Lifeless Planet was part of the Xbox One Deals with Gold lately and I picked it up on the cheap. I remember thinking it looked pretty interesting when Vinny played it for a bit, so I gave it a shot. It looked about my speed, as I'm the type who oddly fantasizes about an empty world, appreciates some minimalism, and is way into any history or fiction about Cold War-era USSR. It ticks most of those boxes pretty well, although I would have appreciated more alternate history USSR in the vein of Wolfenstein: The New Order. Sadly, most of the USSR storyline elements are limited to a handful of logbooks and the like, which are voice-acted and written well enough, but are simply not interactive or deep enough to be overly interesting.
That's the case with much of the game as well. Lifeless Planet doesn't feature enough signs of life. (I know; stay with me.) I'm not expecting there to be a bunch of living creatures, NPCs and whatnot in a game called Lifeless Planet; I'm talking about how I would have appreciated more vacant buildings, installations, etc. Signs that someone was here to add some more intrigue. The game has a few terrific areas like this with an empty town and scattered dilapidated structures, but they're far too infrequent and serve mostly to make everything else seem that much more drab when it doesn't have to be. There are also "enemies" later on in the game, but they become extremely repetitive as the game goes on to where you'll likely find yourself preferring the areas with just barren landscapes. Landscapes, again, that work best when juxtaposed with old structures that make you wonder what they were and what happened there. Otherwise, boredom starts to set in at times, even for those like me who are generally patient and willing to take it all in.
Gameplay-wise, it's somewhat lacking. My biggest gripe is that it's too linear and scripted. I won't get too spoiler-y, but you're basically Hansel and Gretel-ing a green line the whole game and there's only one way to solve most of the platforming puzzles, which is disappointing. Exploration is generally pointless and fruitless, unless you get pumped about finding minerals that have zero bearing on anything other than an achievement. That's really a shame, because the planet can be devoid of life without being devoid of interesting features. Perhaps most infuriating is that you get the occasional jetpack upgrade to boost further than usual, and then this ability promptly gets taken away. It's doesn't deplete on usage to where you could save it for later or anything; it's just "here's a section you can't complete without it and then you can't use it anymore", and that's some bullshit. Also, there are scripted "you're low on oxygen" moments where you have to head towards an oxygen station directly in front of you. All that these sequences do is make you think about features the game doesn't have and probably should, like having time/energy-based depleting oxygen levels you actually have to replenish by finding oxygen throughout the universe, having a few tiers of jetpack/mobility upgrades and/or powerups you can conserve, etc.
Enough with the bitching, though. There are places where this game really shines, and when it works, it really works. While the graphics don't blow you away or anything, the art design is typically somewhere between good and great, as I consistently enjoyed the scenery (save one particular section about halfway through that was poorly lit to the detriment of getting through it). Also, the soundtrack is terrific. When the score kicks in as you approach some sweeping landscape, it's very atmospheric in ways games rarely are. It's in these flashes of brilliance where the game is worth the price of admission. It's almost enough to make you forget about some of the game's lacking features, what turns out to be a ho-hum story, and to redeem some of the more routine sections that can feel like a bit of a slog. Almost.
I'm not disappointed in the purchase and don't regret playing it, as this game has some really transcendent moments that I truly enjoyed, but I can't help feeling like there were a lot of missed opportunities here. This is the kind of game that makes me wish I had the time/talent/money to take this game's framework and make it better. With more structures, more USSR alternate history, more exploration, more mobility, and more survival elements, this could have been something special. It might be a bit much to expect all of that out of an indie game, but any of that stuff would have gone a long way. It's worth playing if you're into this sort of thing, but with a few tweaks, could have been a game everyone could appreciate.
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