Revenge of the Savage Planet - Review

You’re Fired, that is how Revenge of the Savage Planet starts off, which is equal parts funny and true to life, given how the developers came to be. But I am glad they are back, because I adored the first game with its unique sense of humour and wacky planet. The questionnaire required by all Alta employees had me thinking, was the sequel a hot new take or was this revenge too cold to stomach?

The story of Revenge of the Savage Planet is part follow up to the first game, but also part new adventure. The company that players worked for in the first game, Kindred Aerospace, has been bought out by Alta and while all this took place, you were hurtling across the cosmos towards a new planet. Upon a less than graceful landing onto the new planet, your first message from home is that you have been fired, but the company was kind enough to let you use all the stuff they sent without, as they no longer care. But in order to survive you need the gear you were sent with, the problem is that most of it is not on the same planet as you, so Revenge of the Savage Planets might be the better name. Thankfully you are not alone, EKO is back for another round of supportive and snarky help, or you could play the game with a friend in co-op. As you start to venture towards other planets, you will discover things that Alta do not want you to find, which can lead to some creative messages from the company about your actions.

The biggest change on this one is that the gameplay has swapped from a first-person adventure to a third person and for a moment at the start, I wondered why. But by the time I found the home base and started to kick as many critters as possible, I realised that the new perspective was actually more engaging, as I got to see the chaos in full. Even though your starting planet is not massive, at least compared to the others, there are still areas you won’t be able to access until you get some upgrades. However, that does not mean there is nothing to do around here, you will still want to find all the resources you can, most minerals come from rock formations, but a good number of them come from the critters that call each world home.

Slaughtering alien beasties is not all you need to do, as you have to research in order to unlock new upgrades. Now there are two types of research, there is the larger ones that are tied to story progression and usually associated with capturing a critter, the other is from scanning everything. Yes, the scanning returns from the first game and just like that one, the more you scan here, the more upgrades you can unlock. Eventually you will unlock some helpful ones like having health upgrades remain on your map once you find them. The scanning upgrades can be obtained by just using your resources, but there are some the require critters or an item in the world. The latter of the two is easy enough, EKO will provide a general location for the crate and then you just have to find it. For the former, you have to find the required animal, stunning it and then capture it. Back at your base, you can visit special enclosures that replicate the environments of the planets and your captured creatures will find a new home there, so its ok.

Something that the first game did not have was a map, which made navigation a massive pain, thankfully that has been corrected here. The game still offers teleportation options and a compass to help you navigate, but the map has made things so much easier. Where I think something is a little odd, is how your weapons and tools are managed. You use the d-pad on a controller to swap between your main weapon, scanner and one of two tools, that is simple. The problem I have is that the tools can be selected from a wheel, and as it fills up over time, the placement feels weird. There were times I was trying to select the magnet rod, but ended up with the water gun instead, its not a common occurrence, but it happened more than I would have liked.

Honestly though, apart from the change in perspectives, the gameplay is mostly the same here and that is a good thing, as I liked it the first time around. What makes this a little more interesting is that there are goo’s that you can take advantage of, sometimes for combat, other times for puzzles. Some creatures leave behind piles of goo when you defeat them, which can cause you problems, but they can also be solutions to defeating other creatures. There are also alien wells of the same substances, which you can eventually use, to solve puzzles and access other parts of the worlds. With the scanning, creature wrangling, upgrade locating and just general exploring, there is a fair number of things to do, which I quite liked. Perhaps the only thing that I wish the game had was a lock on mechanic, there are times when I was fighting an enemy, only for 7 or 8 of their friends to swarm around and trying to stay focused onto one of them was a pain.

The games presentation is a more refined version of what we saw in the first game, exploding creatures included. That means that the weird live-action infomercials and company messages are also back, which means you get that same weird vibe. Don’t get me wrong, the live action videos are done well, but they just don’t quite mesh with the look of the rest of the game. There is a larger variety of creatures this time, which makes sense given the larger variety of locations, the giant fire lobster is a personal highlight. Each planet also has their own version of the Pufferbird, the same can be said for the little buggers that like to explode into lava. Because of the themes of each world, there is a good mix of things to see and as you can warp to any planet, once you unlock them, if you get sick of the jungle, you can swap to desert and keep the fun going. Your character has a number of customisation options for their look, a few are just colours, but as you explore the world you will discover outfits, like cat ears on your helmet, so you can tweak your look.

The games audio is much the same as well, there are some great performances going on, again you will see them during the live action stuff, but even when you are in the field and get a message, it is easy to believe them. The alien creatures are unique in their sounds, the howler monkey/baboon creature being the exception of course. I am happy to report that the shrill two-headed bird is not present in the game, I did locate a zippy little bird that screams, but it was nothing like that creature from the first game. The music has that same alien twang going on, its familiar but not and I dig it, the only real complaint for the music is that it can take a bit too long to stop playing after you have defeated the enemies around you.

Revenge of the Savage Planet has taken the motto of, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The team have managed to take all that was good about the first game and take to the next level. The swap from first-person to third, could have been a disaster but it works, combat and exploration are much more entertaining because of it, though a lock on mechanic would be great. If you enjoyed the first game, then you will like what is on offer here, as it is mostly the same game, just plussed up in almost every way. This is honestly one revenge dish that I would not mind seconds of.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Racoon Logic

The Pros

The multiple worlds means that you are always discovering something new and if you get bored of one look, warp to somewhere else

The perspective swap means combat is much more engaging…

The Cons

… though it could do with a lock on mechanic

The visuals are fine, but the live-action clips still don’t quite fit the vibe still