Review: Journey To The Savage Planet (PlayStation 4)

by Jim Smale · January 27, 2020

Welcome to the Pioneer Program! In this upbeat & colorful, co-op adventure game you play as the newest recruit to Kindred Aerospace. Dropped onto an uncharted planet with little equipment and no real plan, you must explore, catalog alien flora and fauna and determine if this planet is fit for human habitation. But perhaps you are not the first to set foot here… Onward to adventure! Good luck – and mind the goo.

Pros:

Decent cartoon-like graphics.
4.41gb download size.
Platinum trophy.
Adventure Metroidvania gameplay.
Aim assist-on/off.
Two control layouts.
3 save slots.
Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
2 player online co-op support.
Invert axis and sensitivity slider.
Autosaves regularly.
Open world.
Photo mode.
Javelin ship- your main hub where you can upgrade/unlock items, check email and drop off supplies and watch adverts.
Tools-these unlock as you progress and act more like abilities. You unlock a grapple gun, elemental ammo like acid/electricity/fire.
Four world areas that are unique biomes and house a big boss.
Big boss battles.
Teleporter-unlocks fast travel points.
Death-you drops everything but it does show on the map and tells you what is dropped.
Play how you want.
Orange goop-collect these to fill a bar which in turn increases your health and stamina.
Upgrade tree is more for upgrading your tools/abilities.
Overall planet exploration percentage.
Humorous game commercials.
Emails-bit of background and periodically you will get a survey to fill out.
Scanner-scan enemies/points of interest/plants to get detailed information on them or potential weak points.
Materials-used to craft upgrades and unlocks, materials fall from enemies and different enemies drop different materials.
Puzzle elements.
Many many secrets to find.
Enemy types mean every encounter feels different.
Quick respawn if you accidentally fall off the world.
Areas can open up a lot more when you revisit with new abilities.
A lot of verticalities.
Stealth parts, you can hide in bushes and behind cover/walls.
A lot of goo splashback.
You can shoot, jump, grapple, kick and slap enemies.

Cons:

Stuttering in places.
Load times are not constant but when they happen, they do drag on.
Clumsy mission tracker.
Small hard to read prompts.
Same enemy types over and over.
The slow road to upgrades and unlocks. A lot of the time you will have everything but one main part that is with the boss.
A hint of grinding.
Music is sporadic and never feels in touch with the action.
Platforming sections can be hard.
A lot of backtracking.

8/10

Graphics - 8/10
8/10

Sound - 8/10
8/10

Accessibility - 8/10
8/10

Length - 8/10
8/10

Fun Factor - 8/10

8/10

Summary

When I initially booted up the game, I fell in love with its style, its such a happy colorful looking game. It felt like it took parts from any adventure game and crammed in some No Mans Sky. It all went really well for a good 10 hours. Progress was simple, take down the boss and unlock a new ability or tool as they call it, to then use that tool in the next area. That part is OK if not the same old same old. I lo Ed how the game opens up slowly over time thanks to its sprawling vertically challenging level design, every return trip to an area yielded more collectibles or secrets. Com at is a simple point and shoot I say that but you can or slap enemies which is always fun to see. No for me the novelty started to wear thin after I got halfway through. I got frustrated at how slow it took to get meaningful unlocks, land traversal became a slog, loading times grated and overall it felt like I was playing the same area over and over in terms of how it plays out. The charm was dwindling and by the time I hot the end of game boss I had to take a few days to break, it was just frustrating for no real reason. Journey To The Savage Planet is a game that had me hooked for the first half of the game and had me fearing burnout but a break and return to the latter half left me annoyed and getting all deja vu up in here. It’s a fun game but either in short chunks or with long extended breaks. I finished the game but I got very little satisfaction and was left wanting more. The gunplay left a lot to be desired and it is not until late game that it really shows itself.