Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

"Grappling Hook = Redemption"

Intro
I was moving about the time I remembered I needed to put my preorder in for Lost Planet, and at the time, I was really happy I did. However, upon receiving my game the following week, I have found myself somewhat disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid game, and it's quite a bit of fun. But, it definitely did not live up to the massive hype surrounding it's release date.

Story: 6/10
They tried, God bless them they tried, but in my experience with CAPCOM, they have always had some of the weaker storylines, and this is definitely one of them. The general synopsis is (*Minor spoilers, i.e. opening scene*) that you play Wayne, the son of a prodigal VS (more on that later) pilot guned down in the midst of a raging battle against an abominable creature. You wake up, amnesia. Wow, how original. You remember bits and pieces, but overall, it's such a stereotypical thing in games nowadays that I personally find it quite humorous. Regardless, each mission is intermissed by a cutscene, with some very, very, very terrible script acting. The lines are like something out of a bad movie, and they don't flow particularly well at all. Regardless, the game does manage to put together a reasonable storyline. Storyline wise, you're on a planet which humans have been trying to colonize for years, the only problem is that it's made nearly entirely of really cold ice. Oh, and there are giant evil bug creature things called Akrid living among you, or rather under you. Kind of nifty, but kind of stereotypical. The story is certainly nothing to buy the game over, but at least it's there, right?

Gameplay: 8/10
This is definitely the strongest feature of Lost Planet, though it is not without it's downfalls. After Gears of War, co-op storymode over Xbox Live was the best thing since sliced bread. I bought this game under the pretense that I would be able to battle the Akrid right along side my friends. I was sadly, sadly mistaken. Single player is just that, single player. Now, don't mistake me, it's a pretty fun single player campaign, but it's not enough to make the game worth paying USD$60 over. Now, your primary warrior is, as stated above, a man named Wayne. You do a substantial bit of battle standing on your own two feet, though the variety of weaponry is somewhat low, limiting you to a machine gun (which is ridiculously underpowered in multiplayer), a shotgun, two versions of sniper rifles (one with infinite ammo, which is a plus), a rocket launcher, and an energy gun, which is kind of like the plasma pistol from Halo 2. There are a variety of grenades as well, stickies ("gum" grenades), normal chuck-and-boom balls of doom, as well as a few really nifty varieties: disc grenades (think exploding frisbee) and dummy grenades (think exploding life-size-soldier-replica). So, while perhaps a bit mundane for the most part, the weapons are kind of cool Fighting on foot is easy enough to get the hang of, though many are uncomfortable with the rather slow reticle in the beginning, it is kind of tough to get used to being able to use the bumper buttons to perform 90 degree turns, though it is very helpful. The majority of enemies on foot are small and easily killed, but hey wait, what's that giant creature of doom that's throwing fireballs at you going to be killed by? Well, that's where the VS comes in. VSes are giant robots (most people refer to them as "mechs" online) in which you ride in and control from the inside. Most of them have a somewhat human shape to them, though there are a couple different ones (snowmobile, spider, etc). And they pack guns. BIG guns. Cool. What's doubly cool, is that, say, you run out of ammo with your little dinky machine gun, and you, for whatever reason, can't pilot that cool new VS you found. Screwed? Nope, just pull the gun right from it's arm, and in an instant you're wielding a huge ass gatling gun/rocket launcher/laser rifle/grenade launcher/shotgun that doubles as a giant club! Ok, things are looking good. You'll quickly notice a little number in the top left corner of the screen, which starts at 1000 in campaign missions. This is the thermal energy bar, which will heal you if you get hurt. It runs out eventually though, and thermal energy is required to do pretty much everything, including riding a VS. Thermal energy is easy enough to come by though, so that's not a huge problem. Gameplay gets major props in one thing though, the use of the grappling hook ("anchor"). You can point your reticle at a nearby wall, building, tree, VS, data post, whatever, and hit the anchor button, and you'll zip right over there, and jump up. Great for getting to cool places, and secret areas. Gameplay is what makes any game great, good, or terrible. In this case, gameplay is a very positive feature to Lost Planet, but they just didn't have enough to make me really want more, and a few big problems made me want less.

Graphics: 8/10
With so many next gen games coming out all the sudden, it's tough to really compare and contrast graphics capabilities. The game runs smoothly always, and I rarely have any trouble telling what something is. The only real problem I can say here is that things seem too small at times. The levels are massive, and sometimes there will be a teeny tiny little guy shooting at you from 100ft away, and you'll have absolutely no idea where he is among the massive snowy tundra around you at all sides. Also, if you don't like the color white, don't buy the game. You spend most of your time running through snow, and it's extremely bright. The smoke from rockets and explosions is very good, creating a realistic impenetrable screen of blocked sight quite often. Furthermore, the usage of extremely giant monsters is rather strong as well. The movements and the animations are stellar, something few games can pull off so well.

Sound: 6/10
There is little sound to speak of, minus the occasional chirping in of your comrades back at HQ, or the repetitive pop-pop-pop-pop-pop of a machine gun firing out round after round. But, what they do, they do decently. The VSes talk to you when you get in or out, and warn you of a pending explosion, so there's little problems in that category. There just isn't a whole lot to write home about in the sound department. A bit of music might have been nice.

Replayability: With Live: 9/10 Without Live: 4/10
This game shines online, as most games seem to recently. I can't see myself playing through single player again, except maybe to try and get some extra achievements I missed, but that's even a stretch. Live, however, has me back wanting more more more. There are a few different game types, including your normal kill-the-other-team games. Although they are slightly different than the Halo slaver everyone is so used to. You have a "battle gauge", which is basically just a fancy term for "points" which starts at 2500, 5000, 7500, or 10000 based on how long everyone wants to play for. The point is to either empty the opponent's gauge, or have more points when time runs out (the latter of which is what almost always happens). You gain points for your team by killing opponents (which also loses their team points) and their VSes and activating data posts. Pretty simple. Then, there's post grab, which is like a territories game, sort of. It's to see who can hold the posts, in a simplified sense. Finally, there's fugitive. Which is comparable to dreadnought in Halo, one against many trying to run like hell or take guys down with him. Playing online is fun, especially when you can get ahold of a VS, or grapple yourself to a really sweet sniping spot. Certainly one of the selling points of the game, no doubt at all.

Overall
I like Lost Planet, but I don't really think I'd be too upset if I hadn't bought it. It's not Gears of War, it's not going to revolutionize the way people play online, and it's not going to be taking over the #1 game of all time spot any time soon. But regardless, it's a solid title, and it is absolutely worth a rent, at least.

Spleen's Final Thought: Anchor your way over to Blockbuster and rent a copy. Or, if you're a shooter fanatic, skip the process and go straight for the buy. It's a good game, but not the best.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/07