Life on Other Planets was met with generally favourable reviews from
music critics. At
Metacritic, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 74, based on 21 reviews. Some reviewers praised the band's energy and songwriting. Erlewine saw it as a "smashing return to form, an album giddy with the sheer pleasure of making music", adding that there "hasn't been an album that's this much fun in a long time".
Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker thought that the band "continues to evince range and spunk aplenty on Life on Other Planets".
Blender writer Pat Blashill remarked that the majority of "these concise, supercatchy tunes are as unself-consciously traditional, and fun, as an undiscovered cache of
British Invasion rock". Other critics thought the band lacked ideas. Paul McNamee of
NME wrote that "with so much riding" on the album, the band "take no chances, opening at full tilt with a volley of hits-in-waiting". While he "believe this to be the great album they've always threatened, Supergrass start to mug it up; they just can't help themselves". Tangari wrote that "on the one hand, there's an abundance of energy and some great songwriting; on the other, there's less focus here than on either of their previous two releases".
The Guardian critic Dave Simpson acknowledged that it "harks back to the youthful effervescence of their debut - but the energy feels laboured", with its main issue being the "lack of ideas".
Q writer
David Quantick said that while it was "more varied than their last album," it featured "less rock than In It For The Money, it's a fiddly disappointment, as centreless as a B-sides compilation". Kot said the album's 12 tracks were "packed to bursting with the tension of too many ideas and too little time", mentioning that the band's "lack of commitment can get wearisome, and
Life suffers without a guiding sense of personality, a point of view". Pappademas wrote that "unfortunately, Coombes seems to have the glam era's fuzzy-brained approach to pop song-writing nailed a bit too well". He suggested that for the next release, they should "leave their forebear' lazy lyricism back at ground control". ==Track listing==