Lost Planet is a solid action-adventure filled with moments of pure awesome only let down by some monotonous design.
This is with no disrespect to the Xbox version and I certainly have no sentiments with the appalling port that the Playstation 3 received either. While I will say the PC clearly, and obviously, outmatches both machines visually on this game I enjoy it more for a different reason. It is because of the controls that I prefer Lost Planet on PC than on consoles. You see Lost Planet on the consoles had a peculiar aiming mechanic where essentially the cursor freely roamed the screen.
In most third person action games, the cursor would remain tightly in the middle so the right analogue stick can move the camera freely but Lost Planet reversed this and it made turning much slower, if uncomfortable. Capcom have a history of such strange layouts often citing the reason for employing it is to add difficulty to the game, which it does, but in an infuriating manner. However Capcom also have made it their method to not adopt their controls onto computer ports of their games, and Lost Planet on PC objects completely to the Xbox 360 style of play.
The game itself otherwise is much the same. If you're familiar with any other version of Lost Planet you would know that it's levels take place on a frosty alien world inhabited by desert like creatures known as the Akrid. Although you do have a health bar and ultimately that is what dictates your survival on each level, the object to staying alive is by obtaining as much thermal energy as possible throughout the level. The thermal energy heat source accumulates into rebuilding your health among other things but it slowly drains away and thus has to be consistently found in order to keep going.
Much of Lost Planet is discovered on foot as you play as protagonist Wayne, a snow pirate suffering from amnesia. The story of Lost Planet is nothing to shout to the heavens about. The cut-scenes are experienced in short bursts between the ending of a level and opening of the subsequent one, with largely stoic characterisation.
But it does highlight one of the major features of the game, the VS – Vital Suit, Lost Planet's excuse to throw mecha into the midst of a firefight. The VS control is much the same as manoeuvring about on foot, but ofcourse being more clunky as it would be. There are a variety of VS' to use throughout play. The boss battles in later levels of the game are generally decided based on your ability to expertly use the VS you're riding furthermore.
One of the faults of Lost Planet is that, being a fun game that it is with a varied structure, the levels and difficulty curve can cause the game to grow repetitive towards the end. Maybe it is due to the snowy premise of the design, or maybe it's Capcom's reliance on mecha to make the level progress quicker. It is too predictable either way. The way it would seem, enemies and obstructions follow the times two format as you keeping moving on in the game. With they each level they do double the damage, with double the enemies, double the pitfalls, etc, etc.
Another annoying thing I found about Lost Planet Is that the multiplayer is severely limited. This could be down to Capcom doing a lazy job of simply converting the Xbox's servers to PC but since the game requires the use of Microsoft's Games for Windows service it also demands paid subscription to pay online… and for peer-to-peer servers no less. Quite frankly, when there are games like Counter-Strike Source and Unreal Tournament operating with FREE DEDICATED SERVERS it is a very jerkass move of Microsoft to demand PC gamers to pay up for subpar connection quality. Not cool. This is a shame also as the Colonies Edition of Lost Planet has extra multiplayer content.
It goes without saying that Lost Planet is a great looking game. The snow effects are obviously up to scratch as you might expect but the character detail is sublime, with the Akird looking's and moving like a wild alien might and the enviroments being as lost and decrepit as you'd hope. If you have a Geforce 8800, the game should play very smoothly in default settings. Since the game is now over two years old, no machine should have difficulty now running the game on higher settings and smoothly. My own PC, which has a bog standard Intel Core 2 and ATI Radeon HD 4870, plays Lost Planet at 60FPS constantly, which is much, much better than that of the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.
The sound and music of Lost Planet is largely forgettable. Much of the game is quiet bar some sound effects and the voice acting isn't particularly praiseworthy. As a game, Lost Planet isn't very long either. Even if you hunt down the achievements, the game can be completed promptly in less than ten hours. If you're enthusiastic, I would imagine it is very much possible in one playthrough.
But Lost Planet is still a typically solid action-adventure game by Capcom standards. Although the design does get monotonous, the pacing of it is smooth with varied challenge, moments of awesomeness (especially when piloting the VS) and it is pretty easy on the eyes too. As mentioned earlier, the keyboard and mouse set-up personally makes the game better for myself and given its platinum status it can be found swiftly for less than £20. You can't go wrong with that.