Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is the most hyped game on the Xbox 360 since Gears of War. Both seem to have a lot in common: GoW and Lost Planet advertise wonderful graphics, original gameplay, and one can’t help but notice the correlation between both games’ storylines… it’s us versus the aliens once again. So what exactly makes Lost Planet different from Gears of War?
Humans have decided to abandon their comfortable, heat-filled lives in order to colonize a cold, isolated planet called E.D.N. III. (If anyone gets my drift, this is nothing like the place described in the Bible.) The first team of humans to arrive learn that there are colonies of enemy aliens already present on their new home, called the Akrid. These Akrid are hostile and enjoy the taste of human meat. However, the humans have discovered a use for them too: their bodies contain a kind of thermal energy that can be collected and used. The humans retreated, then returned with new technology capable of standing up against the Akrid: the Vital Suit. The survivors banded together to form a group called the “snow pirates” and have begun roaming the planet using their VSs in search of Akrid colonies to destroy.
You are Wayne. Wayne, his father Gail, and many other survivors have banded together in their search for Akrid. One Akrid named “Green Eye” ruins the plan by showing up unexpectedly and threatening the lives of Wayne’s small group. Wayne and other members jump into their Vital Suits and a battle begins. As the group notices that Green Eye cannot be stopped, they begin to retreat. While the others are running, Gail arrives and surrenders his life to let the others survive. During the retreat, Wayne gets knocked out and his VS is covered in ice and snow. Some time later, Wayne is discovered by some traveling snow pirates who nurse him back to health. Now Wayne and the remaining snow pirates have two missions: find and destroy all of the colonies of Akrid, and seek revenge on Green Eye.
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition has an interesting set up. Wayne must find thermal energy to stay alive, and most of this energy is harvested from data points or Akrid. The meter is constantly running out, and you must continue to fill Wayne’s energy meter. If the meter gets down to zero, Wayne will begin to die…… and it is no slow and painful death. Running from your enemies is not an option, as you need to kill them to stay alive.
Many of your missions have the same objectives: find the hordes of Akrid and kill them. Within each level there are several data posts which restore your t-eng (thermal energy) level. Also, there are many weapons strewn throughout the landscape which are either laying in plain sight or that Wayne can dig out. Collecting weapons is essential, as weapons are layed out in strategic locations. Most of the time, the position of a weapon is a hint that you will need to use it to get to the next part of the level. Throughout the level are many weaker Akrid and usually one or two mini-bosses. There is usually a boss at the end of the level, but mostly no warning that you are coming up to one. Be alert; many bosses come out of the snow or jump at you from the sky. Keeping your t-eng level up throughout the game is key to achieving all of the objectives.
The first level of LP serves as the tutorial. Follow your clan members and learn how to shoot, use Vital Suits, pick up weapons, and use your grappling hook. LP’s controls are laid out in an intuitive way, so the tutorial is not totally comprehensive. Reading the instruction manual will help a bit, as it took me about a minute to find out how to change weapons.
The weapons in LP range from grenades to rocket launchers; gatling guns to rifles. Available weapons depend on whether you are on foot or astride a VS. VS’s usually have much more powerful weapons than Wayne can carry alone, so it is a good strategy to use a VS whenever possible. The only gripe that I have about the weapons is that Wayne can only carry two at a time on the right and left triggers. Grenades are carried on the left trigger, guns on the right. Players must choose between many available weapons, so it is too bad that we can’t carry them all at once. Because there are so many weapons available in each level, picking up one that Wayne already has restocks the ammunition. Keeping enough firepower during each level is not difficult.
Aiming in LP sometimes can be a challenge. The direction that Wayne is looking is controlled by the left analog stick, and aiming is controlled by the right. Swinging around to make a quick shot at a bad guy is slow. During boss battles when it pays to be quick, the difficulty of the battle is exacerbated by the slowness of the aiming. The “cruise” style of aiming is automatic when you start the game, so make sure and go into game options and change the aim to “accelerate”. This makes playing much easier.
There is an certain level of exploring present in Lost Planet. Checking the map is always important to make sure Wayne is going in the right direction, but hunting around for energy, enemies, and weapons can be a fun part of the game. All of the levels are huge! Using the grappling hook to get around is interesting, and the grappling hook also employs automatically if you fall off of any of the abundant ledges. The landscape doesn’t really change according to the levels. Many times Wayne travels through abandoned buildings, snow, and caves, but the landscapes and layouts are always different.
Saving is also never a problem. The game autosaves after you reach specific points in each level. Many of the save points are either right before or after a large battle, or when Wayne enters are new section of the level. If Wayne dies during combat, players can choose “retry” from the main menu and pick up where they left off. If players choose to quit during a level they can continue later from almost where they left off. No save points, no save option, nothing. The responsibility is taken out of our hands, and I really appreciate that!
There’s no denying Gears of War is a great looking game, but now I think it has a little competition! Lost Planet looks great from every aspect. The character models look great… they are on-par with GoW and surpass those in Zelda: Twilight Princess. Buildings and landscapes look great.. if you look at the floor of a cave, you can tell it is uneven. Cars buried in the snow have a light dusting on their roofs, and old buildings still have signs that you can read even from a distance. The Akrid look great, and their sheer massive numbers is scary. Green Eye looks a bit like a dodongo (or giant lizard for those who aren’t Zelda nerds) with the face of a squid… the weird tentacles and eyes really freak me out. Imagine the creepiest bugs you can think of enlarged to the size of a house…
Bosses are nothing to smirk at either. The bosses are enormous compared to Wayne, somehow relating the sheer magnitude of the fight and your odds of loosing. Luckily many Vital Suits are available for use during the battles, so as you exhaust one VS, there may be several others available for you to use. Each boss as a life meter shown on the bottom of the screen. Shooting the boss or throwing grenades at it is a good plan, but surprisingly there is an even better, more obvious target. The place where each bad guy and boss stores their t-eng is transparent and glows bright orange. Destroying those body parts are the keys to taking the boss down quickly.
Lost Planet also speaks! The character and narrator voices are great and sound authentic. The rest of the music for Lost Planet is virtually non-existant. The background music is not interesting enough to comment on, but the sound effects are really great. The mechanical squeaking the VS makes when walking is great, as are the sounds of gunfire. Explosions sound cool and the far away sound of oncoming boulders is enough to urge Wayne out of the direct path. It is all the little things in this game that make it great.
Lost Planet offers a great multiplayer. Those who are signed up for Xbox Live can create battles that others can join with up to 16 players. You can choose from Elimination, Team Elimination, Capture the Posts, and Fugitive (where the host becomes a fugitive and the other players must hunt him down). Signing up for a battle is great, but most of the time you have to wait a few minutes until there are enough players. When someone creates a battle scenario, they get to specify how many players are needed and what type of battle it is. Now, it may be that there weren’t many online players yet because we received the game on release day. If you are a normal person that picks it up after work, the next few days will see many more players willing to fight together. I sit here reminiscing of Goldeneye and Counter-Strike… this is one of the best multi-players out there right now.
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition shows the powerful capabilities of the Xbox 360 system. I don’t care if popular opinion boasts that the PS3 will out-compete the Xbox 360 in the future, the competition is now. Lost Planet looks better than anything PS3 has to offer right now. Also, Lost Planet is one of the best titles you can purchase, no matter which genre or console you prefer. The story is intruiging, the graphics are beautiful, and the sheer fun of playing Lost Planet is enough to spend the money in the first place.
Lost Planet was being hyped when no one believed us… take my advice and don’t miss out.
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