Lost Planet Review

By Coxster

Capcom's gripping third person shooter has finally come to the Playstation 3 over a year after its competitors, better late than never I guess. Since we are talking about a game that is over a year ago, they have tried to entice players by providing extra multiplayer maps and characters that appeared as downloadable content on the 360 so at least you get something a little extra for waiting so long for it drop on the PS3, but it really isn't much to warrant purchasing again if you have already played or owned Lost Planet previously.

For the most part the PS3 version of Lost Planet is almost identical to it's 360 and PC counterpart, there is nothing that has been added or taken away, it's the same Lost Planet all the way through the single player campaign. That's not to say that it isn't without problems as the Xbox 360 had a whole ton of frustrating quirks but fortunately it's old school arcade feel and excellent graphics made sure that Lost Planet ticked more boxes than it crossed and the same can be said about this version as well.

The story in Lost Planet is all about snow pirates and giant bugs known as Akrids on a barren frozen planet called EDN 3 and a guy called Wayne…hey beats calling him something like Kane/Cain/Kain for once.

The plot follows Wayne as he tries to avenge his father's death Moby dick style, destroy a whole ton of yucky bugs that would make the Roughnecks from Starship Troopers proud and also take care of murderous space pirates. It's a confusing plot that doesn't really unravel in a coherent way but there is enough cheesy dialogue and science fiction clichés to still make this game enjoyable.

When it comes to gameplay, Lost Planet uses an interesting mechanic that affects the way you play. This game doesn't simply make the player rely on a health bar like most other standard third person shooters, but instead you have to keep an eye on your thermal gauge. Every moment you spend running around outside, your thermal gauge will decrease forcing you to collect energy from fallen enemies which replenish the gauge. Another twist on how this plays out is that you will be able to take a huge licking from bad guys as long as you have enough thermal energy to replenish your health stocks as well. While this little mechanic makes you virtually invincible on easier difficulties, it absolutely will make you approach it with strategy on harder ones.

However, not everything in Lost Planet is as clever and controlling Wayne can be frustrating as he moves in a rather sluggish manner. Add in the fact that enemies are all very fast and powerful and there are plenty of moments when you are almost pulling out your hair waiting for Wayne to stand back up after being knocked down by an enemy again and again. Wayne can't perform any dodges or blocks and must instead rely upon his arsenal to see him get through a battle. Some of the VS mech suits you take control of are also painfully sluggish and sometimes taking on the hordes of these insects can start feeling a little laborious. If they have just sped up Wayne and the lag between when you press a button and when Wayne performs an action that corresponds with it, this would've made Lost Planet a little bit more balanced and fun. As it stands however, fans of true sci-fi arcade action are going to have a ball taking on the huge enemies the fill the screen and look great as a result. All the enemies have a clearly defined point that you will need to shoot to bring them down, all the space pirates are easily dispatched as long as you keep up the offensive on them, and in fact Lost Planet feels very much like a next generation run and gun game, so extra brownie points there.

The problems with the Playstation 3 version is that there is a considerable framerate issues when there are more than a handful of enemies. This is a bit perplexing as Lost Planet on the PS3 is a year behind the competition and considering how powerful the tech is it should've improved upon its next-gen cousin. You will have to do a mandatory install before you play which clocks in about 5 GB. I have a 40gig PS3 and it's not going to take long to fill it up with these installs if this is going to become a new standard. I would love to be given the option of the install rather than have to do it without a choice, as an alternative, developers should strive to make the install sizes as small as possible.

The multiplayer is still here and it's still a whole lot of fun and I can see it being popular over the PS Network. I had a few matches and it was still the addictive and largely fun experience I had on the 360. It was pretty smooth actually so it seems like Capcom have gotten it working well over this service. There has also been an announcement of new downloadable content for this game too so needless to say if you do buy this game at least you will get a lot of game for your Gil.

Overall: At a reduced price, Lost Planet on the Playstation 3 is still a good game if you have never owned or played it on the other platforms it has appeared on. The exclusion of achievement points does subtract from it's overall worth, but there is a great multiplayer game as well as a competent single player experience to be discovered. It's a shame that given the amount of time it has taken to get on the Playstation 3, that nothing has been changed or improved upon to tailor this game to the sensibilities of this particular console, if none of the above apply to you definitely give this challenging arcade shooter a go…oh and you are still not going to find better explosions in any game on the market…man they look good.