It’s Alive! – Lifeless Planet: Premier Edition Review

<p>There’s nothing quite like an epic journey on a lifeless rock to make you appreciate the finer things in life&comma; considering that you&&num;8217&semi;re also 15 billion lightyears from planet earth&period; <em>Lifeless Planet<&sol;em> follows the journey of a lone astronaut as he crash lands on the surface of a newly discovered planet that seems vacant of all life&period; Or is it&quest; Can this game provide an experience resembling that of the great pc adventure games of the 90’s with a visually stimulating narrative&comma; or will this be a lifeless encounter that should be taken far away from earth&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 818px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;ytimg&period;com&sol;vi&sol;c81nZtrDfN8&sol;maxresdefault&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"818" height&equals;"397" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Fallout 4 has seen better days<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The overall concept of <em>Lifeless Planet<&sol;em> is fascinating&comma; and one that would allow for an experience that’s infrequently seen on major consoles&period; It game allows players to dive into a surreal and bleak journey and truly venture into the unknown&period; One major problem I have with <em>Lifeless Planet&comma; <&sol;em>however&comma; was that the game gives too much away within the first act&comma; destroying the huge sense of mystery the game was trying to produce&period; The suspenseful reveal&&num;8217&semi;s delivered within a few moments  after your travels begin&comma; and you are left with nothing more to do than follow a long trail through a dead planet &lpar;literally you have to follow a green trail for a majority of the game&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This also links to another major problem&colon; A huge portion of the game is so dull&comma; because there is a lack of conflict or raising stakes&comma; and the absence of an engaging narrative&period; The first and last acts of the narrative are the most appealing and provide the more entertaining elements of gameplay&comma; with an ending that leaves many questions to be answered&period; Sadly&comma; the majority of act two just ends up being a game of &&num;8220&semi;follow the highlighted trail&&num;8221&semi; and has little to no real intrigue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;indiemegabooth&period;com&sol;wp-cargo&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;08&sol;ancients1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"817" height&equals;"520" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Gameplay breaks down to exploration&comma; platforming&comma; and puzzle solving&period; The exploration works rather well in the huge landscapes&comma; while platforming also benefits from the larger open world segments&period; Jumping from pillar to pillar in a vast canyon is a thrilling exercise of energetic gameplay&comma; and is one of the more memorable parts of the game&period; Exploring the open world can also reveal a few secrets&comma; even if much of it is empty&period; Sadly a majority of the puzzles are too simple and a little repetitive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It’s not until the third act where the puzzles become grander in scale&comma; and actually require more thought to solve them&period; Most of the time it’s using a robotic arm to place a stone into an opening or push a series of buttons in the right order&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I mentioned before that the game lacked&comma; conflict even with an enemy placed in the game world&period; These &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Root Monsters” &lpar;sounds silly I know&rpar; don’t pose a major threat&comma; as they’re mostly stationary and easily avoided&period; Even when they evolve into the shape of human beings to lure you into a trap&comma; they still manage to ruin the intensity and provide no real element of conflict&period; Even the mini twisters that show up here and there pose no real danger unless you&&num;8217&semi;re completely hopeless at out-walking it&period; Most of the game ends up being a walking simulator&comma; and the most dangerous thing in the game are the controls and a high cliff you can fall off of&period; Dying is so rare that the game actually gives you achievements for it&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s that bad&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 817px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;3rd-strike&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;LifelessPlanet-2014-06-19-13-03-03-34&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"817" height&equals;"469" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Where did I leave my hedge clippers<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Lifeless Planet<&sol;em> also seems too long and could have been massively cut down&comma; or condensed to create a more thought-provoking journey that was both surreal and strange&comma; like Interstellar or 2001&period; With all of that said&comma; the game does create an immersive atmosphere with the open world and its design&comma; along with some set pieces that deliver the more stronger segments of the narrative&comma; and introduce a form of interactive storytelling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Most of the game is thankfully visually stimulating and wondrous to look at&comma; apart from the moments the game decides to bathe everything in darkness and you can’t see jack all&period; One major component that helps create a strong atmosphere and brings the game to a higher standard of interactive media is the soundtrack&period; The collection of electronic scores sound beautiful and perfect for this adventure&comma; giving the sense of wonder&comma; dread and sorrow with simple key notes that sound similar to any classic 80’s sci-fi movies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 817px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;ytimg&period;com&sol;vi&sol;WUO8iUmLLxg&sol;maxresdefault&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"817" height&equals;"440" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Lifeless Planet does impress with its visuals and soundtrack<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>What can ruin the exploration factor are the controls&semi; the walking is fine&comma; but the jumping can be an annoying issue&period; Jumping forward has a tendency to either stop mid motion&comma; or go too far and overjump the distance by a few feet&period; There were some graphical glitches in the game and a moment or two where my character was suddenly thrown out of the game world altogether&period; However&comma; these issues were infrequent&comma; and not a game breaking issue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What can I say&quest; <em>Lifeless Planet<&sol;em> tries well enough to produce a thought provoking game and in many respects&comma; it does&period; But halfway through the developer decided to force in more mindless puzzle elements&comma; and a non-threatening enemy type that could have been taken out completely&period; Still&comma; the first and last act were enjoyable and gave the best moments of the game&comma; with better puzzle&comma; story&comma; and gameplay elements towards the end to help end the game on a better note than the second act&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;