Planet Alpha Review: A Beautiful Planet
Planet Alpha: The extraterrestrial platformer that touches the sun?Designed by a team that took the name of its project, Planet Alpha makes a strange cosmonaut stroll on a planet far from our galaxy where each cloud can hide an amazing plant and animal species. In the universe of this colorful side-scroller, it is possible to play with a layer of time. However, it is not the rain and the good weather that the mysterious hero can invoke, but day or night. Should we therefore fear that the mechanics of the stars, over time, could lead to disaster?
THE CROSSING OF THE GIANTS
In its “arty” aspect which is essential from the first minutes of play, Planet Alpha asks to follow a long path strewn with pitfalls in the purest line of a Little Nightmares. As a platform game, the helmeted protagonist has a series of movements allowing him to master the universe in which he evolves. Besides the classic jump and the no less popular squat, the cosmonaut has the ability to climb ivy and move objects with the force of his arms. These actions are essential in order to get around obstacles or create paths, which makes the experience slightly frustrating when the little character gets stuck in collision boxes. Since survival is also a story of mind, the hero is endowed with a singular power: that of controlling the alternation day / night, and therefore of influencing the location of the sun in the sky. Just that!The puzzles thus have the common point of playing on space, but also on time, the star performing its cycle according to the pressures made by the player on the triggers. When the sun is at its zenith, some plants open, for example, more readily than if the darkness drapes them, thus creating useful platforms. It is therefore necessary to intelligently choose the appropriate time of the day in order to circumvent a problem, for example by bringing in twilight so that the floral species are closed, thus building an area of primordial coverage. Because the environment is not the only source of risk in Planet Alpha, since armies of mechanical opponents are gradually taking possession of the premises.
In fact, various robots try to prevent the hero from advancing, not hesitating to shoot him with a laser as soon as they see a piece of his spacesuit. Infiltration is to be considered in the face of these piles of bolts out of the tortured mind of a crazy filmmaker of the 1960s. Like an Inside, death is not punitive: an unexpected death immediately brings back the player at a checkpoint placed a few seconds before death. Like the reference cited above, progression is based on purely platform sequences, forward flight, puzzles based on the physics engine and simply contemplative scenes. The only noticeable difference comes from the position of the moved objects which is not reset between each loading of checkpoint. However, this did not cause blocking bugs during our journey, unlike physics which sent our hero so deep in a scene that we merged with it.
THE DAY AND THE NIGHT
Planet Alpha: The extraterrestrial platformer that touches the sun?Compared to Playdead games where puzzles take a relatively large place, Planet Alpha puts the accent on the platform. This means that passages requiring dexterity are not uncommon, especially in parallel universes where the gravity is dramatically lower, which has the effect of blurring the benchmarks compared to everything related to jumping. At regular intervals, moments of pursuit punctuate the quest for artefacts and expose majestic panoramas, not without a few rock falls caused by the passage of gigantic creatures which spin between the foreground and the background.
At the level of its artistic direction, Planet Alpha allows a meeting between the low-poly which brings out protruding edges and very organic graphic elements. The fauna and flora that inhabit the places do indeed always have a fluorescent appendage in addition to a shiny appearance to remind them that they come from another galaxy. In addition, the grounds are particularly colorful and in many ways are reminiscent of those of Avatar, even Trine. The lighting, meanwhile, allows a lot of overexposure, which can bring out a rather rough aspect emanating from the levels, especially since the readability is sometimes undermined because of a large number of elements in the foreground. What could be better than relaxing hymns full of mystery in order to resonate an adventure imbued with mysticism through lush landscapes? The track's music all seems to come from an “extended” version of the opening theme of PlayStation 2, which is a good choice for this call to discovery.
Once you have reached the end of the ten chapters that make up the adventure, you have to recognize that the proposed trip can be traveled with pleasure, without redefining a genre or even excelling in the categories that make it up. The acceleration mechanics of the day / night cycle and the modifications it brings about in the field is an interesting idea somewhat abused by its implementation. Rotating the stars takes a certain amount of time despite the rapid advance, which quickly makes all the moments when power must be used in tight timing fall flat. It is also common to slide into parts of levels that give pride of place to reflexes for races that end at the bottom of a hole if the good mushroom has not opened quickly enough. Finally, power is useless indoors, making visits to dark factories and caves in the second half of the game not very exciting.
The notes
+ Positive points
A rhythmic flight ahead, full of surprises
A good mix between platform, infiltration and enigma
A successful “organic” rendering
Pretty panoramas
-Negative points
Some approximations and collision bugs
A loaded side that can affect readability
Slightly repetitive in the second half
Still slowdowns
Planet Alpha is a contemplative side-scroller that borrows enormously from Playdead productions, except that the colors here are warm and saturated. Changing the day / night cycle at the whim of the player is fun enough to enhance this extraterrestrial journey, even if we would have liked more variety in the situations created. The trip is no less surprising and full of pleasant sequences, despite some approximations in terms of handling.
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