Our minds always wonder about what lies in the planets above. We daydream about exploring new places, seeing new sights and soaking in a new environment for its natural glories. However, what if you went to a new planet and found nothing but danger waiting for you? That’s the key concept in Planet Alpha by developer Adrian Lazar and publisher Team 17. Want to know what to expect when you enter the world of a lone explorer on a dangerous unknown world? Then continue on to see what we here at Honey’s Anime thought about Planet Alpha.

Planet Alpha throws players into a literal survival situation. Trapped on a hostile planet due to alien invaders and various beasts, you will need to run, jump and hide to make it through alive and safe. Along the way, you will gain powers that literally control the sun and moon above changing the time of day to help you along your way. Planet Alpha makes you feel like you’re living in a movie-like experience by constantly pressing you forward with little time to soak in the beauty and majesty of this treacherous landscape.

A space explorer has found themselves stuck on an alien world when their ship mysteriously malfunctions. With no other options, the explorer moves on to explore this strange but majestic world but quickly discovers a danger lying in wait. An alien race has come to this planet as well and sees the explorer as a threat. Now the explorer must somehow find a way to escape not only this world but the constant threat that looms all around. Welcome to Planet Alpha where you will either become the Alpha or die a terrible lonely death.

If movie has taught us anything here at Honey’s Anime—especially space movies which a million of them exist—its that traveling in space can be amazing and also very scary. That’s why we were all too happy to try out Planet Alpha when it came to us from developer Adrian Lazar and publishers Team 17. This action platformer throws us into the cusp of a survival story where we have no idea what wants us killed and what could be considered safe. After having played for several hours, we have to say that we have some interesting things to say about Planet Alpha. Did our epic survival experience warrant a purchase for you readers out there? Join us as we tell you in our review of Planet Alpha for the Xbox One.

Planet Alpha, right off the bat, shows that this is a game where quick thinking and movement will keep you alive and well. You’re quickly thrown into a seemingly dangerous event and aren’t really told what to do or how to do it. However, Planet Alpha isn’t a difficult game despite the cryptic way it begins. This is an action platformer and as most titles like it, Alpha Planet is all about getting from Point A to Point B.
The main draw of Planet Alpha is quickly seen from the opening several seconds. Planet Alpha is a gorgeous and vibrant game with tons of beauty sewn into every piece of this alien world. Plants move with slight wind gusts, the trees look almost realistic and the colors of this planet hit you with shock and awe but in a good way. The sound equally keeps you on your toes with constant tones that make you feel threatened non-stop as you move along and try to outrun the waves of alien robots and beings looking to shoot you—or crush you—down.

Planet Alpha, as we mentioned, is a platformer with action elements. Players will literally do nothing more than run, jump, crawl, hide, solve simple puzzles and use some special platforms to make it to the end. The platforms are the unique theme to Planet Alpha as they allow the explore—aka you—to harness the power of day and night to change the environment in different ways. For example, there is a puzzle midway through Planet Alpha that requires you to make the flowers bloom for cover and then shrivel to run without being impeded. Planet Alpha doesn’t reinvent the platformer wheel but thanks to the feeling of constantly being threatened by enemies that you can’t physically fight back against—aside from a few choice locations—it works as a tense experience that keeps the pace going.

If we had any complaints—and we only have a few—it’s that Planet Alpha feels a bit too simple sometimes. While there were a few areas that we died several times as we tried to figure out what we were doing wrong, nothing in Planet Alpha truly will make you push your mental fortitude. Our other complaints is we’ve seen one ending of Planet Alpha but we quickly learned that there are two endings with the true ending being something easily missed if you don’t collect special crystals hidden in the game. This latter complaint isn’t a big deal—as it makes replaying Planet Alpha worthwhile—but it could agitate some gamers who will see the regular ending and be like…that’s it?

Our time with Planet Alpha was short lived but what we played really grabbed us and made for one heck of an experience. While Planet Alpha isn’t anything we haven’t played or experienced before, it still works wonders thanks to the survival element. Players will love the rush of barely escaping death from lasers and giant creatures and will revel as they continue moving constantly forward. For only $19.99, Planet Alpha is one heck of an amazing game and we think many of you will truly want to pick this up. That’s why we give it our seal of approval here at the hive and recommend picking up Planet Alpha for the Xbox One or any of the other several consoles it released for.

In short, Planet Alpha is an awesome platformer that doesn’t fix what isn’t broken in the platformer genre. We loved how we felt as if we took on the role of the explorer and were running to keep ourselves alive all while soaking in a planet that just screams beauty left and right. Planet Alpha could have been a $30 or even $40 dollar game, but it’s only $19.99 and that makes for one heck of a good deal. Are you going to try out Planet Alpha for the Xbox One or any other console it released on? Tell us in the comments below and or if you have played it already, let us know what you thought of Planet Alpha. Don’t forget to keep coming back to our hive for even more game reviews and gaming related articles curtsey of us here at Honey’s Anime.