Planet 51 follows Captain Charles ‘Chuck’ T Baker as he tries to find his lost spaceship after crashing down to Earth and being separated from it. Along the way he meets up with an Alien named Lem who decides to help him in his task although things don’t always seem to go to plan.

 

The game takes the style of a sandbox game, therefore you are free to roam as you please, wandering from mission to mission all while trying to find the various collectable comic book and sticker pages which are spread throughout the land. Missions consist of plenty of races, which take place in cars, trucks and bikes and you will also find yourself delivering newspapers, mowing lawns and taking part in all other manner of tasks, although unfortunately none of them really seem that much fun.

 

Take the racing as an example, you will sit in your car racing around the streets against your rival, however the design of the world is such that only really other cars will get in your way, there is no real challenge and nothing much for you to think about, you even have a boost to help you catch up should you be behind therefore most of the time you will find yourself winning the race without too much of a hassle.

 

Because this is an open world game it does seem rather empty compared to others which is a shame really because at least the developers have attempted something a bit different. The main problem though comes in the shape of the vehicles which never really give you much of a sense of control. They really are quite hard to handle, feeling very unrealistic and not quite balanced enough.

 

Graphically the game is a mixed bag, the way the cutscenes are worked into the game is fairly innovative, although this is spoiled by the constant dropping of the framerate throughout the missions. The sound is also a bit of a disappointment with a lot of the voice clips being reused over and over again, making for a frustrating experience.

 

Speaking of frustration, there is nothing I hate more than loading screens and unfortunately Planet 51 is full of them, no matter what you do you will be constantly staring at a loading screen, time and time again.

 

The controls on the console versions are just about passable, however the DS version, which is usually better in this area really disappoints, using the stylus and the D-pad together just feels awkward and clunky, making controlling your vehicle an almost impossible task.

 

Planet 51 does include a multiplayer game, with the PS3/360 allowing users to battle head to head with a friend in a race, destruction derby and also a pass the bomb style game. The DS version meanwhile uses single and multi-card play depending on the type of game you are playing.

 

Whatever format you decide to play Planet 51 on you will be met with an experience which isn’t amongst the worst out there, but one which is just ok. The presentation isn’t bad and neither are the ideas which are implemented into the game, its just that they aren’t really much fun and at the end of the day that’s really what gaming should be all about.

 

If your kids love the movie then you may just about get away with buying them this title, otherwise there are a lot better games out there, so perhaps you should consider these instead.