Planet Alpha (PS4) – if only it played as good as it looks

Veteran British publisher Team 17 celebrate their 100th video game release but is this sci-fi beauty really worthy of the occasion?

Hades Nintendo Switch review – god of resurrection

If you were a young British gamer back in the 90s, and you owned an Amiga, the name Team 17 will be very familiar to you. Founded in 1990, the firm earned its early acclaim making arcade style games such as Alien Breed, Assassin, Project-X, and Superfrog. Their games were some of the most technically advanced on the system and most shared a distinctive, metallic, art style that allowed them to switch genres at will and still retain a loyal fanbase.

But Team 17’s biggest hit came towards the end of the Amiga’s lifetime, in the shape of multiplayer classic Worms. The franchise quickly overshadowed all their other work and for a decade or more they subsisted on little more than Worms sequels and spin-offs. A few years ago though they saved themselves from inevitable decline by reinventing the company as an indie publisher. They still make Worms games as well, but they’ve also shepherded to market notable indie hits such as The Escapists, Overcooked, Yooka-Laylee, and Yoku’s Island Express.



None of that has any bearing on Planet Alpha though. It being Team 17’s 100th game is purely a coincidence and has nothing to do with the game or the people that made it (a tiny team of three Danish developers). But while it is a shame that the superlative Overcooked 2 didn’t end up as the 100th, this is still an interesting game that illustrates how important indie developers and publishers are in ensuring gaming still offers something other than just blockbuster sequels.


Since the subject of Amiga games has already been raised, there’s a strong influence from Another World in Planet Alpha’s inspired visuals, simple 2D platforming, and wordless storytelling. Although a detailed backstory is implied by the game’s action you’re never explicitly told what’s going on and all you know for sure is you’re stranded on a mysterious planet being invaded by killer robots.

Planet Alpha has a number of fairly serious failings but where it absolutely cannot be faulted is the visuals, especially when you bear in mind the size of the team and the equally tiny budget they’ve been working with.

The majestic alien landscapes are filled with such life and colour it almost seems a shame to have to play a video game around them; from prehistoric-looking jungles to floating islands and surreal dimensional rifts the backdrops are almost mesmerising in their beauty, as you watch the passing of giant space whales and marching robot armies.

But while the visuals may be fascinating the gameplay is rather less beguiling. For a 2D platformer the controls are worryingly imprecise, with a frustratingly floaty jump. So frustrating in fact that the novelty of the current level often wears out long before you’ve finished it, and without any engaging gameplay everything seems to go on just that bit too long.

Planet Alpha (PS4) – welcome to Jurassic World

Much like Another World there’s a large element of trial and error when it comes to navigating Planet Alpha’s world, particularly when it comes to the various stealth sequences. The awkward controls and lack of feedback on whether you can be seen or not make it almost impossible to get through on your first attempt and while the game’s not really that difficult you become keenly aware that perseverance is winning the day and not skill.

There are similar problems with the simplistic block-pushing puzzles, but the strangest gameplay element is your ability to change the time of day by what looks like rotating the planet around on its axis. How or why you can do this is, of course, never explained but although it looks very impressive it’s never used in any particularly clever way.



Awakening plants to use as a platforms is quite neat but other times you’re just using the rotation itself to knock objects over or slide them into place. The concept clearly has great potential but it’s sorely underused and underdeveloped, and we have a sneaking suspicion that it was added to the game late in development once it was realised the platforming wasn’t enough.

Despite all its faults Planet Alpha is a game we’re glad we got the chance to experience, but we really wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else unless you’re paying considerably less than the current asking price. Indie game or not this is as classic a case of style over substance as we’ve ever seen, and while that in itself makes Planet Alpha interesting it doesn’t make it worthy of recommendation.

Planet Alpha In Short: Staggeringly beautiful at times, with some wonderfully imaginative art design, but this sci-fi oddity is a lot more entertaining to watch than it is to play. Pros: Superb graphics and art design with an endless array of highly imaginative and constantly changing landscapes and creatures. The planetary rotation gimmick has plenty of potential. Cons: The platform is imprecise and floaty and the puzzles rudimentary and underdeveloped. Lack of storytelling is unnecessarily limiting. Most scenes go on for too long. Score: 4/10

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

Price: £15.99

Publisher: Team 17

Developer: Planet Alpha Game Studio

Release Date: 4th September 2018

Age Rating: 12

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter