You know, I'd sort of forgotten how much I enjoyed 2020's Journey to the Savage Planet. Typhoon Studios' debut was a fantastically unique and colourful one that challenged you to think at all times, as you made your way across what was - and still is - a great big planet-sized platform-puzzle populated by cute aliens to...well...blow to pieces and kick around the place. Obviously.
Where the first game ran into some undoubted issues - and it did launch to fairly mixed reviews, with a Metascore of 78 - was mostly with regards to its first-person perspective which, in my experience, caused some janky moments in combat, and in traversal, that hampered things a tad. It felt as though the view on what you were doing needed to be pulled back for comfort's sake, for improved spatial awareness, let's say, and indeed, that's what's happened for this sequel.
Revenge of the Savage Planet switches things to a 3rd person perspective, then, and sees players return to the depths of space for more Grob-based goodness. This time you're an out-of-luck pioneer, utterly abandoned by an evil corporation and left to rot in the outer reaches. Of course, death is not an option, and so you'll need to start surviving ASAP, by scanning plants and tech, upgrading your gear, and discovering all-manner of new gadgets, if you're gonna make it all the way back to your ba****d boss for some sweet revenge.
This is as much of the narrative as you need to know, really, in order to get started (in either single-player or fully online/local co-op), and once things kick off, the shift to 3rd person reveals itself to be a huge upgrade for the platforming action that follows. There's no time wasted, you're thrown right into the mix, abandoned on the first of four planets and left to start scanning and using your weak-ass blaster to fend off aliens.
Luckily, you're joined on this escapade by EKO, a floating droid who'll keep you right on where to go and what you'll need for your next upgrade, whilst threading a line of jokey chat that isn't as annoying as it could have been. The game does also allow you to choose between a male and female voice on your companion, as well as changing the frequency of their chatter, lest you're not a fan. That's right, shut your face, EKO. Actually, I've been quite enjoying EKO's gently potty humour, so i'm rescinding that last order, EKO. As you were, my little metal pal.
Now, if you've played the first game, or have been keeping up with progress on this one, you'll know that it's a mash-up of the likes of Banjo Kazooie or Yooka Laylee, that sort of intense 3D platforming collectathon deal of old. It's got some Metroid (this game is all about backtracking for new routes), and Zelda, in how important putting back together your essential kitbag of tools is to the core gameplay. You'll spend the entire game chasing your next piece of tech in order to make fighting or traversing environs easier/better.
This may sound a bit like more of the same sort of busywork as usual, but Revenge of the Savage Planet is such a very well made thing. It controls precisely, the new viewpoint makes locating items, fighting and surveying some amazing alien vistas all the more cohesive, and as a result, this is a sequel that not only improves on its predecessor, it honestly feels more like a full-on reboot. I love the whip you can unlock, how you use it to catch and collect specimens (who then get sent off to be experimented on, I'm afraid). I also love how spraying water on certain enemies causes them to rupture and explode, chiefly because it is very reminiscent of playing Super Mario Sunshine.
Where Journey had one planet, here you've got four wildly different ones to explore (with a fifth secret one for those who earn it), and where Journey's combat was clunky, here it's slick and smooth for the majority of the time, with even bothersome flying insects (I hate shooting insects in the air, thanks) easy to take down without first resorting to pulling the rest of your hair out. Which wouldn't take me long anyway, to be honest with you.
Traversal feels way slicker, too. I won't ruin much of any of the many branches of new gear and tools you'll get to dig into - discovering that stuff's at least 67.3% of the fun here - but gosh they've made a lot of cool ways to zoom around these planets (and under the water, once you get there). You can almost immediately unlock the ability to negate all fall damage as well, which, when pared with those big goofy Disney-esque strides that your avatar takes, makes zooming around a doddle. It makes exploration wildly fun and exciting, and once you put another player in the mix, there are serious laughs to be had. Indeed, playing split-screen with my son on this one has been some of the best co-op fun we've had in quite some time.
It helps, in this regard, that it's such a great big colourful thing that revels in its goofiness. There's quite a bit of High On Life (which I couldn't enjoy because of how terrible the humour was) in the presentation, and it also reminds me of that game in its overall setup with a constant, chatty sidekick. It also puts me in mind of No Man's Sky in how slickly it does all of its resource-gathering and scanning stuff. A quick press down on the D-pad and everything of note is highlighted as a grid sweeps out across the environment, and then you're free to make your way to nab anything you fancy. Best just nab everything.
Besides the light-hearted, knockabout combat, and constant collecting of loot/resources in order to 3D print all-manner of gear, you can also dig into spending your earnings on customising your base with lots of furniture and gadgets to make it more homely. I genuinely couldn't care less about doing this home improvement/base decorating side-gig, however, so I'm glad it feels like I can ignore it pretty much and still enjoy the rest of the game immensely. There are also loads of outfits to score in order to dress your avatar up, which is good because the outfits here look great.
Outside of this, there's a pleasing amount of variety in the planets you'll visit, with the switch-ups between conditions, traversal options and enemy types helping make for an adventure that keeps itself interesting right to the end. Like I said, it's not really about the narrative so much, this is all about living in the fun of the moment, grabbing a pal and spending your time jumping and jet-packing, swinging and swimming, diving and destroying, as you upgrade and explore to your heart's content. The worlds here look fantastic, the enemies are well-designed and there's huge variety in how you deal with them. What's not to love about digging into that lot with a pal in tow?
So yeah, Revenge of the Savage Planet, whilst not some huge AAA behemoth, is yet another very tasty addition to Xbox Game Pass. It feels like we're getting on something of a hot streak lately with Game Pass releases, and Typhoon Studios has well and truly kept the streak alive with this one. I came away from Journey to the Savage Planet thinking the core of that game had so much more to give, and this sequel pretty much nails the remit in achieving that task. This is a very clever, funny, colourful and satisfying game to sink time into, and one that's well worth your time. Now, when's the next one? Beyond the Savage Planet, anyone?
Conclusion
Revenge of the Planet successfully shifts the series to a third person perspective in order to bring us a sequel that's a slicker and more confident affair all round. This is a colourful, clever and creative romp at every turn - one that's enhanced significantly when played in co-op - and a game that gives you a cool world stuffed full of silly creatures, crazy weapons, and a ton of possibilities to get lost in exploring. Come for the co-op, stay for the Grob, we always say.
Comments 24
I am always looking for a fun splitscreen co-op game to play when I see my brother, and this could be a lot of fun for that.
Do you need to have played the first one to enjoy this?
@Nightcrawler71 No
Anybody know when early access starts today?
Ugh. The backlog is going to break my back.
@PJOReilly thanks 👍 I think I started the first one but never finished it. Will give this a go.
I will try this out with a buddy. First game was whacky fun.
Are you guys going to have a Metal Eden review?
journey to the savage planet was a great little game
its also on gamepass
I told y’all that this was going to be sneaky good… or at least hoped it would be…. now just panicking at the May 15th games leaving before this all sinks in….
@MasterTanookiChief Not going to have a review for Metal Eden unfortunately, no.
@FraserG I saw it on your guys list as coming out tonight but also see it got delayed on another site?
30FPS On Series X. Hard Pass
@smellyplaymarky that’s genuinely insane when much more visually impressive games such as Clair Obscur have 60fps modes.
@MasterTanookiChief The early access version is out now, but the Game Pass version isn't out until Thursday.
Fair review in progress but yeah this doesn't get me excited this time around. I'll wait for a sale/never purchase at all because I am not impressed by many games at all these days.
Artstyle looks softer and worse but I don't mind if it's frame rate even if it does look pretty bad in comparison to the other. I am gameplay over graphics but yeah the lighting/colours just don't work. In this game's case I'd have preferred more shadows not just hue/saturation/contrast or otherwise changes. Or Ray Tracing or HDR or other visual techniques garbage that makes this game and many others look terrible.
Sure having something different or not always overly saturated is good but yeah it just looks cheaper sorry artists behind this game.
Third person here I mean first person can have good platforming it's just they choose not to and make it awkward in all games with it. Why? I don't want realism with any camera angle, so why does first person platforming always suck.
Third person helps that but it just seems like a cop out more than anything to make then further first person because copy everyone else then actually go oh the camera is the issue, it's not it's the developers fault for forcing a design like others then making their own with good feeling character weight, jump height, physics and animations.
But what do I know, devs are so formulaic and typical with GAMEPLAY and too focused on art and graphics and story telling and other nonsense then MAKING A VIDEO GAME these days I struggle to praise them when we see such repetitive and baffling design I never liked in the PS3/360 era (they made up for it with more interesting mechanics while modern era is so dumbed down or repetitive of other games then their own ideas so I find myself disappointed by garbage lack of creativity/prototyping with better execution I'd like to see. I mean same engines many use of UE/Unity or even custom engines they all seem to have these issues of mentality of design by the people making them) yet has been continued for 2 more generations and I still hate it. Sigh.
Camera matters but you can put a third person moveset or any more flexible one on a first person canera, I'd be ok with that. I really don't care. Sigh. Some devs are just too stuck in what everyone else does and it's why I find movesets incredibly boring and repetitive.
Also third person games always are made with 'we don't care' in mind (sure I've seen that quote as more towards third person shooters but this is an exploration game like Metroid so it kind of differs but I think it kind of is still true here) so to me I'm going to think about that here.
Sure it's like Metroid with it's sci-fi weapons and tools for exploration, Zelda with it's approach of gear/dungeons and so on for level design, puzzles and what not, and that's great but I still get the impression it's still going to suck.
Humour was a bit over done but I didn't mind it. I like it. I mean Ratchet doesn't do it anymore so unless it's Savage Planet or Outer Worlds yeah were not really getting many with this sort of humour. No clue about High On Life, no interest in it anyway.
The co-op is nice.
Oh different voices nice, as much or less chatter nice, ah like Bubsy or others the option for that is nice to have. XD
Part 2:
The approach to sci-fi gear, seeds and more was always good but confusing how to use them at times. Level design was always confusing due to verticality or scanning or entrances or any of the gear's use cases.
In the beginning it was confusing, in later parts about what half way to three quarters I am surprised I even got to of other areas it was still confusing. The arrows/compass do not help at all. If they fixed that sure, if not then yeah nah.
I'd take a better design of levels or some string/dotted lines or just more linear or less awkward paths to follow, each game varies for me though so it's not easy to define which is just hard for me but not for other players or devs design.
To me a reboot is a bit hmmm concerning.
Multiple planets too, quality could be hit and miss with them. I mean Metroid Prime 3 to me is so confusing and 1 was no issue what so ever.
Other games 2D or 3D Metroid, Zelda, platformers and such with this exploration focus vary for me what they are going for so it's hard to tell. For me it's all over the place of if I understand the level design or gear use cases or not besides experimenting. Main paths and secrets in Joruney to the Savage Planet were just confusing all around.
I sucked at Yooka Laylee but did better then Banjo of further level ahead, while Impossible Lair has it's awkwardness because I suck at it to beat levels, but still was more clear what to do then the 3D Yooka Laylee. Devs execution confuses me and just baffles what I'm supposed to do. That or even DK Tropical Freeze, or Mario games.
I like games like this with mechanics used in interesting ways but some of the exploration is so confusing.
To me Metroid Prime I felt the scanning was fair for story, paths were understandable.
But in No Man's Sky I find it's approach to a sandbox/survival game tedious and just not engaging, I find the space exploration an advancement over Haven Call of the King or SW Battlefront 3 prototype/Elite Squadron but that's about it. I find it's ideas just so weak because in Minecraft I have way more flexibility with mods and I find No Man's Sky just overwhelming and dull. So I respect it but hate it's design. Like a lot of sandbox survival games to be fair.
But not additions otherwise I'd care for by these screenshots or review for a sequel/reboot. It doesn't get me to want to buy on modern gen. Sigh. Why is modern gen so pathetic. There isn't a single game I want on them.
This seems like a "we added more but not in ways to fix my problems with the first game" kind of adjustment to a sequel/reboot. Sigh.
I like parts of the first one but found it awkward to complete, where to go, how to use ideas, I'm surprised I got as far as I did in it like many metroidvanias or others.
It has elements that are immediately appealing to me in a structure I found so confusing.
This seems to not really solve any of that so to me this is a eh of purchase without more looking at it.
Part 3:
Home bases customisation, what a waste of time, money and assets by animators, artists and programmers. Gives off showing off or people into certain hobbies and things they want to see in the game.
It's like hearing Mojang staff go oh rockclimbing or other nonsense (can't remember anymore). Or make dumb mob/biome votes and have bad functionality and bad audience votes when modders do a better job. With as much hit and miss repetitive ideas or genuinely good tweaks. It varies. Rock climbing or such animations/moveset options would be nice. But because it's their hobby is not a good enough reason. Make it a beneficial feature. Many platformers have generic movesets these days yet 20+ years ago you had way more interesting ones. Even Mario keeps that and you don't even need many of those moves. XD Why such generic human, animal, insect movesets. I'd take any 5/6th gen platformer over a Little Kitty Big City type one that's for sure.
Make a game not reflect yourselves all that much with customisation nonsense. I don't buy Indies with a focus on culture, why because they put TOO MUCH on that and the gameplay is terrible. They go oh I love that culture/locations, other nonsense. Yeah and I don't so why SHOULD I care about it. Make it fun to play in. Not a reflection of reality or their memories/mentality on it. I want playgrounds to play it with a gameplay focus, not boring people's ideals.
So I wish many UNCREATIVE people actually focused on a better balance and CREATIVITY not culture/hobbies and the gameplay use for them is superficial. Make customisation have gameplay benefits not to play around, look nice and offer nothing but to look aesthetically pleasing.
But like many have wider game inspirations let alone audiences weak game playing or research efforts so what do I expect. Show off features, too much of THEIR creative side wasted for features not important to the game just a waste of resources side activity that could be better applied to the game for resources (the one in the first game was just enough I think of uses for it, it didn't feel empty it felt suited to what it was for as most of it was outside the ship, I don't want inside the ship or house building for no benefit dev time wasted on garbage) and repetitive game design by devs and boring audiences. This industry sucks. The people in it suck and I want them to actually put thought in to what they make, but they don't.
But that's the thing, if it's just customisation, get rid of it. If it is for crafting or other uses to the rest of the game I'm ok with that. Customisation for the sake of customisation and decor/nothing functionally relevant is what I hate. Tying into the rest of the game I am fine with.
It's like Minecraft, why would I want 50 blocks with 50 textures to build with and do nothing when I can retexture them. It's a waste of resources for something with no actual purpose in the world, it does nothing. Why would I use 1 block unless it has explosion benefits, storage benefits or is more or less accessible so I'd seek it out with exploration. So why would I get one stone over another stone because it's grey instead of blue. Why would I get dyes when it's a waste of time/exploration for a colour. If a wood/stone does the job, why would I glass or something else unless I want to see through the building or just use it for other things and not look outside.
Part 4:
Or other objects to put inside.
Why would I in a tycoon game unless it has benefits for viewers mood, what they would buy or other purposes that benefit staff. Not because it looks nice.
Even playing Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic I go unless I need to just use Bins/Benches and when have the money for it for the park. Otherwise why would I lights, plants, water displays if it really doesn't change that much functionally. It doesn't make visitors talk about the park more. It's more expensive and a waste of money and more waiting around for more rides, stores and benches/bins instead.
The crafting con is actually a pro for me!
I'm gonna play the first one first, though.
@SuntannedDuck2 Ok!!! 👍
Now tell us what you really think!!🤨🧐
AA is the new AAA.
you ok? comments don't pay by the word count @SuntannedDuck2
@DannZan I don't make twitter post length responses for people. They can read, or skip over, why I have to say this and everyone else has small talk in mind responses.
How else do I get a point across, making examples.
I don't make posts for people to read or question.
PureXbox provides the commenting space, why wouldn't I use it. They don't limit the amount of comments but they do length of comments. Read or skip. It's super easy, but apparently very hard for most people to understand. Sigh.
If seeing walls of texts is a problem then just don't look at it. I'm not offended if people ignore it. Yet people seem to think I do. I really don't care.
Most people will skim over others comments anyway, why is a large wall of text any different?
@Ricky-Spanish Read or skip over. It's really easy.
I don't make comments for small talk responses. Or twitter length posts for people.
If PureXbox offers the comment lengths. I'm going to use them. Not for others.
If seeing walls of texts is a problem then just don't look at it. I'm not offended if people ignore it. Yet people seem to think I do. I really don't care.
Most people will skim over others comments anyway, why is a large wall of text any different?
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