invites exploration. It also seems
hugewhilebeingimpressivelyself-contained.Youcan
completethemainstoryinfivetotenhours,althoughthe
optionalside-missionsandabundanceofsecretswill
roughlydoublethattime.
However, the game never really evolves beyond these
basics. The platforming is fine, but not amazing. The puzzles
are gently enjoyable, but rarely captivate. The combat has
some neat little gadgets, such as acid grenades and a sticky
goo that can snare enemies in place, but most of the alien
creatures you face aren’t especially challenging.
That said, Savage Planet also has comedy. It’s an openly
ridiculous game, blending Paul Verhoeven-like capitalist
satire with 1990s TV-style slapstick humour. Almost every
alien you kill gunges you with vibrant goo when it dies, while
your spaceship’s viewing screen constantly blares adverts
for the latest life-improving space product.
It’s intermittently funny, but unfortunately, it approaches
humour like a medieval siege, barraging you with stupid
jokes and stupider noises (nearly all the aliens make some
kind of fart sound, for example). The funniest
character is your own protagonist, whose
hands silently convey more humour than the
rest of the script. The way he shakes goo off
his fingers after poking an alien plant in its
bulbous eye; the way he stumbles out of your
spaceship’s cloning machine after being killed
for the umpteenth time – these elements add
a unique flavour to Savage Planet.
Journey to the Savage Planet is the
equivalent of a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s
daft, colourful and rarely less than pleasant, but
it’s also never especially challenging.
RICK LANE/VERDICT
An entertaining
sci-fi adventure,
but despite
all the noise it
makes, it fails to
stand out from
thecrowd.OVERALL SCORE
65 %%
Journey to the Savage
Planet/£23.99 incVAT
DEVELOPER Typhoon Studios/ PUBLISHER 505 Games
S AVAG E
+Visuallydelightful
+Intermittently
funny
+Enjoyable
explorationSAUSAGE- Humourcanirritate
- No real ideas
of its own