Lost Planet is original but it falls short particularly with its very brief campaign.
The Good: Unique method of combat and great visuals is what makes Lost Planet particularly well known. The storyline is alright and the sounds are decent. There are many weapons and machines all worth testing out during combat. Among clearing each mission, a boss is to be fought at the end and this makes things even more tough and fun.
The Bad: While there are bosses at the end of each mission, the game can be easily beaten in 6-8 hours. The sound may also get slightly repetitive. Missions seem too much the same to consider this game to be a joyride the whole way through. Lost Planet indeed has its great moments, but this is not a constant situation. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a game that came out in the beginning of the new year of 2007. It is an interesting third person shooter that puts you up against quite a variety of enemies. Clearing things is simple. You are put in a mission with specific objectives and once you clear the mission a boss is always ready to be defeated. After beating the boss, you watch a few cut scenes and then progress to the next method following the same basis of structure for clearing. A huge problem is that the game is easier than most shooters. There are eleven missions and each one normally takes a half hour to clear including defeating the boss. So the game takes about 6 hours or maybe 8 at the most. After winning, there is a harder difficulty which makes things more challenging, but not hard enough. In the game, you constantly need to search for sources of heat. You are in the cold and need heat to survive. Your gauge starts at 1000 and can easily be increased. This may sound stupid and tough, but it is usually ignored and not a major dilemma at all. There are huge amounts of weapons throughout each mission and they are all unique and awesome to try at leas once. While some are better than others, they all have some sort of use. You can carry two weapons at once, but only wield one at a time. The controls are different than a lot of the shooters but they are very easy to get used to. For example, you normally press the Left Trigger or maybe click the right analog stick to zoom in your weapon, but in Lost Planet you press up on the D-Pad to zoom. This may sound weird but it is alright. As far as a story goes it is pretty suspenseful and engaging but there is nothing special. I mean there are many characters encountered that lead to more and more question and the truth found out at the end is very interesting. The enemies are varied for sure. I have beat down possibly 15 different types of enemies not including the 10 unique bosses. There are many creatures that you fight who vary completely in fighting style, health, amount fought at a time, and size. It is insane. One enemy may be encountered in a group of 20 and is easy to defeat while another may only be fought in a 2-3 pack but has large sums of health. Also some enemies only have certain weak points so you need to use some strategy to win and you need to be on your toes. Some enemies have more than one strong attack you must watch out for. Foes include: Space Pirates, bugs of all different types, and operated machines. Throughout the game, you will encounter many types of machinery that you can choose to operate or are forced to operate. Each machine has its own sets of controls and it is very tough to remember the moves machines make even after the commands are displayed on the screen the moment you enter the robot. You can equip a number of guns to the robot and two weapons can be fired at a time and two can only be held by a single machine.
With weapons, grenades, and robots, there is one more useful tool present in Lost Planet. It is the grappling hook. To escape fights and get the higher ground, by pressing the X button, you can fire a grappling hook which is very cool to use. Although it can’t shoot far, it is needed to reach higher places and sometimes secrets may be found such as great weapons. I felt like Batman, especially because you can lower yourself down and then land. It is a very cool addition to the game and is used in many ways. Not only do you use it to reach high ground, but you can also use it to escape fights. As mentioned before, bosses are fought in each level of the game. The health bar of the boss is shown at the bottom of the screen and some of the bosses can be tough on your first time through. I enjoyed shooting down the many creatures and robots for a great victory in each mission. Too bad the fun doesn’t last very long. Unfortunately the game is short and the fun subsides. The graphics in this game are amazing. We’re talking giant monsters and machines storming in your way ready to beat the living heck out of you. The snow is what the game is known for. I have never witnessed such beauty, even in a non-shooting game. The weapons look cool, and the numerous machines all have their unique touches. I really enjoyed the nice designs put forth in Lost Planet.
The sound is alright. I liked the music and the enemies all utter unique battle cries but it all gets old. Sound is not the best part of the game- let’s just least it at that. It is slightly above average.
Overall, Lost Planet is a great game that you should pick up. I really liked it but know that it is short and rent it. I hope this helped and the review is over.
Peace,
-Oblivion