Lost Planet: Gameplay Review

The following review is based on playing through the entire Lost Planet: Extreme Condition campaign on the HARD difficulty. It does not take into account the multi-player game.

One of the first demos I downloaded after my XBox360 purchase was Lost Planet. Even before I really got a chance to play the game I was surprised at how attractive the game was. Having now played it on an HDTV I'm no less impressed by the game's presentation.

If there's one thing that American gamers are often accused of it's being easily duped by attractive graphics. After playing through the demo several times I admit that Lost Planet's graphics were the only thing that I really payed attention to. Picking up and playing through Lost Planet over this last week I was quickly made aware of my short sightedness.

Plagued by repetitive gameplay, short levels, and an underdeveloped storyline Lost Planet comes in just short of legacy that Capcom has built through recent titles like Okami and Dead Rising.

Gameplay and Strategy

It's hard to argue with the main strategies presented in Lost Planet. Right off the bat you'll notice two familiar aspects to the game. In the upper left hand corner of the HUD you'll notice a life meter and counter. Surprisingly your Life meter is nowhere near as important as the counter beneath it. Defeated enemies in Lost Planet drop thermal energy (T-Energy) which is basically your lifeblood.

Fans of the original Gauntlet may remember that your health was constantly decreasing as the game progressed. Your T-Energy in Lost Planet is drained in a similar fashion. As long as you have T-Energy your health will be replenished naturally - once you've run out of T-Energy, though, your life meter will slowly begin to drain. Over the course of the game different variables will also affect how quickly your energy is depleted. Mounting a VS, firing and energy weapon or using a heavy weapon will drain your energy much quicker than using the games default machine gun.

Early in the game this really isn't an issue; in later levels you'll curse the designer who came up with the idea though. One of the last few bosses doesn't drop any T-Energy at the end of the battle and on several occasions I was killed by running out of energy just after defeating boss because I was too far away from the level's exit.

Vehicles

Throughout certain levels in the game you'll have the option to mount certain vehicles referred to as vital suits. Presented to you as a suit devised to make surviving in the harsh winter climate manageable mounting any of the various VSes simply accelerates your demise. This is one of the first major contradictions presented in the game ... if the VS is supposed to aid survival why does your energy drain faster when you're in one?

There is, of course, a trade off that comes in the form of firepower. The Gatling Gun and Rocket Launcher do about twice as much damage as their hand-held alternatives. Unfortunately they also take about twice as long to load and the vital suit, as you can imagine, is significantly less agile than regular foot traffic.

Early in the game you'll find that the trade off is really hard to justify. You're much better doing the run and gun than attempting to use a VS in just about every scenario. The exceptions, in just about every case, are the boss battles. Two out of eleven bosses require a VS (you die if you're not in one); seven require the VS purely for the rocket launcher's damage; and two require you to be able to move quickly which makes a VS useless.

One thing that really bothered me was the the two bosses that wouldn't let you survive outside the VS. In the first you're lack of agility is a major handicap and in the second you're only given melee weapons against an opponent with an arsenal of five powerful ranged weapons.

To make matters worse the vital suits really aren't weapons of precision. Unless you're using an explosive it's next to impossible to hit foot soldiers. Essentially you'll only be using them against large Akrid (the native life-form on the game's titular lost planet) and other VS.

Combat

Due to the limitations and costs of using a VS you'll be spending most of the game traveling on foot. At the beginning of every level you're given a Machine Gun but can collect more as you go. Besides the typical hand-held weapons you can also collect VS weapons which can be used while you're on foot or which you can attach to a VS as you go. Again there is a significant trade-off.

When carrying a VS weapon you move slower and in some cases suffer quicker drain on your T-Energy. Some weapons don't allow you to shoot and move at the same time while others require you to stand-still while you reload. With the exception of the VS Rocket Launcher you'll mostly be using basic weapons.

In combat you have three main opponent types: Akrid, Humanoids and VS. When battling Akrid you'll notice almost immediately that they all sport some glowing body part. Can you guess what that is? Here's a hint ... shoot that. Shoot only that. Shoot nothing else. Yes it's cliché but to some degree it's forgivable. As much as it's old-hat it works.

Challenge

I played through on the "Hard" setting and can confirm that it is certainly difficult. The game is really divided up into sections. Every level has a short map which leads to a boss battle. At about the third mission I realized that your goal wasn't really to destroy anything on these maps ... you just need to make it to the exit. The final level is basically an elevator shaft which, if you realize it, requires simply ascending through it as fast as possible. I beat it twice without firing a single shot.

The only mandatory fighting you really have involves all of Lost Planet's bosses. If you're battling Akrid their weak spot is the glowing portion of their body, shoot that with your strongest weapon and you're pretty much set. When battling enemy VS the rule of thumb is similar - just shoot it (any part of it) with the strongest weapon you have. While I often found myself running shy of T-Energy it was often more a question of perfecting your timing than developing a strategy. Because you're often relying on a rocket launcher to do damage firing it a fraction of a second early or late can result in a full miss.

With certain boss areas only providing a few rocket's a single miss can guarantee imminent defeat.

To make matters worse the final boss is a complete departure from most of the other battles. Unlike all but one of the previous battles you're confined to a VS for the entirety of the fight. Unlike every one of the previous battles, and unlike every VS leading up to this one, this one is pure aerial combat. Because you move through most of the game fighting on one plane this is an extremely disorienting departure. The final battle introduces a new dynamic and suddenly confines you to melee weapons while your opponent has vastly superior firepower.

Conclusions

When it comes to next gen titles Capcom set itself a high bar with Dead Rising. The fun factor associated with that title came mostly in the game's brutal assault on the un-dead and the wide variety of choices available to the gamer. Unfortunately Lost Planet fails to deliver any type of unique gameplay. The one thing that stands out most, your constantly depleting life, is pretty much borrowed from a 20 year old game - that's a problem.

My biggest complaint at this point, and I must admit it's really inexcusable from a next-gen design perspective, is the fact that the main strategy when playing on hard is simply get to the finish line. Finding the path of least resistance and dashing through enemy lines is the only real goal. Once you cross that invisible line all that's left is to fight a boss and endure another cutscene.

I can't say that there's no fun to be had in the game. Playing through on the easier difficulties will allow for more a more leisurely exploration of each map. Because the maps are so linear, though, you're still simply working your way to a checkpoint - at this point we've really moved beyond that.

If you're interested in reading more about Lost Planet stay tuned for our critique due later this week.