LOST PLANET
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Systems: Xbox 360
INTRODUCTION:
Meet Wayne. Wayne is a young soldier who has found himself
smack dab in the middle of a war against monstrous race of extra terrestrial
bugs called the Akrid, since one of them offed his old man. Of course, this
battle isn’t all personal- the Akrid contain energy that humans need to power
their exo-suits to keep them alive, so the war is of course, over a resource.
And so you have Lost Planet, a run and gun game where you’ll be shooting a lot
of nasty bugs and space pirates in the freezing cold temperatures of an
apocalyptic future.
GAMEPLAY:
If this makes any sense to you, Lost Planet is sort of a new,
old-school game. Perhaps I should rephrase this by saying that this game has all
of the qualities of an 80s space shooter, rolled into a current-gen package. I
mean, think of it, a one man army facing hordes of monstrous beasts? If that
doesn’t scream old school to you, I don’t know what does. On top of this, the
game has constant points where enemies just don’t stop; they re-spawn and
re-spawn over and over again until you are able to destroy the nest which houses
them.
Honestly, there isn’t a whole lot that’s groundbreaking or
overly fresh about Lost Planet. If you love blowing stuff up, and shooting a
lot, then this game will be right up your alley. This isn’t to say that the game
isn’t fun- it is, it just tends to become a bit repetitive after awhile. The
difficulty does increase as you go along, and your grappling hook tool becomes
more and more useful and necessary as the game progresses.
I also liked the idea that the energy you can harvest from
the fallen foes allows you to use Vital Suits, which are essentially huge,
powered up robot suits that allow you to unleash some serious firepower, but you
have to be choosy about when you use them because they deplete your supply of
energy rather quickly. If your energy meter should fall below normal, then your
body will become susceptible to the game’s subtitle: extreme condition, the icy
cold. Unfortunately, the control definitely takes some time to get used to, and
if you haven’t gotten the hang of it by the time the difficulty ramps up a bit,
you’ll be in for some frustrating times.
The action in Lost Planet never lets up either, the nasty
Akrid are all over the place, nearly all the time, in all kinds of varying
shapes and sizes. Don’t forget arguably the best part of the game- the boss
fights, as you will face the most hideous, nightmare-inducing (and all around
gross) Bug-monster things you’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, the boss fights
aren’t always that original or challenging, but they provide a breath of fresh
air from the sometimes monotonous run-and-gun game play, plus they’re
breathtaking.
Unfortunately, Lost Planet is also a short planet, as it
won’t take the average gamer much longer than 8 or so hours to beat it. The
single player missions are fun while they last though, and honestly, I wouldn’t
have wanted it to be much longer.
Also, for you multiplayer fans, there’s a ton of modes on
there to play to your Live hearts are content. Deathmatch, Capture the Post,
Team Deathmatch, etc. Good stuff.
Gameplay: 7/10
GRAPHICS:
Lost Planet is no graphical slouch. The animations are fluid,
and you’ll undoubtedly be blown away by the various creatures you’ll encounter.
Everything is very atmospheric, and the fixed camera perspective works rather
well. Lighting effects are also top notch, not to mention the great detail put
into the frozen, arctic battlegrounds you’ll come home. You’ll definitely feel
cold.
Graphics: 9/10
AUDIO:
The dialogue can be fairly lame at times, but the voice
acting’s quite good. The music leaves a bit to be desired, but the real meat
comes in the explosions and gunfire, which will simply rock your speakers. The
screeches and warbles of the enemies will be muffled by the chain guns and
plasma rifles you’re using to punch holes through them like they need makeovers.
Definitely above average stuff, but nothing to write home about.
Audio: 7/10
FINAL VERDICT:
While not the greatest game of all time, Lost Planet is
definitely worth playing through, at least once in single player mode. If you
enjoyed Starship Troopers and have an Xbox 360, you should definitely pick this
up. Yes, the game is formulaic, and the story can get quite convoluted at times,
but really, the action is frantic, the pacing is good, and the graphics push
this title over the edge into the ‘buy’ category. What are you waiting for? Go
make like Ripley and BLAST some alien scum!
FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10
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