planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~: Game Review

Publisher: Key

Release Date: First/Normal Edition = December 6, 2004

                         Limited/Voice Edition = April 28, 2006

                         PlayStation 2 Edition = August 23, 2006

Retail Price: First/Normal Edition = ¥1,050

                      Limited/Voice Edition = ¥2,800

                      PlayStation 2 Edition = ¥2,800

Genre: Drama

Rating: All Ages

About the visual novel

planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~ is a short visual novel with no user interactions.  You basically click & read the game texts.

Thirty years ago, a World War III (also known as The Great War) broke out.  A biochemical warhead was released & destroyed a huge chunk of the planet.  As a result, most of the human population has been eliminated.  Endless rain falls to the ground, which was created by the warhead.

Present time, 30 years after the warhead strike, the human race is fighting among themselves for survival.  To do so, they kill one another.  A junker travels into the "Sealed City" in search for supplies.  He mistakes the city's planetarium for a military base.  There, he meets a robot named Reverie Planetarian who works at the planetarium.  Because she was put into hibernation for 30 years & finally wakes up, she isn't aware of what has happened.  This is a story between a junker & Reverie in the lonely city.

System Requirements

This applies to the PC version.  Before you start installing the game, you need to know if you have the minimum requirements to play it.  Most of the system requirements listed here are taken directly from the official Key planetarian website.  These are based on visual novel performance.

These system requirements shouldn't be a problem with computers today at the time of writing this review.  Unless you are using a computer from the early 90s, you won't have any problems running this game.

Although it requires a Japanese version of Windows, you can play the game with Windows XP.  However, you need to set your computer's language to Japanese or else you can't play.  And this is a must!  You can't use Microsoft Applocale & get away with it.  planetarian will hang at certain parts & menus, forcing you to exit the program using ctrl+alt+del.  After setting your Windows to Japanese, some of your program's text will not display right.  For example, the address bar will have the ¥ sign instead of the \. 

Graphics

The graphics are quite stunning.  Some of the CG backgrounds aren't stills as you can see the rain pouring down.  Inside the planetarium, a lot of it are stills.  But they still look great.  The colours are dark, but yet soft.  The CG artists really did a good job in portraying the storyline with nice visual illustrations; especially the stars.

The mecha designs are pretty nice.  There isn't many of them since the story doesn't use them very much.  Although they look like weird tanks, it's still creative.

The only character you see in planetarian is Reverie.  She's a robot & a cute one at that.  The character design is bit different than most of Key's past characters since Reverie's eye is a bit smaller & her head isn't that big.  She's designed as a young girl that's really humanlike & the designer did a good job illustrating it to the readers.  When I read the story, I can relate her character to the design very well.

Music & Sounds

The visual novel has volume control settings mainly for the music.  There's hardly any sound effects except for the rain & gunfire & there are no voices except the beginning & the end of the story.

The sound effects are clean & clear.  The falling rain produces a nice sound as you hear it hit the floor.  If you listen carefully, you can notice the rain sound being looped.  But, it's not really noticeable.

The soundtrack doesn't have a lot of songs & most of it are remixed versions of 1 song or a slight variation of other songs.  I really like the song Gentle Jena which is play at the title screen.  All of the other songs sound a bit childish with a cute side.  Nevertheless, the soundtrack really visualizes the story's mood well.

The only voice you hear in the game is Reverie's.  It's the same phrase & can only be heard at the beginning & the end.  The voice actress doesn't talk like a robot.  It's human.  But she sounds like she's got a stuffed nose or sore throat.

Gameplay

As mentioned, planetarian isn't a game.  It's a visual novel where you only click with no decision making involved.

Storylines

Since this is a visual novel with no choices for the readers to make, the story is completely linear.  There are no alternative, good, or bad endings.  Plus, there is no hentai or love involved.

The story makes a lot of references to war & survival, so they are some terms that can be new to some people that don't have background in war.  They don't really add much to the plot & you can get away from it.  Plus, Key has made up some terms that isn't in real life war.  Although the story uses war elements, its theme is about the simple enjoys of life & being with someone.  Key did a good job illustrating it.  Although it contains 8 chapters & can be finished in a week, the story is solid throughout & the ending was very fitting.

Extras, Bonuses, & Secrets

The novel offers a CG Room & Music Room.  There isn't a lot of CGs in planetarian & they only show the backgrounds & stills.  You don't see the character designs of Reverie.  As mentioned, there isn't a lot of music too & a majority of it are remixes.  Don't expect a lot of bonus stuff from planetarian because you will be disappointed.

Replay Value

Pretty much no replay value since this is just a visual novel with no gaming features.  Like some books, you will probably read planetarian once & put it away somewhere & let it collect dust over time.  You will probably play it again in your spare time or want to do some refreshing.

Overall Conclusion

planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~ is a very heartwarming visual novel that will touch your soul.  Key has once again made a great story with an outstanding plot.  The war theme seems to be new to Key from the works that I've seen from them, but they managed to make it delightful to read with no hentai involved.  Although you can finish the visual novel within a week or less, the length of it is just right.

The problem with planetarian would be the terms used.  There are a lot of references of war weapons & terms involved which may confused the reader.  Also, it can get readers bored as well.  Another problem is the story being linear.  Because it has no game interactions involved, it can be mindless clicking & reading.  Plus with only 1 ending, this visual novel can get old very fast with virtually no replay value to bring it back to life.

On a scale of 10, planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~ gets a 9.  The emotional storyline & strong character of Reverie are what held this number.  The lost point is mainly because it's linear & will collect dust quicker than any games you have on your shelf.  Luckily, plantarian doesn't cost too much.

If you like AIR, Kanon, or any of Key's past works, this is one visual novel that I strongly recommend you read.  This is not an ero-game, so it can be enjoyable by any age group.  But the story is well fitted for a young to older audience in terms of understanding it.

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Last updated on August 24, 2006

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