HomeGames & TechLovely Planet 2: April Skies review

Lovely Planet 2: April Skies review

If We <3 Katamari and High Hell had a child, it would most certainly be called Lovely Planet 2: April Skies.

Let me just preface this review with the time I’ve been sinking into Dusk right now. Fields of carnage and destruction, glorious FPS-style. Time for a dramatic 180! Never having heard of the first Lovely Planet, I fired it up without any expectations and was immediate greeted by a wonderland of fluffy clouds, pastels and innocuous pixelated shapes. Through a very short and straightforward tutorial, it became apparent that my mission in this candy-coloured world was to shoot my way through and bounce around nimbly to reach an exit goal. Simple, right?

Watch the Lovely Planet 2 launch trailer below:

The levels are laid out in sort of a linear fashion, where you’re made to run a gauntlet of obstacles. Lovely Planet will do everything in it’s power to keep you well and truly on your toes whilst you traverse this strange universe: there will be friendly ‘targets’ thrown in with the hostile ones. Marked with different colours, but the same shapes, you’ll have to take yourself off of auto pilot if mowing down whatever’s in your path is the way you usually like to play. Tricky platforms with timers and red blobs will also force you to think quickly.

Almost all the interactions within the levels are going to require a fair bit of reflexive work. Not only are the shooting enemies primed and strategically set up right behind blind corners, you’ll have to immediately pull off some fancy manoeuvres as you’re flanked by another shooter, on a timed platform and, (my favourite) have to play ‘catch the tomato’.

View some Lovely Planet 2 screenshots in our gallery:

So this is a fun and interesting way to really amp up the difficulty. After you’ve mastered the shooting enemies and catching the timed platforms just right is no longer a challenge, you’ll have to play what I call ‘catch the tomato’. Red blobs will be thrown up into the air, and before they land you have to shoot them–or it’s back to the beginning of the run for you! Isolated, ‘shooting the tomato’ can be a minor setback as you take your time (well, the time given for the fall of the tomato), aiming and getting rid of it….but what usually happens is the throwing of the tomato is triggered by something like a shooting enemy dying. The enemy dies, the tomato gets thrown up into the air, then–oh, what’s that? Heck! It’s another shooting enemy AND you have to cross this cloud chasm?! Multitasking to the next level, my friend!

Seriously fun, easy to learn and controls are super simple and responsive. The music is fantastic and lighthearted Katamari-esque cuteness, as are the visuals of the strange, adorable world you’re working your way through. And whilst you’re technically shooting some sort of pellet cannon-gun-thing, it’s not an overly violent game whatsoever. I highly recommend Lovely Planet 2: April Skies if you’re looking for something different and fun. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but delivers some great gameplay. Rest assured, when I need a break from destroying demons and hellions in Dusk, I’ll be more than happy to skip on back to Lovely Planet 2: April Skies, and breath a sigh of Sanrio-fueled relief.

Lovely Planet 2: April Skies was reviewed using a digital code supplied by the publisher.

Publisher: tinyBuild Developer: QUICKTEQUILA Release Date: 18th June, 2019 Reviewed On: PC/Steam

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Sara Boardman
By day, Sara is a video game fanatic, playing since her fingers could work a controller, keyboard and mouse. By night, she's a cartoonist who likes to draw silly pictures of her whippet, Phil.
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