D+PAD Magazine writes:
I haven't seen Planet 51, but judging by the trailer it looks like an inoffensive take on E.T's story, except here it's an astronaut by the name of Chuck that crash-lands on an alien's planet (in which case the human is the real alien, even though the inhabitants of Planet 51 are green-skinned mutants who look a lot like, well, 'conventional' aliens). In a nod to the rich-vein of science fiction of the era, everything looks as though it's straight out of 50s America: all suburban streets, comic book stores and Space Race excitement. There's even a robot dog who looks and acts suspiciously like a certain WALL-E, another CG animation character influenced by Spielberg's 80s classic. By taking so liberally and charmlessly from such recognisable – and obvious – cultural touchstones Planet 51 appears to be an appropriate precursor to its inevitable marketing prop, Planet 51: The Game.
El33tonline writes:
"Aliens. Ooh, scary! We read about mysterious aliens coming to earth, searching for intelligent life and failing to find it in the US. We read how they kidnap poor trailer trash hillbillies and do all sorts of nasty probes. We see movies of the little green men using ray guns to vaporise everything and everyone in their way. We listen to music that sometimes sounds like the artists are from another planet. And finally we play games about aliens coming to our planet and scaring babies. But in Planet 51, the whole concept has been turned on its head."
PSX Extreme writes: "Video games based on movies have increased in quality this generation. We've actually seen a few pretty decent efforts already; The Bourne Conspiracy and Kung Fu Panda have been solid and worthwhile, which is why I go into such reviews with an open mind. Unfortunately, Planet 51 is a step backwards due to somewhat sluggish controls, a style of gameplay that forces the player to complete trivial and extremely boring "missions," and an overall lack of immersion."
Planet 51 is an okay way to kill a few hours, if you're really so time-rich you can afford to waste your precious life driving very slowly around a dull alien planet. It's not horrendous, but it's light-years away from great.
