Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a Capcom developed 3rd person shooter boasting big boss fights, walking tanks and ice cold temperatures. Is this a game that ploughs through the snow effortlessly or is it frozen in ice? Here is my review.
Story
The story to Lost Planet is that mankind can no longer sustain itself on Earth, since the planet has been ravaged by Global Warming, so the colonisation process begins when they find EDN-III, an ice planet that is just suitable enough for humanity to begin anew, so long as they can survive the frozen environment and the wildlife know as the Akrid; an abundance of creatures that sustain themselves using thermal energy stored inside their bodies. 100 years later and humankind has managed to harness that thermal energy for themselves while ridding the planet of the Akrid using giant robot suits known as VS (Vital Suits). You take on the role of Wayne, a soldier serving under his father Gale as they are ambushed by the Green Eye, a legendary Akrid. Shortly thereafter Wayne is found frozen and amnesic inside his VS by some Snow Pirates and joins them, as he discovers who he is, a conspiracy involving his father and a company called NEVEC. This may sound like the start to a good story but what Lost Planet has to offer is middling. The story is paced cripplingly bad with cutscene, mission brief, mission, cutscene and so on, coupled with JRPG-like emotional moments that are completely undeserved, 2 characters that are needless and developing bits of story that go over your head and just about push you away. It’s a shame that awe-inspiring boss battles (although a little uneven) especially the endgame boss, detailed creature/character design, the brilliant Vital Suits and fantastic explosions are plagued by an 8-10 hour average story.
Gameplay
The objective of Lost Planet is to plough through a level while fighting Akrid and Snow Pirates to reach the end, to find a boss battle or a cutscene. The Akrid are especially fun to fight because the only way to down them is to shoot the glowing spot located on their body using a range of weapons such shotguns and rocket launchers. The boss battles are probably the highlight of the game not just because of the design of the creatures a kin to the Legend of Zelda series but because of scale, the biggest being a large worm which is optional to fight although if you do decide to tackle this gargantuan creature, then god be with you. There are even platforming sections in the game which can easily be conquered using your anchor or VS that are usually found at the beginning of a new section. Although the game gives you the tools to do your job, there is one hindrance to balance it out, in the form of Thermal Energy. Since you’ll be traipsing there snow and ice, you need to stay as warm as well as fuel for your Harmonizer (a device on your arm that keeps you alive) you need to regularly collect Thermal Energy from fallen foes which works a little bit like the rings in the Sonic the Hedgehog series; if you have no more Thermal Energy you can no longer regenerate health and it slowly decreases over time. Although this mechanic links the setting to the gameplay it can get really annoying especially in the harder parts to the game, in fact you’ll die many times from having no Thermal Energy to defend yourself then you will through difficulty. The game also has a multiplayer component comprised of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Territories and Infection game modes and will actually keep your attention more than the single player although the weird control scheme takes some getting used to, you’ll be diving out of harm’s way and dominating the battlefield with your VS in no time.
Presentation
For a 2007 released game, Lost Planet still holds up quite nice to this day. If you like Capcom’s graphical style you’ll not be disappointed, coupled with motion-blur that gives the action more intensity and explosions that briefly white-out the screen leaving a smokey haze, it’s all a treat for the eyes. Animation is also done superbly; every time you see Wayne stumble in the snow from a massive shockwave you get a sense of weight from the world, when you see a long legged Akrid take massive strides to reach you and when Wayne runs through the snow as well as fall through it, it just looks great. Character design is interestingly Japanese from a NEVEC commander with a pale white face with beads in his hair to the Akrid that just simply look alien, with spiky, weirdly shaped extremities it looks like an anime series, although the main antagonist looks laughably like an evil video game developer but overall the graphics are great. The sound is also brilliant from the whirring components of the VS to the screeching Akrid and the sound of crunched snow underfoot.
Problems
Lost Planet is one of those games that I would call a ‘flawed gem’ it’s one of those games that you wish was better but it never reaches it potential, such problems as an average story littered with undeserved moments and details that pushes you away, a very strange control scheme that does take a lot to getting used to, horribly repetitive pacing and frustrating deaths caused by the Thermal Energy system and you can see what I mean.
Despite Lost Planet’s flaws it does have some great moments namely the huge boss battles and the intense combat that translates very well into the multiplayer making it the best component to the game, if you’re up for fast paced combat against huge creatures and giant robots, give this a rental and have a blast. Let’s just hope that the sequel fixes the flaws and improves the formula but other than that, this is a good start to the series just not a great one.
- UKSamwise