This game may be gorgeous with epic boss battles, but that doesnt stop it from feeling really dissapointing.

User Rating: 7.5 | Lost Planet: Extreme Condition X360
When I sat down to play Lost Planet for the first time, I honestly didnt know what to expect. On the one hand, I have what is supposed to be one of the better 360 games in terms of both looks and gameplay, but on the other hand I have a TPS game where you are shooting through enemies on an alien planet with your time constantly running out. Trust me when I tell you that one makes the game worth playing, while the other stops it from being one of the best 360 games on the platform. Well, thats not true. It's not so much the fact that you are shooting aliens on an icy planet, but more than sometimes, the game feels almost cheap in what it wants you to do. However, the fact that I continued to play the game tells me that it is at least worth picking up.

Now, as previously mentioned, the game has its up and downs. Let's start with the downs, so I can eventually end the review on a happy note. First off, the story is a major let down. It makes little sense and in all probability will leave you not caring what happens to the main character or the supporting cast. The main antagonist is so absolutely evil that I half expected him to show up wearing a Nazi uniform, while stabbing a baby, driving a hummer and keeping mother theresa's head under water with his foot. He is just so absolutely evil. I dont know about you, but I like there to be some humanity to my antagonists! They need to have a vision that you can almost understand, but then you remember that it is evil and you want to kill that person. The protagonist on the other hand is strange and heavy handed in terms of dialogue. The game isnt exactly well-written, and trust me its noticeable. If you are looking for a story-driven game, try looking elsewhere.

So I guess after that comes combat. The combat is standard run of the mill TPS shooting. You aim and fire at the bad guys, essentially. However, with the akrid, they usually have a "soft spot" you have to shoot to get rid of them (the bigger ones do anyway). This is fine for most of the game, but it can get annoying in some of the boss fights. The green eye boss battle (you chase him for the first half of the game) is pretty annoying and doesnt feel as insane as it should. Plus, I felt as though my manueverability was severely limited. Honestly, that boss battle didnt feel as amazing as it should have, considering that the whole game had been leading up to it. However, the other boss fights thankfully do not suffer the same way.

What probably makes the combat weak in some ways is the mechanics of some of it and the setups you are placed in. For starters, you will be forced to deal with the most annoying knock down animation in any game I have ever played. The knock down animation takes forever to resolve, and then of course if you get an enemy that can knock you down easily, there is a chance you will get stuck in a nice little loop being knocked down over and over again. However, I shouldnt make it sound as drawn out as it sounds, seeing as how you will die pretty fast. Even on easy its not very hard to watch your health plummet to 0. Even if you manage to not die, then all of your thermal energy will be drained and then you will be screwed anyway. Honestly, this game would have been just as well off without the whole "thermal energy" mechanic attached to it, and since thermal energy cant carry over from mission to mission, there will be times when you wish it wasnt there. One last thing, if you get pitted against a VS, and you arent in one yourself, and you do not have a rocket launcher handy, kiss you *** goodbye.

Okay, so I have beaten on this game a good bit, so now lets talk about the positive aspects of the game. First of all, the game is stunning to look at. The levels are well detailed mostly, and the enemies are varied and beatiful (well...the graphics are nice I mean to say). Explosions have a great animation to them as well, so trust me when I tell you that you will not get tired of looking at this game. The sound work is okay (with the exception of the dialogue) and the music will keep a nice pace with the combat most of the time. At least it wont seem out of place, like in some other games.

The combat is manageable and can actually be enjoyable for the most part if you dont get placed in annoyingly tough situations that seem deliberately cheap (basically the first half of the game, and parts of the second half). There will be times when you genuinely enjoy playing the game, and then there will be times when you want to throw the disk through your window. It will be a love-hate relationship, with no emphasis on either side.

Lost Planet is a remarkably short experience, so the fact that you can pick it up for under 20 bucks is a plus. The online really doesnt add much to the game, and there are much better online games out there, so wasting your time here is inadvisable. In the end, it comes down to if you can deal with the shortcomings of the game, and in the end enjoy what is sitting in front of you. If you can, then you are in for a reasonably enjoyable game.