Planet 51 sees you playing as school boy Lem, or rather not boy, but alien. The aliens of Planet 51 surprisingly live lives not too different from that of humans on Earth, albeit they're green and 'aliens', but otherwise are perfectly normal. The inhabitants of Planet 51 were quite contempt with their lives, that is until an astronaut lands – Chuck, who is surprised to find that he is not alone. He quickly befriends Lem who is tasked with not only the troubles of his own life but getting Chuck back home to Earth whilst being hunted by the alien authorities of Planet 51. The game offers up an open world for Lem to explore and travel through to meet people to do tasks and missions.
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.
