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XBox (Games)

Lost Planet - Extreme Condition Review 66

Posted by Zonk from the it's-cold-outside-there's-no-kind-of-atmosphere dept.
Though it would be hard to judge by past reviews, I really do like simple games. The straightforward nature of Burnout Revenge is, in my mind, one of the best ways you can present a game. It's with a decided note of frustration, then, that I have to report my distaste for Capcom's latest offering - Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. Demos for this title have been downloaded endlessly since last year's E3, and in the format of a one-level demo there's a lot to like. How can you go wrong with the formula of a devastated Earth, giant bugs, and mechs? By fronting the game with an unlikable protagonist and following up with AI that alternates between mindless and cheap, Capcom fails to deliver on the promise of any of those concepts. Read on for my impressions of another simple game that I really wanted to like ... and don't.
  • Title: Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
  • Developer/Publisher: Capcom
  • System: 360
  • Genre: 3rd Person Action
  • Score: 2/5 - This game has serious flaws, but may contain enough fun to be worth renting for a weekend.
Maybe this is just something between me and Capcom. Last year's Dead Rising was very popular, and it just didn't do anything for me. There, again, the setup seemed impossible to screw up: open-ended fun in a zombie-filled mall. Yet, somehow, the game gave me a lot more zombies than fun. Here too, with Lost Planet, my impression is one of promise exceeding execution. The bugs are attractively designed, the game looks really good, weapons are satisfying to fire, the mechs feel um, mechy, but the whole thing is tied together so loosely as to leave you feeling cold.

The fact that I didn't care even a little bit about what happened to Wayne, the story's protagonist, made it especially hard to enjoy this game. Dead Rising's Frank was at least a likable guy. A soldier-guy with memory loss, Wayne hooks up with a band of opportunists fighting back against the bugs and ice pirates that stand in the way of their search for sellable goods. Wayne, like every other character in the game, suffers from terrible voice acting and a general airheadedness that makes it very hard to take anything he says seriously. When deep dark secrets about the world around them or the evil corporation start to be revealed, your reaction is one of boredom rather than intrigue.

Really, what you want to do, is get back to shooting Akrid. The beautifully designed bugs that inhabit the icey planet's subsurface are, for about half the game, a very satisfying foe to fight. The game offers you several different weapons with which to combat the bugs, and all of them 'feel' right and have a use for specific circumstances. The standard machine gun even feels suitably powerful, and it is in these ground battles against the swarms that Lost Planet feels at its most polished. Despite Wayne's plodding stride, the title manages to give an impression of agility with bumper-button quick turns and a grappling hook that can take you to higher ground and better firing lines. Akrid essentially line up for the slaughter, but they are so vicious (and numerous) in their simplicity that bug hunts make for enjoyably tense and action-packed battles.

The title also concretizes the icy nature of the planet by forcing you to 'deal' with the elements. You are essentially on a timer whenever you are out in the field, as a number representing the heat stored in your body armor steadily decreases over time. Slaying enemies or breaking open stores of a reddish gel replenish this substance, which also acts as an always-on shielding system. Like the energy shields common to many FPS titles nowadays, as long as you have heat energy available your actual health bar is very hard to damage. Another way of replenishing your energy is via the data posts scattered throughout levels. These act as save points, heat replenishers, and radar data points; activating one will net you information about the surrounding area in addition to the other benefits. Neither of these mechanics are unprecedented, but give the game an interesting tone that jacks up the tenseness of battle situations.

If fighting bugs, popping data points, and keeping warm were the whole game I wouldn't have a lot to complain about. The issue is that bug battles are but one portion of the game. The 'primary' villains of the game aren't the bugs at all, but other humans. The ice pirates, corporate soldiers, and mechs from both groups are going to be your primary opponents before too long, and they are much less enjoyable to engage in combat. Human soldiers are downright boring compared with the attractive Akrid, and what is an 'acceptable' level of AI from an insect makes a human look unfit for duty. Waves of cohorts can be slain before the eyes of an ice pirate, but his programming requires him to stand (unblinking and unfiring) as you advance on his position. Also: What does an ice pirate do, exactly? Penguin keel-hauling? Shiver me timbers.

Mech combat suffers from the same problem. While piloting the vehicles feels right, combat against human opponents is unfulfilling. Wading through baddies in a mech is great, again, when they're bugs. Against humans you'll mostly be walking down your cretinous fellow sapients, who are too slow-witted to get out of your way. A consistent worry when mech piloting is that you'll blunder into someone with a rocket launcher just itching to fire from point blank range.

Mech to mech combat can be fun, especially in non-boss fight situations. Particularly appealing was the feel of the mech-sized shotgun, which has a punch and sound effect similar to Batou's 'Big Gun' from "Ghost in the Shell". Boss battles were an entirely different scenario. These long-lived pilots employ cheap tactics to offset the inadequacies of their AI, and it's endlessly frustrating. One fight featured a mech that would attack by leaping onto you with uncanny, pinpoint accuracy. Another has you scrambling into a mech while already under attack at close range. The attacking mech has a laser weapon which knocks about a quarter of your health bar off at every strike; several fights against that target began with the beam hitting me twice before I was given control of my combat suit. Likewise while there is entertainment to be had in mowing down on-foot opponents from your mech, I am the protagonist. Allowing the NPCs to have that kind of fun makes me feel cheated. The enemy mechs can fire heat-seeking rockets into your body at close range, but why do they? How is that in any way fun for the player?

It's not, and that's the bottom line for the entire game. Just beneath the attractive graphics of the title (some of the best snow and explosions I've ever seen), just past the game's satisfying 'feel', the game breaks down into a mishmash of unrealized potential. What is the point of the mechs feeling right, the weapons being suitably weighty, or the bugs being beautiful if none of it is fun? Just as with Dead Rising, original thinking fails to meet up with engaging gameplay; the whole thing is a disappointingly missed opportunity. We talk a lot on the site about the lack of originality in games, but sometimes I understand why game companies keep going back to the till. If you have a proven working formulae, one that engages players and is actually entertaining, how is that a bad game? I'd much rather play a satisfying sequel than face the disappointment Lost Planet offers: originality without entertainment.
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Lost Planet - Extreme Condition Review More

Lost Planet - Extreme Condition Review

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  • pick a person (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stoolpigeon ( 454276 ) * <bittercode@gmail> on Friday February 02, 2007 @03:27PM (#17863326) Homepage Journal
    and stick with it. preferably first. second doesn't really work because this game hasn't left me cold, my reaction hasn't been boredom and so on. maybe i'm turning into a grammar nazi - but this just drove me nuts because the review keeps saying things about me and they aren't true.
    • Yeah, I can imagine a second-person shooter wouldn't be nearly so much fun. I mean, who wants to play from the viewpoint of the hapless minion, watching the protagonist mow down your foot-bound colleagues all around you with his awesome mech suit?

  • How immersive is it overall? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Sciros ( 986030 ) on Friday February 02, 2007 @03:33PM (#17863444) Journal
    I remember reading that the game's "immersion" factor suffered due to there being levels where you're walking by fire and lava and all sorts of things that basically give off more than enough heat for the whole "cold meter" or whatever to seem ridiculous. Lava is really hot, and you'd actually need a cooling suit for those scenarios I suppose. Anyway, being big on "immersion" myself, I decided that was enough to keep me away considering the number of other great games out there at the moment.

    Has anyone who played the game gotten an impression of the music? Good music can do a lot for a game which tries to create some sort of mood.
    • What SHOULD keep you away from this game, if anything, is playing the demo. In some games things like the lava giving off heat would really matter (a little), in some wtf cares? Play the demo and see if you like the gameplay.

      If you like the gameplay, then hit START past every single story scene in the game. The game is fun to play, the story will kill you and feast upon your soul.

      • the story will kill you and feast upon your soul.

        Dude.... What kind of books are you used to reading? I love to read, I've ready all kinds of books, good and bad, but I've never had a story attempt to murder me and suck out my disembodied spirit. Maybe it's time to stop reading computer game promos and get some sunlight, ya think?

        Square, noisy light = bad.
        Round, peaceful light in sky = good.
        Pizza farts = bad.
        Fresh air = good.
        Using thumbs and occasionally twitching your head for hours at a time = bad.
        Usin
        • Play the game then talk.. You have no idea what is going on right now. The story is the most ludicrous piece of crap on xbox360. This storyline actually walked into my room while I was sleeping and shat on the foot of my bed. When I woke up I thought it was my cat, but when I rewound my motion activated laptop video camera I soon discovered that it was actually Lost Planet's voice acting personified. It was disgusting...

  • Say as you will but I liked the game (Score:4, Funny)

    by MakoStorm ( 699968 ) on Friday February 02, 2007 @03:34PM (#17863468)
    This game gives the goods pretty well. You shoot, pilot big ass robots around that shoot, kill a bunch of bugs, and kill a bad guy in a bigger robot suit then yours. What's not to like?

    Sure the storyline is kinda flat, but your not playing it to be emotionally propelled into something right?

    Shoot the bugs, get their guts to stay warm... Love the game.

  • Good game (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Loadmaster ( 720754 )
    It really reminds me of a Sci-Fi version of Gunsmoke. Pretty linear, can be difficult at times and pretty much all you do is just wade through baddies to get to an end boss. Easy to play and just plain fun.

    Swi

  • I've only played the demo... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by NeutronCowboy ( 896098 ) on Friday February 02, 2007 @03:37PM (#17863510)
    ... but I have no idea where Zonk is getting the idea that the game is not engaging. On the contrary, I feel the game is very engaging - tons of stuff to do, battles that are always slightly different, good weapons, an intriguing story, great atmosphere, great graphical effects. I understand that these are all things that are in the eye of the beholder, and accept that people might not like the same things I do.

    So Zonk, please don't tell me what my reaction will be to certain things. What's more, I have no clue what your beef is with the multiplayer or mech battles. I understand that there is some issue with fun, but really, what is it? It's not fair that other mechs have rocket launchers? That they are too powerful? Quite honestly, it sounds like you're whining that NPCs get to do stuff you can't. Wow. It's a game with different characters, who are different because... wait for it... they do different things.

    It's reviews like this that make me understand why people block all your submissions. I want the ten minutes of my life back that I spent trying to understand this review.
    • You: "I've only played the demo."

      Zonk: "Demos for this title have been downloaded endlessly since last year's E3, and in the format of a one-level demo there's a lot to like."

      You: "On the contrary, I feel the game is very engaging - tons of stuff to do, battles that are always slightly different, good weapons, an intriguing story, great atmosphere, great graphical effects."

      Zonk: "How can you go wrong with the formula of a devastated Earth, giant bugs, and mechs? By fronting the game with an unlikable protag
      • And as I pointed out, I do understand that it is a demo, and that there is no accounting for taste. :)

        I just don't understand his beef with the game - quite literally, I couldn't understand the reasons he gave for it. They made no sense. I still don't understand why he thinks the AI is cheap. And unfortunately, Zonk told me quite explicitly that I wouldn't like the game. That's the drawback of using second person in sentence structure.

        • I just don't understand his beef with the game - quite literally, I couldn't understand the reasons he gave for it. They made no sense.

          Here's where Zonk explained it:

          If fighting bugs, popping data points, and keeping warm were the whole game I wouldn't have a lot to complain about. The issue is that bug battles are but one portion of the game. The 'primary' villains of the game aren't the bugs at all, but other humans. The ice pirates, corporate soldiers, and mechs from both groups are going to be your pri

          • Thanks for highlighting the portions that made no sense to me. :) The first highlight is still common in every single game I've played so far, even in those that tout special AI. To single out Lost Planet is rather silly. The second one... well, I don't get it. Is the problem that he's stepping on his own troops who don't get out of the way? That opposing troops don't evade his mech? Personally, I find that great fun. :) Finally, cheap-shots... what, so the caco-demon's use of rocket launchers is cheap? Or
            • I think his point is that the bugs make challenging and fun bad guys. The moment that you manage to beat those bad guys, you're put up against something weaker rather than stronger. That's the exact opposite challenge curve you would expect, and is really annoying once you're pumped up in the heat of battle.
        • Play the FULL game, not just the demo, and you'll understand.

          The demo is just a facet of the entire game, and taken in its entirety, the game is a major disappointment and definitely warrants the 2/5 rating. Trust me, I played the demo as well and IT'S GREAT. However when you play the FULL GAME you'll realize other elements of the game THAT'S NOT IN THE DEMO bring the game down.

          Don't rate the game on the demo alone. Rate it on the full game!

  • dataposts aren't savepoints (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The review is wrong, dataposts aren't savepoints... only a couple of points per mission have loading sequences which is where the "save" points are. The game only saves if you finish the mission or quit. That was my major complaint in the game. It was fun if you ignore the mindless cutscenes and manage to get through the couple of frustrating boss mech battles. DO NOT play this game on HARD... NORMAL was unfair enough at times.
  • I own and have beaten this game. I thought it was great! There are times where you will get knocked down and get up and then knocked down again without a chance to fight back. I think that's just my fault for sucking at the game. Though the mechs are what this game is all about. You start off with some mediocre mechs, then half way through the game you come upon the coolest mech ever. Your dads mech. It then turns into a more Armored core game than anything. With the gattling guns you can essentially hold d
  • Reviewer hated it, but had to admit that being "murdered by ice pirates is good."
  • While I can understand some of the frustrations stated, there are some things I disagree with- one of those being the complaint the enemy mechs would fire at the player while the player was on foot. How is this a bad thing? One thing thats always bugged me about FPS styles of games- You carry a whole arsenal of weaponry, and can switch them out to accomodate different situations. Why can't the enemy? I'd like to see a game with sufficient AI and enemy design that after seeing several of his allies laid

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Kirin Fenrir ( 1001780 )

      I'd like to see a game with sufficient AI and enemy design that after seeing several of his allies laid low by my shotgun, the enemies switch to their longer range weapons.


      It's called Counter-Strike.
      • I don't really think AI or enemy design are related to counterstrike at all, unless you're playing with bots or something. On most CS servers, you'd be likely to find "I" let alone AI.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Chyeld ( 713439 )
      I think that is the point. At spots in the game you are pitched against opponents who are either simply insanely ramped up compared to everything you've been fighting so far. While the remainder of the game is filled by folk who are too busy looking at their navel to fight.

      That is a valid complaint, I don't mind difficulty or challenging scenarios where I have to play over and over again before winning, but the leadup to these events should give some sort of 'training' in regards to a solution to the proble
  • "I'd much rather play a satisfying sequel than face the disappointment Lost Planet offers: originality without entertainment."

    How fun will gaming be when all the developers make sequels? If no-one tries for originality then we will never see any, ever again.

    Indy gaming studios are getting squeezed out of the action. SOMEONE has to try something new once in a while...

    • "I'd much rather play a satisfying sequel than face the disappointment Lost Planet offers: originality without entertainment."

      How fun will gaming be when all the developers make sequels? If no-one tries for originality then we will never see any, ever again.

      I'm confused as to how you made your observation from the comment you quoted. He was just making the point that in this case, although the game contains originality, it doesn't play well. He's not saying companies should just make sequels.

  • That's Absurd! (Score:5, Funny)

    by XLawyer ( 68496 ) on Friday February 02, 2007 @03:48PM (#17863690) Homepage
    I've lost my car keys before, but an entire planet?!?
  • I've not finished the game yet, but I'm pretty far into it and I have to say I'm having a lot of fun with this game. The storyline is, naturally, ridiculous, but the bosses are great and there are tons of them (and the AI tactics are not 'cheap', IMO.) Graphics are also excellent, especially the particle effects. The ability to change your mech's weapons around, mix and match, is great, and the mechs are all well-designed and fun to drive. (I especially like the 'motorcycle' one and the 'tank' one.)

    I do agr

  • way too much (Score:5, Funny)

    by the dark hero ( 971268 ) <adriatic_hero.hotmail@com> on Friday February 02, 2007 @03:53PM (#17863760) Homepage
    He calls the Akrid attractive far too many times in this review. What do we call that? Insectophile?

  • I have felt that games recently lack the kind of quality that I usually look for in something that I will invest time and money into; however, I'm not sure that it is really a widespread idea. Game vendors still make sales, and there are obviously people playing these games. One look at it might be that people are just settling for what they got, but I feel it is more the fact that I am from a different generation of gamers, and the newer players are where the market is geared. At the risk of sounding like

    • I'd like to see more discussions of the really good games available for PC. I'm not a console kind of guy, and I'd like to hear a little bit about which new PC games you all like. Until HL2 Episode 2 comes out, I'm kind of bored. It's 4 degrees Fahrenheit at the moment, and this is prime game-playing weather.

  • Ice Pirates (Score:3, Funny)

    by tycage ( 96002 ) <tycage@gmail.com> on Friday February 02, 2007 @03:59PM (#17863844) Homepage
    There was a documentary made about what Ice Pirates do [imdb.com] that you might find helpful. :)

  • sound... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by aapold ( 753705 ) on Friday February 02, 2007 @04:03PM (#17863904) Homepage Journal
    Maybe I missed something to turn on, but with a nice surround sound system, the contrast between the level of audio immersiveness between this game (not much) and gears of war (incredible) is worth noting...

    That being said, I haven't really gotten into the game yet, what with Burning Crusade coming out...
  • "How can you go wrong with the formula of a devastated Earth, giant bugs, and mechs?"

    I'm not sure how you can miss the fact that it isn't Earth - if memory serves it's covered in the very first minute of exposition before the game actually starts.

    Don't you have to pay attention to a game if you intend to review it?

  • ITA (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Other posters have commented on how it doesn't make sense to simultaneously call the game too easy and too hard, but that's the same reaction I had. The on-foot AI frequently blows itself up trying to shoot you from behind cover (protip to AI: you have to aim outside of the cover) and seem to be largely irrelevant. Then you start fighting mechs and bosses, whose tactics consist of knocking you down, then hitting you again in the overly long timeframe between when you become eligible to be hit again and wh

    • Collecting heat and weapons is useless, as when you transition, you will more often than not be reset to 1000 heat and a machine gun.

      I am surely not alone in wanting to know how the developers rationalized this. Contrast with Rainbow Six: Vegas, or Crackdown, both of which reward 'on-site procurement'. Found a nice piece of enemy ordnance? Bring it to a supply point, and it'll be added to the menu of items you can requisition from that time on.
      Another tip I ran across: the energy gun (not to be confuse

  • I noticed that this review didn't discuss the multiplayer in Lost Planet at all. Is it fun to play with others? Does it have a good lobby system? I've had some friends that've been asking me to play LP with them, but I've got so many other games to play that I haven't even removed the disc from the case yet.

    • The lobby system is actually pretty well done, it's the first xbox live game I've played where, if you try to connect to a match which turns out to be full, you dont't get send back 2 screens and have to reload the whole server list.
      Sounds pretty logical, but all xbox live games reload the list and it's very, very annoying. There was a public beta and they actually listened to what the testers had to say, apparently this is a newsworthy event since there was a slashdot story on it here [slashdot.org].

      The multiplayer gam

  • Hmmm, A Game Review on the front page but not the Games Section.

    Our normally vigilant Slashdot Editors made a mistake? I'm Shocked and appalled.

    On Topic...
    I want this game. Any chance it will be on the PC in the Future?

  • Mostly agree with the reviewer (Score:3, Informative)

    by BendingSpoons ( 997813 ) on Friday February 02, 2007 @04:26PM (#17864312)
    I played the game a few times, had a little fun, and haven't really gone back to it since. There's nothing that really pulls me back to the game.

    Shooting bugs is fun, but the storyline makes no sense and the cut scenes are long and boring (although fortunately skippable). The "heat/health" system is poorly implemented; your heat continues to run when you press select to check your (unhelpful) map.

    I also agree that the hero is unlikeable, although I can't believe that anyone would refer to the hero of Dead Rising as more likeable than anyone else. That guy was like a skinny, more annoying Fred Durst.

    When's the last time Capcom made a good game, barring the first 1/5th of Resident Evil 4?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Thraxen ( 455388 )
      Why should it stop because you are looking at the map? I assume this is done because it's your character that is supposedly looking at the map and his thermal energy would indeed keep getting used while doing so. The thermal engery system is one of the things I though was well done in the game.
      • I hear what you're saying. However, the game didn't have much atmosphere to speak of - like the reviewer says, it has a cool concept but never feels immersive. If I felt immersed in the game's world, I wouldn't mind my energy draining while I try to figure out the map. It would've made sense and added a sense of urgency.

        As it was, it just felt like a design flaw. It didn't help that the map wasn't exactly a model of clarity. Why should I be losing health while I try to figure out a muddled map?
      • Because that's not very fun. It's like the hearthstone in WoW vs. whatever it was called in Everquest. The WoW one recharges in an hour real-time, the EQ one recharges in an hour game-time. It makes more sense to put the time limits in-game, but who really cares about realism in this small instance when you're trying to make a fun game. Unless the sense of urgency when using your map was what they're going for, it would probably make more sense to stop everything once you go to the map screen.
        • I don't agree with you. If you're looking at your map, you're still playing the game. Hitting Start will pause the game, if that's what you want to do. Hell, getting attacked while using the PDA in games like System Shock II is half the fun.

          Speaking of WOW, you might as well argue that looking at the map in WOW would stop a gryphon you're on to stop flying unless you close the map again.
          • I can see where you're coming from, and I haven't played the game so I can't comment on this specific one. I'm just saying that if they're not going for a suspenseful, urgent sort of feeling and it is difficult to figure out where to go then it may make sense to pause the game when looking at the map. Nobody likes dying because they couldn't find where it is they're supposed to be going.
  • My own review... currently playing up around mission 7 or 8...

    Overall? Same as Zonk, I'd say: 2/5

    This game could have been so much fun. When I played it at last year's E3, the action seemed nailed down, the weapons (and more importantly, the feel of combat) was also fun. Pretty sad to finally play the game and find that so many things have gone wrong.

    Story and Narrative - well it just plain stinks. The narrative and story doesn't make much sense, and the way the game is setup there is no continuity. Here is

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Thraxen ( 455388 )
      I agree 100%. The game has so much potential, but it's wasted. I HATE getting knocked down by a weapon only to knocked down again right when I stand back up. This happens over and over and over. Your character gets up frustratingly slow. This one problems absolutely kills the enjoyment of most of the combat in the game. I also don't like the auto-aim system. It's too damn "sticky". Many times I'll be trying to aim at one enemy and my character will auto-lock on another nearby character. Or I'll see
      • Is there some way to turn this off in the options?

        Yes.

        but I'd rather just aim manually anyway.

        Then turn auto-aim off in the options. Duh.

  • A much more positive review... (Score:4, Informative)

    by bVork ( 772426 ) <rpantella+slashdot.gmail@com> on Friday February 02, 2007 @04:59PM (#17864834)
    I rented the game and (mostly - I didn't replay any of the difficulties or find all the coins) finished it over the 5-day rental period. It was a lot of fun. I wouldn't have regretted buying it, though I'm rather glad I decided to just rent it instead.

    The gameplay is a lot of fun. The action is really fast and hectic, more so than Gears of War (though Gears is an overall better game). The AI isn't particularly great, but I don't think I'd want to face off against the huge mobs in Lost Planet if they were any brighter. Besides the fast twitch action against grunts, some strategy is required for larger enemies - there's no way you can face down a mech or giant worm while on foot without the proper weapons or planning. The boss battles are absolutely incredible. Nobody, NOBODY does boss battles better than Capcom. Always difficult and always varied, each boss requires very different tactics to take down. The bosses aren't just puzzle bosses, either. While they invariably require shooting specific parts, both that knowledge AND great twitch skills are required.

    The controls are also great. I'm not a fan of the default floating aim, but there are tons of different configuration options. There are enough different options that most people will find one that suits them. I personally set it on Fixed 6 with button layout B, with aiming assist turned off. The on-foot movement can take a bit of getting used to, since Wayne actually runs in the direction of the analog stick as opposed to strafing. This can get a bit odd when running backwards and moving the stick a little to the left or right, which causes Wayne to switch weapon sides. Still, it isn't a bad movement scheme, just different than the usual third-person shooter. In some ways, I prefer it - running in any direction is equally fast, no matter which way the camera is aimed. Mechs are slower and control a little clunkier, but they're supposed to be like that - they're large walking tanks. Each mech has very unique handling, as well. There are enough mechs scattered throughout the levels to provide a wide range of choices in control, weapons, and special abilities. A couple sequences do force you to use specific mechs, however.

    The graphics are absolutely stunning. The levels and characters lack the detail found in Gears of War, but Lost Planet's levels are much larger and there are absolute hordes of enemies onscreen. There's some slowdown, but it only happens in rare (and very insane) circumstances. The designs for the Akrid and the mechs are very nice. I'm not a fan of the odd mixture of realism and anime found in the character designs, but they aren't horrible either.

    The sound is hit-and-miss. The weapon sounds are nothing special, but they get the job done. The voice acting isn't Resident Evil level garbage, but it isn't very good - much of it is overacted and oddly emphasized. Enemy yells are similarly overacted (and repeat far too much). The Akrid sounds are fairly nice, and the glass shattering sound made when you hit a weak point is particularly satisfying.

    The music reminds me a lot of Metal Gear Solid 2. There's a strong main theme and some tension-producing tracks in-game, but a great deal of the game is played music-free. It's okay, but nothing really great. I wouldn't buy the soundtrack, but the music certainly didn't get in the way of anything.

    Lost Planet does have some major flaws. The plot starts off fairly strong but quickly wanders off into incomprehensible pointlessness. It feels like half the cutscenes are missing. Character personalities are never truly developed, only inferred.But I don't play games for plot, and Lost Planet has fun enough gameplay to more than make up for it. Unfortunately, that gameplay comes to an end fairly quickly. It only took me 8 hours to finish all 11 missions on the normal difficulty. An attempt at replay value has been made with the inclusion of hidden achievement-related coins scattered throughout each level and difficulty, but I didn't bother looking for them. The levels
    • All those control options and yet they didn't manage to find the extra 5 minutes to add swapping the sticks, so us southpaws could enjoy the game. That was a deal breaker for me.
  • Wow, guess I'm outnumbered but I'm enjoying Lost Planet more than GoW at the moment. I was just so tired of the dark, brown, enclosed world of gow, that a white, blue, open world of LP was a nice change. And I laugh when i see people talking about how bad the storyline is. Sure, its pretty cheesy, but good lord GoW's script was just plain awful. I'm not complaining mind you, I just hope the people say the same thing about GoW though.

    When you're firing your gun there is some level of auto aiming, at l

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by earache ( 110979 )
      Naw dude, I'm with you. I think too many people were expecting GoW, when this is really an action game instead of any kind of tactical shooter. There are sequences on the later levels that are completely insane with the amount of action going on, but really the gameplay is a sophisticated take on Contra or even Galaga. Swarms of mindless drones punctuated with tougher mini-bosses and some pretty tough but fun boss fights.

      At least that's how I see it and expected it to be, so it's completely satisfied my
    • just like in Black and Just Cause (gah, that latter game headcrabbed), you can shoot your grenades to set them off early... maybe you want to set up an airburst, or you want that grenade which landed under a large Akrid to detonate now and not a couple seconds from now.
    • thanks to some chap who put this up on YouTube: a relatively easy way to deal with the bee/hornet-like Akrid is to shred a wing. Then you can take the uncontested shot at its vitals or simply pass it by (which, as someone else said here, i
  • Where's the multiplayer review? That's a whole different game.
  • I just got done with level 4 last night, the game is awesome. The game play IMO is better than Gears of War becuase it is more varied, and the enemies are a lot more varied. Gears looks beautiful, but the game play was a lot of the same thing. I just love mechs, and this game does them justice, they are simply awesome to control and fight agaist. Some of them transform into other things which kicks it up a notch.

    The major flaw, and only flaw I have seen thus far, is the voice acting and story, man is it

  • Trailers lie (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The worst part about 360 games are all the trailers etc for the movies(sometimes constructed from cut scenes). They are all very pretty including the ones for Lost Planet, but they make promises the games can't keep because the actual gameplay can never be so cinematic.
    Of course I have gotten used to that now so that I don't get tricked anymore.
    Look at Bioshock. Looks real cool but I think the gameplay looked a bit boring from the preview.

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