{"id":44329,"date":"2018-08-31T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-31T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/lifeless_planet_premiere_edition"},"modified":"2018-08-31T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T13:00:00","slug":"review-lifeless-planet-premiere-edition-switch-eshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/08\/31\/review-lifeless-planet-premiere-edition-switch-eshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition (Switch eShop)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/lifeless_planet_premiere_edition\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/lifeless_planet_premiere_edition\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"\">\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/92019\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/92019\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>On its barren surface, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/lifeless_planet_premiere_edition\"><strong>Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition<\/strong><\/a> is a difficult game to quantify. Is it a sandbox exploration title? A walking simulator? A puzzle-platformer? A sci-fi adventure with a splash of horror? In truth, it\u2019s an amalgamation of all these things, but it only ever dips its toes into these creative sources\u00a0and ends up feeling shallow and undefined as a result.<\/p>\n<p>Part of this is clearly a conscious decision on the part of indie developer David Board &#8211; the one-man outfit behind Stage 2 Studios &#8211; with a veil of mystery and the unknown permeating every corner of its alien world. It makes sense for the game to keep you guessing as to its true nature, but much like the story that ties its disparate parts together, that dissonance never really comes together and you\u2019re left feeling rather unsure about what you just spent three-to-four hours playing.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/92018\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/92018\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>But, for all its faults, there\u2019s something rather compelling about it. Sure, it might look like something you\u2019d find on a PC Gamer magazine demo disc from the early 2000s, but there are some vistas scattered throughout the game that are so captivating that we found ourselves stopping to marvel at them while exploring the barren alien wasteland around us. It\u2019s indicative of Lifeless Planet\u2019s entire ethos: a crude experience, but one with fleeting yet impactful moments of brilliance.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll explore its story in the boots of an American astronaut who crashlands on said alien world. What was meant to be a lush and verdant new home reveals itself to be a dead wasteland seemingly devoid of life. With your remaining crew missing and potentially lost forever, it\u2019s up to you to unravel the mysteries unfolding before you. And there are some intriguing, almost <strong>Lost<\/strong>-esque clues dotted around, very much like narrative breadcrumbs.<\/p>\n<p>If this really is an extraterrestrial world, then why is there a human settlement here? Why are there records and flags suggesting this was the work of the Soviet Union? And where have all the men, women and children gone? Is it all just an elaborate hoax? These are the mysteries that Lifeless Planet lays before you in its first hour, and they make for an interesting way to draw you further into its world. The problem is that the world in question is such a largely uninspiring place to inhabit.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/92021\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/92021\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The game more than lives up to its name; the titular planet feels empty. And while it\u2019s obvious the lack of detail is a necessary sacrifice in order to enable a single developer to create sandbox environments as open as these, it just seems a little redundant when you discover these \u2018open\u2019 areas are actually quite linear with only one true route from end to another. Even the interior environments you encounter look like something out of the fan-made <strong>Counter-Strike<\/strong> map community. It\u2019s all just a little too low-fi.<\/p>\n<p>However, it\u2019s still quite fun to explore. There\u2019s something paradoxically satisfying about running around an alien landscape, using the single boost of your jetpack to jump from one rocky outcrop to another. You occasionally get access to a souped-up version of your jetpack when traversing much larger areas &#8211; making for some of the game\u2019s most enjoyable sections &#8211; but these more engaging platforming set-pieces are few and far between as you\u2019re too often stipped back to your basic level of thrust. Sure, the controls are a little clunky and it\u2019s way too easy to overshoot your jumps, but it\u2019s still a memorable way to break up the long periods of hiking through <em>another<\/em> barren gulley.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/92016\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/92016\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>There\u2019s no combat to speak of, although there are dangers that we won\u2019t spoil here, so expect to be caught out by the occasional jump scare. In fact, we\u2019re impressed with how well the game builds a sense of growing foreboding. Rich Douglas\u2019 score has multiple personalities, slipping from chilled-out resonance to a sinister crescendo, and it does a wonderful job of elevating the game in which it resides. It\u2019s by far Lifeless Planet\u2019s strongest addition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>While its crude looks and disparate gameplay elements can make for a spartan experience, there\u2019s still something bizarrely compelling about Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition. There\u2019s nothing particularly remarkable about its occasional platforming and simple environmental puzzle solving &#8211; and its story never truly offers the payoff its mysteries set in place &#8211; but you\u2019ll still enjoy the short time you spend with it. An ambitious little curio, even four years after its original release, but one that sets its sights a little too high for its own good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On its barren surface, Lifeless Planet: Premiere Edition is a difficult game to quantify. Is it a sandbox exploration title? A walking simulator? A puzzle-platformer? A sci-fi adventure with a splash of horror? In truth, it\u2019s an amalgamation of all these things, but it only ever dips its toes into these creative sources\u00a0and ends up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}