Journey to the Savage Planet is a game that attempts to answer the question "What if No Man's Sky had humour?" And whilst that humour certainly is enjoyable (for me), it cannot survive alone on just that merit. So what have we got here? A linear exploration around an alien planet full of stuff to scan, interact with, ruthlessly murder and colonize. Classic stuff, really, this kind of game has been done many times before. And yet, it's let down completely by a reliance on an upgrade system to progress through the game which requires you to deal with some of the lumpiest controlling platforming, awkward combat that is weirdly difficult for what the game is and world geometry that isn't quite as well thought out as it could be. The majority of times I died or fell of platforms purely because the game wasn't exactly clear about what I could or couldn't jump onto or mantle onto etc is beyond silly. It wears its influences on its sleeves so blatantly that it's almost obnoxious, much the same as the humour style. I'd wager that within the first 5 minutes you'll know if you'll enjoy the game or not. Ultimately though, what killed any interest for me was the first time encountering a fast moving fast attacking enemy that took a lot of effort, health and usage of a beyond inadequate dodge move to defeat, only for the game to reward me with two more at the same time immediately after. It's got so many great ideas at hand but it just doesn't mesh together all that well at all and ultimately at the end of the day I can only say you're better off just going and buying No Man's Sky instead.
