Journey to the Savage Planet
Image Courtesy of Nintendo
Journey to the Savage Planet is a unique take on 3-D metroidvania style platformers. If you enjoy sarcastic artificial intelligence consistently telling you that "you're going to die," like in Borderlands or Portal, you might love this game. An exploration/puzzle based platformer is nothing new but the vibrant colors and expressive creatures underlined by a dark and demented plot make an interesting experience. In many games of the metroidvania genre you are constantly in a closed off temple/cave/small clearing, but Savage Planet shows off the size of the map at every point. Right from the start, the goal is clear: climb the tower. You can literally see where the top of the tower disappears into the clouds from the beginning of the game. As you climb the world, you can look back at most any point and see how far you've come which is a feature I didn't know I loved until playing this game. Teleportation checkpoints relieve some of the grueling progress punishment these games tend to have. A surprisingly large library of special upgrades is also available. The upgrades to your gear help you advance through the world but only about 50% of them are required to beat the game. The rest are fun add-ons that provide alternative game-play styles. The progression feels smooth, and the difference each upgrade makes is instantly felt, making for a fun experience.
Image Courtesy of Forbes
The humor in this game is top notch. The team at Typhoon Studios clearly enjoyed themselves during development. The premise of a poorly run, overpopulated, and trashy earth is reminiscent of the movie Idiocracy. Imagine a sequel to the movie in video game form where the same immoral, hedonistic lifestyle has pushed humans to occupy alien planets and exploit them to the fullest. The life forms you discover are diverse and each has abilities or attributes to utilize on your way to the top. You quite literally punt small, helpless birds into razor-bladed vines throughout the game. While it is quite sad that you are taking advantage of every living thing on the planet, the game is very pointed and satirical about the future projection of the human race. Another hilarious aspect of the game is that you and your partner are perpetual "meat clones". As you die, they just grow a new body and download your consciousness to the new host. If you come across your old dead body in the world, you can bury it out of respect. It is both eerie and amazing at the same time.
As for the game-play, there is a lot to consider. The controls are reminiscent of the N64 at times, which is not ideal when a giant beast is chasing you and their hit-points are tiny and moving. It was clear that world design was prioritized over actual controls. The environment is very interactive but it is at many times unclear if there's a purpose to something or if its a meaningless distraction. For a platformer, the game can be unforgiving while jumping from floating island to floating island and you can often knock your partner off a ledge just by walking passed them (it's also hilarious sometimes). The game itself is not very difficult. What is difficult is knowing what upgrades you need to reach a certain area but not having enough resources to purchase the upgrade. The constant backtracking can become tedious towards the end of the game.
Depending on how you play, this game can be a lot of different things for you. It is clear that Journey to the Savage planet is meant for two player co-op. I am not sure I would have finished it by myself. But being able to explore and mess around with a friend made the game substantially better. It is a good, relaxing transition game between larger titles. With about 12-15 hours of story and plenty of collectibles for our treasure hoarders out there, the game was a pleasant surprise. As far as replay-ability, I am not sure there is anything left to see after finishing the game so replaying would not add to the experience at all. We at Busch League Gaming really enjoyed playing this title but would not have been willing to pay the full $30 price tag to try it out (thank you Xbox GamePass).
Play this game if:
You have GamePass
You enjoy Idiocracy/Borderlands/Portal humor
You and one other friend want to Co-op a short, fun story.
