As a huge fan of the original Lovely Planet, it's with a heavy heart that I have to write a negative review for its succesor. I've played Lovely Planet for 250+ hours, and I held WR runs in many categories, so I feel that I'm obligated to do this.

This game is not for speedrunners. That's all there is to it. No chance of sequence breaks, no vertical aim, no glitches to shoot through walls. Honestly, there's nearly no freedom of movement. The ability to choose how to route your levels was what made the original so great. Jumping in this game is next to useless as far as routing goes. The levels railroad you to take the intended route.

As a casual game, I'm sure this is jolly good fun, but as someone who was expecting a true sequel, I'm left with a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm soory, but I just can't enjoy this game.

I played the original Lovely Planet for over 100 hours, and this game feels inferior in every way. First note that this game, like the original does not have a crosshair. Additionally, this game has no y-axis aiming.

The game is split into about 100 levels in 4 acts. The goal of each level is generally to kill all enemies, collect any coins and reach the goal pillar. The game feels very limited in terms of movement and aiming, compared to the original, which let you traverse long, uneven levels and shoot high up enemies at a distance. Instead you're left repetitively shooting enemies on your level, only so far away from you. You can no longer shoot without lag, as your gun now has a reload animation, which slows the game down significantly. The fun, unobtrusive soundtrack of Lovely Planet is hard to live up to, and this soundtrack does not. The music is average, and I found act 3's song so repetitive and annoying that I had to turn off music audio.

But enough comparing the games. I think that even by itself, Lovely Planet Arcade is a bad game. Removing y-axis aiming might not bother some, but every level in the game is a flat, square space. The only things differentiating levels are the enemy and wall placements. The walls and rocks which act as obstacles are plain, and the single environment is uninteresting. Jumping exists in the game, but it only serves as a mechanic to kill certain kinds of enemies and avoid spikes on the ground. You cannot jump over other obstacles to find different routes. There isno depth to the movement whatsoever.

You'll come across several enemy types. Some are bland, like the enemies with shields, which can only be killed while jumping. Others slow/stop time and teleport you to their location. These make for some interesting strats, but quickly get repetitive, and slow the game down. Then there are the invisible enemies, which kill you instantly - the only way to beat these levels is by trial and error, until you figure out where they are. There are even enemies which blind you when you kill them, until you kill another enemy or pick up a coin. The effect is a jarring grey screen, which usually results in a clumsy level completion. Levels are linear in design, from movement down to shot order. There's not a lot of freedom to differ from the intended strategy.

The game does come with some modifiers to the levels; mirror mode will let you play mirrored versions of every level and fast mode will make the game feel a lot less sluggish. You can also earn stars based on how quickly you complete levels, so there's some replay value there.

Honestly this game feels more like a puzzle game to me. A puzzle game where you don't see the whole puzzle. You'll have to play levels multiple times to figure out the linear solution.

Lovely Planet with a shotgun. That's all you need to know! If you've played the original Lovely Planet and enjoyed it there is no doubt in my mind this game will rekindle those sweet, sweet feelings. Whilst its a different movement system we're all familiar with from the original, this game stands on its own for enjoyment and the difficulty from the get-go.
Buy it. Buy it now.
10/10 - This is a biased review, I've waited so long for this moment ;_;

Totally don't understand the negative reviews. Fans of the original Lovely Planet ought to enjoy this game. It plays like doom with no vertical aim, you don't go flying like you did in the original but it still manages to keep the pace fast. The style and music is pretty much the same, basically feels like you're playing Katamari but you're wasting everyone with a shotgun. 8/10 will be playing a lot of this game.

More casual and easier than the original, But the new mechanics and enemy type (slow motion, teleporting enemies) really make this stand out from the previous Lovely Planet.

This is pretty much a spin off, Play the original if you haven't first, play this one after if you're looking for a new take on the gameplay.

I hope we get an actual Lovely Planet 2 in the future, While I really enjoy this one, The "you can only look left and right" mechanic is something im not a big fan of.

The first game was fun, it was mostly skill based and not very memory based. In this, Act 2 and later are fully based on memorisation. There are even invisible enemies that you have to redo the level over and over to figure out where they all are. It just isn't fun, and I don't see why I should be forced to retry multiple times for reasons that aren't based on my skill.

Note: This game was reviewed using a code sent by the developer/publisher it doesn't change my opinion on the game.

Lovely Planet Arcade is a very cute FPS game which tests your skills and reflexes and gives you a big challenge.

Lovely Planet Arcade is the sequel to Lovely Planet. In the previous title you had a machine gun and it was more focused on platforming, but this time it's all about fast movement and fast reflexes while you shoot people with a shotgun.

Before we go into the meat an potatoes of this review, I want to address the fact that I have not finished the first Lovely Planet. I finished the first 15 levels and stopped playing, because of other games clogging up my massive backlog.

From the start the game was pretty simple and incredibly fun, but more the game progressed I felt a little disappointed, by many of the design choices and I'll explain right now.

The gameplay is very similar to Lovely Planet. You're put on a map and have to kill everyone on the map and destroy all hazards, then you can exit the level and as the game goes on the levels become more complex as they go on. The gameplay is pretty much identical for a few differences. This time you have a slower weapon, the shotgun and it's sometimes really slow and the stuff you need to pull off is insane.

The game is rather disappointing and barely get's a positive review from me, but it's fun and for the amount it's asking for you can really get your moneys worth. So let's get through all of it.

First of all the graphics are pretty nice. It's the same style as Lovely Planet and well, it's lovely. It's a great art style and works in a very cute way.

The gameplay however is where I take my issue. As the game progress it becomes more tactical and strategical and requires a lot more thinking, especially in the final act of the game. Also some of the design choices like invisible hazards in Act 3 were annoying and the only way to know where they are is with trial and error.

The levels are also poorly designed, it takes a while to figure out where everything and sometimes it's confusing as well.

To ace every level also you need to follow a pixel perfect path to get three stars to ace the act. The first act is pretty simple, but however in later levels this might seem next to impossible.

The game took me 3 hours to finish all four acts, but it should take way longer to ace everything and find the secrets across all levels.

Overall I think Lovely Planet Arcade is a decent game, but from what I played of the first one, it's not better, it has a lot of problems and I think you should wait till a discount before playing this game.

Pros:
+ Fun gameplay
+ Neat art style

Cons:
-Frustrating gameplay
- Poor Level design

6/10

Arcade is both very much like the original Lovely Planet and a decidedly different game thanks to going back in time to the no-y-axis shooter style. Getting used to the lack of vertical aiming took a bit(mostly because I have never actually played much of a game like that) but the controls are as tight as ever. Furthermore Arcade doubles down on the speedrunning aspect with a less spammy weapon and purely speed driven scoring. The package still works well enough, but in many ways it is a clear step down from the original.

Most importantly the focus on speedrunning means the removal of accuracy score, so there is no longer any reason to replay a level in a different style. Granted your accuracy should be damn near 100% given the shot speed so removing that is reasonable, but it wasn´t replaced with anything either. Secondly Arcade has far less charm than the original. Mostly this is because levels are flat and without the y-axis you aren´t looking around that much. There isn´t much to look at either, levels feel like they were built with a WAY overly simplistic level editor with just the same assets plopped down on a flat plane over and over. The level selector having been changed to a simpler list doen´t exactly help either.

Difficulty-wise I maxed out the first three stages of the original and never even beat the fourth one. In arcade I´ve now(after the times were nerfed to something reasonable) maxed the first three of four stages, and the mechanic in four is rather bad. Up to this point the game has been a blast and like the original I´m happy with the experience even without beating it.

All and all I´m conflicted about Arcade. It´s plenty fun enough in its own right but in many ways it is just worse than the original. It´s good they went for a different style of shooter(and a different weapon) but unfortunately that also simplified a lot of stuff to the detriment of the title. Still can recommend it though as more Lovely Planet.

Lovely Planet Arcade is the formula youve known to love with the series, with a twist. There is no Y-axis making quick movements and peaking around corners just as nessasary as it was in the original Lovely Planet. Levels start out easy and become harder over time. The same enemy types from the last game are not used, but instead a whole new array of baddies must be mastered. The worlds are more flat and have less scenery, but this makes additional room for the puzzle aspects of Lovely Planet. Joyful music is to be expected, but in my opinion, is a slight downgrade to the quality of music found in the first lovely planet.
the cons-
-music is more repetitive, worse quality
-no longer has a feeling of joy and freedom
-since reloading takes time, you have to think about when you shoot and not just where
-there is almost no aspect of speedrunning, since each level can be finished in a easy line from start to finish. no more jumping onto scenery for a quicker time here.
If youre new to the Lovely Planet series, start out with the original, then move to Arcade for more challenges.

This is preliminary review, so it might change when I encounter later mechanics.

TLDR:
Like the last game, slow and steady wins the race, more so here because you can't quickly fire, you must be precise with your shots. It's no longer a platformer, more a straffy shoot things in the correct order but watch out for surprise enemies kind of game with similar graphical and musical design as the original. Overall an easier game than the original, but with a similar though more lade back charm. Unique, but I hope you can learn to love it if you are put off at first. [sidenote: this is not your average shooter so don't expect it to be. ]

Review:
The original Lovely Planet is one of my favourite games on steam (though I haven't quite finished it yet). I don't normaly like shooters, particularly First Person Shooters, but the Original Lovely Planet showed me, through it's pick me up soundtrack, over the top cutesy graphics, exploratory game play (because discovering what is going to kill you, and how you can kill it efficiently is half the fun) and excellent platformy shooty FPS courses that make you feel like a boss when you three star them, that I could not only enjoy an FPS, but come to include one in my top 2 pc games. That's a big feat.

So, I was excited, but weary of a sequal. And with good reason.

First, Lovely Planet Arcade is not the same game, and I can't see it joining Lovely Planet at the top of my list just yet (But it might grow on me so who knows).
******************EDIT
Half way through act 2 and I love it, this game is fantastic!
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Differences:

The first thing I noticed before I had even started moving was the big ol shotgut in centre screen. The original had a very magical wand like 'machine gun'(?) of sorts, so for me that was a bit off putting/disappointing, but I guess it's a shooter so what could I expect. (still, it squeeks when you fire so..)

Now, this is more than just a skin. It affects the gameplay in a number of ways. First off, it obscures the screen a teensy bit, and when you fire, there's a puff of smoke, also obscuring what's in front of you, so you have to be a little more aware of your surroundings. Unlike the last game, you can hit multiple enemies with your shotgun which becomes integral if you want those 3 stars. The shotgun also reloads slower so make your shot count.

Your movement is more controlled. You can't jump very high and there's no falling off of edges (so it's not really a platformer), and you can no longer aim up or down, you can only turn left and right which makes straffing a core mechanic (I imagine this will make it easier to play with a controller). You also collect coins.

The music is less pick me up and more chill relax. Overall it is an easier game.

Things I like:

I like how the game leads you around. Bombs will fly past enemies, showing you the way, but ready to expload if you miss your one shot. I actually like the fog, despite some of the other reviews. It provides moments when you know the enemy is there, but you're never really sure how close, so you have to click quick. Creative use of jump :) The overall feeling of the game is relaxing. Like the last game, new mechanics are surprising which is a joy. You still have to think.

Like the last game, slow and steady wins the race, more so here because you can't quickly fire, you must be precise with your shots. It's no longer a platformer, more a straffy shoot things in the correct order but watch out for surprise enemies kind of game with similar graphical and musical design as the original. Overall an easier game than the original, but with a similar though more lade back charm. Unique, but I hope you can learn to love it if you are put off at first. [sidenote: this is not your average shooter so don't expect it to be. ]