As a sci-fi enthusiast, I find myself consistently amused by the unique blend of humor that permeates this genre. From the playful satire in the early days of Star Trek, to the clever banter of Doctor Who, and even diving into the hilariously absurd world of Rick and Morty, it’s fascinating to witness how comedy thrives in sci-fi over many decades.
It seems that the freedom to explore the bizarre and uncharted realms is what makes science fiction writing so captivating. Since this genre deals with concepts beyond our current understanding, authors have a unique opportunity to let their imaginations run wild without constraints, as their work often strays into the realm of the fantastical, such as describing a planet inhabited by wizards armed with laser swords – even though it might sound utterly absurd, it could potentially exist in some distant corner of the universe.
In the very same niche, the game titled Revenge Of The Savage Planet flourishes. As a science fiction video game, it’s evidently designed for those who dreamt of stargazing as children, only to find out that we were born prematurely in human history, making interstellar travel an unattainable fantasy for us.
To put it simply, I’m quite sentimental and the Avatar ride at Disney World really gets to me. It’s as if it offers a glimpse into life on another planet, something I’ve always found fascinating in science-fiction stories that ignite my imagination with worlds beyond what my human mind could create.
Following the conclusion of “Revenge Of The Savage Planet”, I am delighted to share that this game undeniably embodies an exciting essence of intergalactic discovery, infused with a whimsical humor that is remarkably unconventional for video games.
Is it flawless? Not at all. Did it stir up emotions in me by the end, leaving me thankful for having lived “life” on these stunning planets, even if just for a brief period? No, not particularly. However, I must admit that I greatly enjoyed this amusing interpretation of interplanetary colonization throughout my playtime, and I believe you would feel the same way.
Let’s get into the good, the bad, and the goofy.
Absurdist Corpo Sci-Fi Satire
In the spirit of continuity, Revenge Of The Savage Planet is a follow-up to the 2020 release, Journey To The Savage Planet. Similar to its predecessor, this new adventure once again casts you as an astronaut character, sent on a journey far into the cosmos in search of a habitable planet for human settlement.
In the initial game, you collaborated with Kindred Aerospace under its intriguing CEO, Martin Tweed. Now, in an amusing and fitting turn of events for corporate satire, Kindred has been taken over by a massive conglomerate known as Alta.
In the belief that we both aim to populate the galaxy, your initial understanding was that this business alliance was logical. Consequently, you decided to join forces with Alta and adhere to their guidelines for planetary colonization, contributing to humankind’s efforts to establish life on diverse alien worlds.
The discussion here is centered around large businesses, highlighting their distinct tendency to view people as mere statistics rather than unique individuals.
In simpler terms, Alta places you in a cryogenic sleep for 107 years while transporting you to your initial destination. During this voyage, they temporarily halt operations at Kindred, disperse your equipment across the planetary system you’re visiting, and dismiss you from the company while you are asleep.
In much the same vein as sharp satirical comedies, this game’s plot seems strikingly plausible for our not-too-distant future when humanity ventures into space. It serves as a critique of large corporations, their knack for viewing humans merely as data points rather than unique individuals, and it does so quite effectively.
This also covers digital corporate learning materials and tests that penalize you for not agreeing with everything the company presents. The narrative unfolds with additional layers, and a hidden, enigmatic character plays a significant role in other events, but I’ll save those surprises for another time—they make for an exciting unraveling!
The Savage Planet’s Counterattack delves deeply into the possibility of a future humanity craving attention, resembling TikTok trends. It’s filled largely with amusingly acted, real-life commercials and product placements that are reminiscent of skits from I Think You Should Leave.
Additionally, there’s an extra adventure path that encourages you to snap pictures at sixteen distinct spots scattered across the game world. The goal is to attract as much attention as possible through likes and subscriptions on your journey towards becoming a prominent online influencer.
It’s hard to overstate the outrageousness and illogicality of these advertisements. They range from a burger that constantly splatters ketchup all over you while eating, to a toilet seat that dumps your waste onto your superior’s head, and a house on wheels resembling a monster truck for traveling.
(Inter)Stellar Presentation With So-So Performance
Despite the disorderly storyline from a gaming standpoint, _Revenge Of The Savage Planet_ showcases an authentic sense of beauty through the layout and design of its four accessible planets.
In this engaging game, you’ll meticulously survey and record every flora and fauna across diverse landscapes ranging from dense jungles, barren deserts, colossal volcanoes, to everything else in between. The scenery on each planet is consistently breathtaking, guaranteeing numerous instances where you’ll pause to appreciate a particularly stunning view.
The design of the creatures takes a turn towards whimsical humor, showcasing oversized raccoon heads on tiny feet, monkeys with facial features resembling actual butts, and small, panicked green chickens darting back and forth, their amusing squawks echoing across your audio system.
Additionally, let’s discuss how this game’s change from a first-person shooter (FPS) in the original version to a third-person perspective is significant. In my opinion, adopting a third-person viewpoint offers several advantages. For one, it allows us to witness all the amusing actions our character performs as they engage with the game world.
From my perspective as a devoted admirer, everything about the presentation is perfectly quirky, endearing, stunning, and laugh-out-loud funny.
You exhibit various movements like walking, running, jumping, swimming, and displaying Looney Tunes-like emotions, which make the game endearing and unforgettable. Frankly, I believe a significant part of what keeps this game engaging could vanish if the developers chose to stick with the first-person view once more.
Everything about the presentation is remarkably unique, endearing, stunning, and funny. The audio design of each gadget is spot-on, and the quirky, western-influenced electronic soundtrack serves as an excellent accompaniment to all the visuals. There’s even a song celebrating spending 45 minutes in the office bathroom and being compensated for it. That’s awesome!
In addition to the exciting gameplay, you can tailor your character uniquely with a variety of options. There are approximately a dozen outfits to uncover, and numerous color shader choices that allow for perfect customization. The designs exude coolness in their futuristic style, making it enjoyable to experiment with them all to create my unique combination. Furthermore, the game offers amusing voice selections for your character, ranging from different human accents, pets like dogs and raccoons, to characters reminiscent of anime.
Unfortunately, despite its impressive appearance, this presentation often fails to deliver smooth performance. To be honest, I encountered significant problems such as lag and frequent drops in frame rate during most of my use.
In the game “Revenge of the Savage Planet,” I encountered instances where the flow became disrupted due to inconsistencies that sometimes turned straightforward platforming challenges into frustrating ordeals, and gunfights into more challenging encounters than they needed to be. While occasional performance dips are acceptable, it’s disappointing when these issues impact the player’s chances of succeeding in the gameplay itself.
In simpler terms, when you reach the top of a mountain with stunning vistas, your robot companion, EKO, makes a sarcastic comment about the views being “framerate-destroying.” I found this witty remark amusing, but it made me question whether the game will be well-optimized if such issues are already mentioned in the game’s dialogue.
In addition to some occasional minor hiccups, there were instances where a creature essential for a quest wouldn’t appear at its designated spot on the map until I restarted the game a few times. On other occasions, my map marker on the compass would inexplicably disappear and reappear only after another reboot.
I’m hopeful that many of these issues will be tackled through post-release updates, however, I’m unable to comment on them at the moment.
Mostly Fun Gameplay That’s Stuck Between Worlds
In “Revenge of the Savage Planet,” you experience a blend of planetary expedition and firefights. However, it shines more in one area compared to the other.
In the game, you get just one pistol initially, which can be enhanced to fire a powerful charge shot. However, during intense combat situations, it doesn’t have many additional features to rely on. You’ll collect some elemental grenades and explosives that add excitement, but unless mandated by a specific boss or type of enemy, you might not find much use for them frequently.
…Combat in this game seems to resemble that of Ratchet and Clank, yet it offers only approximately 5% of the intriguing arsenal and tactical possibilities to utilize against opponents.
At times, the battle scenarios become inventive. Once, I triggered an explosion on a plant that spread slippery green substance on the ground, causing a horde of creatures to slip and fall as they charged towards me. They collided with an ice plant in their disarray, which generated a shockwave freezing the entire group on the spot, giving me the opportunity to eliminate them systematically and without danger.
In situations such as these, it’s not often that players intentionally set them up, rather, they tend to happen spontaneously due to the unique interactions between different types of enemies and diverse hazards scattered across the planets.
The space battle with a third-person perspective, using lasers for combat, seems to resemble the gameplay style of Ratchet And Clank. However, it offers only around 5% of the diverse range of weapons and tactical possibilities compared to that game.
Or simply:
The sci-fi third-person shooter combat reminds me a lot of Ratchet And Clank, but with far fewer types of weapons and strategies to use in battle.
In most levels, you’ll encounter several challenging boss battles that showcase creativity, but what sets this game apart is an abundance of health regeneration stations scattered everywhere, making the overall difficulty quite minimal. If you enjoy games with increased challenges, you may find it hard to customize the level of difficulty according to your preference.
Experiencing the game offers a lot of satisfying discoveries. Investigating your surroundings to gather valuable information, reminiscent of Metroid Prime, is thrilling. Soaring through rails to unlock new areas, as in Ratchet and Clank, is awesome. And the process of mining rocks for crafting materials, like in No Man’s Sky, is a fun challenge.
Regrettably, “Revenge of the Savage Planet” doesn’t manage to bring all its elements together to match the greatness of other titles, but that’s alright. Despite being somewhat predictable and repetitive at times, it remains an enjoyable experience almost throughout.
A distinctive feature of this game involves the use of a lasso for capturing exotic extraterrestrial beings that you encounter. Upon striking a vulnerable spot and stun an alien creature, you can then bind it and transport it back to your base via a portal after tying it up.
At home, a charming petting zoo houses all the creatures, allowing for delightful and amusing interactions. Additionally, you can investigate each of these captivating beings on your personal computer at home, which unlocks equipment, offers new color options for costumes, and provides various enjoyable advantages.
The game offers a variety of engaging and simple environmental puzzles scattered across each planet, along with five endgame challenge shrines that add an exciting twist before the closing credits appear. These were truly standout moments during the gaming experience, and I found myself yearning for more instances like these throughout the approximately 10-hour playtime.
The environment in Nu Florida, aptly nicknamed due to its marshy nature, somewhat resembles a futuristic trailer park from a sci-fi setting. Yet, it offers exciting opportunities to tailor your gaming experience even more.
Using Alta coins amassed during your adventure, you can acquire an assortment of furniture pieces for three distinct areas in your home. These items don’t have practical uses (beyond earning some trophies), but they are generally interactive and offer amusing, endearing, or humorous animations to further charm the game and make it more appealing.
Ultimately, the game kind of lets you tackle it however you please.
Initially, I assumed the game incorporated a base-construction feature, but upon closer inspection, it doesn’t. This revelation came as a relief to me since I usually don’t enjoy that aspect in other games. However, enthusiasts of base-building games might feel disappointed by the slight deviation from their expectations.
Essentially, this game offers you freedom in your approach; if you’re keen on completing the main storyline swiftly, it’s possible. But if you prefer exploring the cosmos at a leisurely pace, the game accommodates that as well. Since you don’t have a job, you have all the time in the world to enjoy this flexibility.
Co-Op Capable, Solo Optimized
Lastly, let me mention that this game can be enjoyed with a friend right next to you, thanks to its split-screen cooperative play mode. This feature has been carried over from the game “Journey to the Savage Planet.
In my opinion, the cooperative mode in “Return To The Savage Planet” doesn’t function smoothly, and it seems like an added feature merely to claim that it exists. Truth be told, the game plays identically to its solo version, which undeniably feels more tailored and balanced for the intended single-player experience.
Absolutely, it’s fun to experiment and stir things up with your teammate, but it can be frustrating when one person can dominate the other so easily. When one of you is meticulously examining everything and ticking off every objective, there’s not much motivation for your partner to contribute anything else.
The bar here isn’t level, it’s quite apparent that this game wasn’t primarily developed as a cooperative experience like “It Takes Two” or “Split/Second Void” – the standout games in the co-op subgenre, which emphasize genuine collaboration, communication, and maintaining an enjoyable gameplay experience for both players.
From a user interface standpoint, there are instances where it feels overcrowded on both screens to the point that it’s hard to discern actions clearly. The objectives appear exclusively for the player on the left side, while any menu opened for crafting at the 3D printer covers the entire screen and temporarily halts your teammate’s progress.
This mode seems more like a last-minute addition rather than an intended way to experience the game. It’s important to note that this method might not be the ideal way for the game to unveil itself to you. For instance, I prefer playing video games with inverted camera controls, while my partner does not.
In the game, we were forced to choose between two options, making it impossible for us to play cooperatively as one choice would disrupt the game for my friend if I switched my control settings. This feature seems to have been overlooked during development, as a simple future update could easily address this issue.
Closing Comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed my adventure in Revenge of the Savage Planet. The beautifully diverse planets are visually stunning, and the quirky alien creatures add a charming touch. The humor, reminiscent of Rick and Morty combined with Tim and Eric, is often successful. Exploring new galaxies and cataloging exotic flora and fauna is a dream come true for any sci-fi enthusiast who wishes space travel was real. However, while the combat introduces some intriguing elemental interactions, the gunplay is rather routine, even though it’s a common and anticipated aspect of your mission. It gets the job done, but it never truly captivates. The game also struggles with frame rate issues and its co-op mode feels underdeveloped. Despite these drawbacks, the game remains enjoyable overall, and I plan to continue exploring post-game content to finish off remaining quests after completing the story. It didn’t quite reach the heights I had hoped for, but it’s still a space journey worth embarking on.
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2025-05-05 16:12