Planet Quest Review

Planet Quest is probably one of the worst, most generic titles I’ve seen slapped onto a game in a long time. Quite frankly, it does this game a disservice. Upon booting up Planet Quest, players are presented with something ultra colorful, charming, and tons of fun. As a rhythm game, it has a fantastic soundtrack and a good sense of challenge, making it stand out among the best in its genre.

Playing Planet Quest couldn’t be simpler. Players are in charge of a UFO’s zapper that’s supposed to zap costumed creatures as they zip along a planet’s surface to the beat of a song. Although it may sound unintuitive, the rotation of the planet is analogous to the note highway of games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, and the notes are just giraffes, bunnies, flowers, and other weird creatures.

At first players are walked through the basics, which are essentially ‘tap to the rhythm to zap the creatures’, but along the way more nuance is added. For example, some levels obscure the game view to add difficulty. Also, things like the flower need to be avoided as they take points off of a player’s high score. The game ends when players lose three hearts by missing too many creatures, but it’s forgiving enough that they can miss a note or two while still being able to earn hearts back.

Easily the best thing about Planet Quest is its sense of style. The game is extremely colorful and quirky, which makes going through levels consistently pleasant. Also, the game doesn’t have players pick levels, and instead constantly flows between tracks – all of which are a fun blend of styles that sound really good, regardless of whether players are playing with headphones on or not.

In terms of drawbacks, the constant, random flow between tracks can be less than desirable at times. Especially if players have particular preferences or want to practice a specific song. Also, Planet Quest sometimes alternates what part of the song players are supposed to be keeping time with, which can be hard to pick up on sometimes.

These are both really, really minor complaints that by no means preclude Planet Quest from praise. It’s fun, competent, and sounds awesome. It it well worth picking up, particularly for rhythm game fans.