Lovely Planet (Wii U) Preview

"What an absolute abomination of a 'game'!" was the first thought when trying Lovely Planet out. The visuals were ridiculously basic and twee, the controls twitched all over the place making accurate aiming nigh on impossible, and the sound totally glitched into a constant buzzing noise within the first couple of minutes. However, after endless retries to eventually reach the conclusion of the early build on offer, walking away from the tinyBuild-published FPS, there was a great sense of achievement at overcoming what was actually a deceptively barebones and wishy-washy effort, turning out to instead be downright (deliciously) tortuous at times in the difficulty stakes and shockingly addictive.

Taking a FPS viewpoint, Lovely Planet involves dashing around simplified stages to reach a goal post, desperately trying to avoid being hit even once and clearing all enemies along the way by strafing around swiftly and blasting away with the infinite ammunition provided. On paper, despatching a handful of foes and removing unwanted obstacles seems easy enough. In reality, however, it is a test of anyone's resolve, pushing even the most patient of people to the limit. There were moments during the demo run that one booth guy was concerned the GamePad was going to get launched through the TV set, and the booth woman from a nearby game left her position to actually stand and watch until all the challenges were complete - so clearly it is just as addictive for watchers as it is for those at the reins!

Tiny little cubes can be sat there waiting to be blasted away, tall chopstick-esque things can be loitering without much intent, but then there are force-fields that pop up when passing over certain triggers, cubes that fire regularly and others than spit out homing bullets. On top of that, there are strange blobs dotted around that are hazardous to touch, and floating items that must be blown to smithereens before they hit the ground. Oh, and trampolines to reach otherwise unreachable ledges, and the odd awkward jump from one part of the island to another that will most certainly result in a few deaths.

Still, all sounds quite harmless, right? This is where Quicktequila clearly lives up to its name, having one too many quickies and deciding to go crazy with the stage layouts and placing of minor 'problems' to make them major ones and keep this from being blitzed in one sitting. Dash round a corner - bam, hit by a stray bullet. Try again. Dash round a corner, kill the pesky cube and up pops a shield that eviscerates the lead character. Try again. Okay, dash, shoot, keep dashing to beat the impending force-field arrival, and then accidentally fall off the narrow ledge. Painful! Last attempt. Same again, avoiding the drop…hit by a homing bullet from in the distance. Really the last attempt now! With that, a pattern forms, and that desire to keep on going, no matter what, takes over. Lovely Planet consumes time like no man's business and could easily be the next cult hit on Wii U.