Even in September last year, an interesting adventure from the Swedish designer, Tim Börrefors called Planet Alpha, came to the gaming console and PC. In the past, Börrefors has been working on games like Amnesia or Hitman, but Planet Alpha is the most different from its previous games. Already on the lookout, a visually exciting adventure tells the story of an astronaut who has found himself on a strange planet. Not abandoned, but just the opposite. At every step it is embraced by a varied life, which enlivens the surrounding environment into a variety of colors. Playing his roughly four-hour story tells his own, though not the original way. Even though the creators were trying to create a unique project that could become an inspiration for other titles, this time the goal was not met.
Planet Alpha has been minimalist since the first moment, since the story has been decided by the authors for a very modest way of telling, but that requires more attention. You will encounter a minimum amount of text throughout the game. Basically, you can see it at the start of the game, in the menu and then at the end - in the subtitles. The essence of the story is not very important, but rather you can get involved with the gameplay and the exploration of every hidden place, but at least it was not completely indifferent to me. I was waiting for what else the game will offer me, although in most cases the game's performance is highly predictable. It is clear, therefore, what the authors have focused on most and what is the highest quality of the color planet.
As I have already accented, the authors have really won the game with the game. This does not cut records in graphics quality, but it definitely offers a very distinct variety, which is present at virtually every step. Each chapter of the game offers different environments that bring more challenges and really great scenery. Creating an environment from which life is born, in addition to extraterrestrial origin, has really succeeded the author. You are more aware of this if you have to work with the environment to move forward. The whole game is like one big puzzle, in which you have to be oriented and be quite attentive. You need to be able to avoid the traps of the surrounding nature or the occupant, but you will also have to use your logical thinking and auspices to move at all and to see the transient gap.
The authors have not given the opulence to the astronaut a lot of physical options to defend the surrounding pitfalls, so you will need to help them and move your mind. Despite this great handicap, however, it has one truly exceptional ability, which is also a very important element of gameplay, and at the same time it has a huge impact on so many environments. With this ability, you can control the day and night so that by simply pressing the button you can move the entire planet, you will start to move at a high star speed and after a few seconds you will see the blinding sun coming out. This change of day and night is not just a slop, but it greatly influences the surroundings. As in the real world, even in the game night is the time when the landscape is rather sleeping and waking up over the day. This contrast, however, often affects the changes of the seasons.
While at night a certain stretch of the map may seem overwhelming, the big plants are suddenly pulled out of the ground or rocks over the day, allowing you to overcome great slopes, heights, and avoid enemies. From the first moment the game reminded me of the Trine series. Some visuals, level design and gameplay. Since Trine was also a detailed vista, it is precisely these two games that connect most of the time. More and more, this connection has been confirmed in natural sites during the night, when the landscape is full of interesting plants. As long as the astronaut can not defend himself or attack, the change of day and night can not save you life. On the other hand, when confronted with enemy robots, it is usually necessary to avoid them completely, thus slipping either hidden in the dense grass or by pulling the pieces of rock that you can get to the elevated places. Maybe it's a shame that day and night changes have a certain template and repeat the game all the time, so you always know what to expect.
In addition to changing the phase of the day, you can only jump and bend or drag selected items. These three choices are constantly repeated in the game, but despite their simplicity, I have no other options at all. Different places affect the change of day and night differently, which again brings new experiences and boredom goes sideways. Very interesting are the levels of "another dimension" in which there is a much lower gravity. By jumping from rock to rock you have to get from point A to point B, but the ever changing path under your feet is quite simple to change at least to what The local animals, which are unlike the offensive robots, are also very nice and their occasional interaction with them can also help you.
Continuous traps mean very frequent falls on the knees, but, fortunately, the game has a very well managed storage system. Virtually every time I die, the game has returned back to where I fell, so even with more failures there was no frustration. Something worse, however, is the occurrence of bugs. At least twice, it happened that after the revival of the game, the game had grown so much that it could not be continued. Once I stuck stuck in a confined space, and for the second time I fell into a loophole in the loop. The only way to get out of these situations was to repeat the whole chapter. Even though it was not a terrible tragedy, such mistakes are decidedly unpleasant and rather disturbing the overall impression. All the more if they are repeated.
Planet Alpha is a nice game that is great for the long evenings you want to turn off and wait for what the game will offer you in the next few minutes. The greatest advantage is visual level processing, as well as their design that hides clear paths, but also inconspicuous side branches to reveal even more nice places. Simple gameplay makes it easy for you to be bored, changing day and night in your hands has the power to revive the process. On the other hand, the unified template that comes with the change is particularly likely to be in the second half of the game, and the original charm is fading.
