Revenge of the Savage Planet Review

Revenge of the Savage Planet Review

It’s been five year’s since the release of Journey to the Savage Planet. A quirky, first-person shooter that we at COGconnected gave a solid 80/100. As for me personally, I didn’t jump onto the Savage Planet train until just last year, and honestly? I loved it. The humour was right up my alley and the gameplay was solid and addictive.

After the 2020 release of Journey to the Savage Planet, the developer, Typhoon Studios folded. After only just one game too. Okay, there’s more to the story than just folding and it involves Google’s Stadia (aww, memories), but you can go read the Wikipedia page for the full scoop. Was that the end of the Savage Planet franchise? Apparently not! Instead, a group of former Typhoon Studios employees banded together and created a new studio, Racoon Logic. And their debut game is Revenge of the Savage Planet.

When the Journey Leads to Revenge

For those of you who have enjoyed Journey to the Savage Planet, you’ll be happy to know that Revenge of the Savage Planet is a proper sequel. Characters, references and plot points from the first game tie directly into Revenge of the Savage Planet. Newcomers to the series might be a little lost, so I’d strongly recommend you give the first game a playthrough.

You are an employee of Kindred Technologies, a company that has been taken over by Alta Interglobal. You’ve been hurtling through spaces for many, many, many years until finally crash landing on a desolate planet. Oh, and then you were fired. Starting with minimal gear, you’ll need to scour the world(s) to find the necessary upgrades and resources to complete your missions and get back home to Earth.

A Change in Perspective

Fans of Journey to the Savage Planet might notice a pretty significant change when they first load into Revenge of the Savage Planet. It is no longer a first-person shooter. According to their social media team: “We’ve moved over to third-person gameplay – we’re very excited for everyone to see the positive impacts on platforming & taking in the world around you”. It makes sense. Revenge of a Savage Planet is a beautiful game with so much to explore and a lot of platforming, requiring all manner of climbing, jumping and ziplining. So, yes, when exploring, the third-person view is a benefit.

Unfortunately, combat doesn’t always benefit from the new view. It’s often difficult to aim at enemies, especially flying enemies. Add to the fact that your gun is both under-powered with a horrendous reload time, you’ll find yourself very frustrated during combat in the early going. Fortunately, there is a pretty generous aim assist tied to the left trigger which helps a bit.

As you progress through the game, you’ll find all manner of items and upgrades to help you with your mission. Your gun will become more and more powerful, your traversal abilities will expand immensely (that finally grapple hook upgrade is a Godsend!), and your health will increase to near-immortal levels. If you played the first game, you’ll have an idea of how progression works here – but they’ve taken it to a whole new level in Revenge of the Savage Planet. So, if you find the first hour or so of Revenge of the Savage Planet a bit challenging – just stick with it!

Best Played Together

I played many, many hours alongside my son in split-screen co-op, and it was often times an absolute joy. We shared many laughs at both the game’s content, especially the hilarious commercials, and at the various glitches we discovered while trying to navigate around. My son found a very creative way of combining the magnetic fork and metal shards that allowed him to perform some pretty spectacular ways of getting around the vast worlds.

And while co-op is absolutely the best way to play, it’s not without it’s issues. The most frustrating issue is that the second player doesn’t receive any achievements. I’m not sure if this is the case in online co-op, as that’s a mode I didn’t test out. I’m hoping they’ll add a patch to resolve this oversight.

Another odd bug is the fact that both controllers will vibrate, regardless of who is being attacked (or any other reason that generates the force feedback). As a result, you’re controller will likely not stop vibrating during the bulk of your game play.

And the last split-screen co-op issue worth mentioning revolves around the various game menus. When one player activates a menu, such as the Journal, 3D Printer or Teleporter, the menu takes up the whole screen. It might not sound like a big deal, but when you’re checking your journal for missions or using the teleporter to navigate a planet, your co-op buddy will have to wait until you’re done. Individual menu screens would have been a welcome addition.

Live, Laugh, Love

Journey to the Savage Planet was well-known for it’s brand of humour. All those clichés about working as a small cog in the big corporate machine were a big part of the ongoing joke, and Revenge of the Savage Planet continues the punchline. If you’ve ever worked for a big corporation, you’ll smile and nod at so much of the absurdity, because you’ve undoubtedly felt the same way at times.

The live action videos from the first game are back, including those wild and absurd commercials. Whoever thought of the Juicy Burger commercial probably needs a raise (and their head checked).

While the humour was mostly on point, I was a bit disappointed by the occasional minor drug reference. Nothing too extreme, but when a game is marketed for teens, some topics should be avoided.

Gloriously Gooey

Revenge of the Savage Planet is a gorgeous game. The environments are all unique and beautifully detailed. The colour scheme is bright and vibrant. Player and enemy models are well-designed. And the ability to customize your character is a fun touch – especially when playing co-op. An incredibly impressive feat was all the various goo substances you’ll use. Not only do they look cool, you can spray a substantial amount of it and it will stay for a very long period of time. That’s some impressive game design!

Savage Planet Shouldn’t Be Skipped

Revenge of the Savage Planet is a must-play game. Excellent visuals, solid game-play, plenty of fun & interesting areas to explore, secrets to uncover, and a overall humorous tone make it a top-notch effort. The included split-screen co-op allowed my son and I to have an awesome adventure together, filled with puzzle-solving and laughs. The game has a few issues such as the second player on co-op split-screen not earning achievements. It’s also worth noting that the game did crash on us about 5-6 times over our 10+ hours playing. However, the overall experience was great. Revenge of the Savage Planet has even become a bit of a family affair, with my two younger sons now playing it. I really hope we see more Savage Planet games in the future.

***Revenge of the Savage Planet Xbox Series X code provided by the publisher.***