Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

When a game gets everything just right, it often fails description as we are reduced to summing up the near flawless experience as ‘real good’. On the other hand, describing a game’s weaknesses is much easier when all its unmentionables are showing. Such is the case with Lost Planet, a game blushing with embarrassment. Lost Planet would be top-notch, third-person action game if it were not for the sum of many smallish issues collectively dragging it down. In short, Lost Planet’s snowbound thrills run too cold for its own good.

The “lost planet” in question is E.D.N. III, one big frozen snowball. When humans begin to colonize it, they find out the planet is inhabited with the hostile Akrid – a giant insect-like race – and get driven back, but decide to return to actually fight the Akrid. This is where you come in: Wayne, a soldier in what is presumably the effort to drive out the insectoid enemy.

The presentation of the story in Lost Planet is bad. Let me rephrase that: the presentation of story in Lost Planet is absolutely terrible. The plot is complicated and utterly nonsensical to boot. The situation is not made any better by voice acting and dialogue that is typical Capcom bad, with character reactions that range from over-wrought to bizarre. The presentation could have had some real camp value if not for the fact that nothing makes sense. The only upside are the cut-scenes which show off the games’ slick visuals.

While the story isn’t going to bring the game to its knees, there are plenty of other flaws that nearly succeed in doing so. For starters: the controls. They ain’t broke, but they still need a lot of fixin’. The gameplay in Lost Planet has two broad aspects: on-foot or VS (i.e., Lost Planet’s version of mechs) action. The on-foot controls are decent enough, with responsive and fluid movement as you’d expect. But beyond the bare basics, the rest of the functions are poorly implemented or practically hidden; the examples abound. Wayne is able to dive in any direction to quickly remove himself from harm’s way. But in order to do so you have to 1. click in and 2. hold in the left stick while 3. pushing in any direction and then 4. push A. Not exactly simplicity itself. Furthermore, the animation ‘sticks’ at the end of his dive roll, pausing his forward momentum and thus creating a very awkward, almost disturbing, break in fluidity. Perhaps the oddest control feature is the inclusion of an instant left and right 90° turn mapped to the left and right shoulder buttons respectively. These are completely unnecessary. This is a uniquely Capcom quirk, a vestigial holdover from the early days of Resident Evil when control was truly horrible. Had this function been removed, it would have cleared buttons for other functions like, say, the aforementioned dive and roll. Control configurations B and C do, in fact, get rid of the 90° turn altogether and maps the shoulder buttons with the more useful zoom and reload functions instead. One wonders, then, why they were every included in the default control setting to begin with?

Besides poor design choices, some of the functions are flat out hidden. For instance, during the very first level, you’re prompted by a teammate to turn on your flashlight. Ok. Wait, how? Worse yet, there are other techniques that are not even mentioned during the game, let alone being told how to accomplish them. Like, for instance, using your anchor shot – a spiderman like grappling hook – to scale an enemy VS and throw a grenade at the cockpit (a clever addition, but you’ll only ever discover it through fluke or by carefully reading the manual). It seems silly to mention, but they could have introduced these techniques with a simple unobtrusive tutorial. Better yet: show other characters using the technique. But neither method of instruction is in there.

VS’s have a unique control scheme. In fact, each VS has a tweaked control scheme unique unto itself. Upon entering one for the first time, the action pauses while a screen pops up describing its unique functions and button scheme - then it’s up to you to adjust to the brand new controls in the heat of battle. Despite shared functions across all VSs, the variety increases the learning curve’s steepness considerably. The game even has the audacity to introduce a brand spanking new VS for the final boss fight, with significantly different controls! It is a baffling decision that makes for a frustrating experience. What’s more, piloting a VS feels like pushing a large metal block. While I get that they are not supposed to be gracious creatures, they should at least be fun to control.

Further dragging down the controls are bad design choices similar to the on-foot controls. You’re able to swap weapons loaded onto your VS’s flanks by walking over a new weapon and pressing B. However, you have to precisely walk over the weapon - if not, you’ll eject yourself from the VS since the B button shares that function! Not very smart. Also not very smart: the booster capabilities. Each VS shares the ability to engage a jet powered ‘boost’ in any direction, including up. While useful, it’s entirely ungainly. Rather than pushing and holding a button to activate the boost and releasing to disengage, you push once for a pre-determined amount of boost that ends in its own good time. Such is the effect that well after the boosts’ usefulness, your VS continues to sputter about whilst you vainly try to keep it reasonably still.

While I’m on a roll here, I might as well run the gamut and comment on the aiming scheme and viewing angles. Control of your reticule is fine and responsive, a blessing that helps forgive some of the aforementioned flaws; after all, being able to aim well in an action shooter is kind of important. However, it too has its inadequacies. Most notable is the fact that you can’t aim all the way up or down. Given that you’re frequently under or over the enemy, this can get bothersome real quick. But what’s most bothersome is your characters’ position directly in the middle of the screen, thus obscuring your view. This is just amateurish: even first person shooters have been placing the gun off to either side for an unobstructed view for years. It’s telling that a development team must have had some trouble figuring out just what to do when they offer three different aiming settings in the options (ditto for the viewing angles served up in three varieties, none of which are ideal). These are the kinds of things that gamers shouldn’t have to make decisions on, no matter how much spin you put on the perceived benefits of ‘choice’.

There are more than a few moments when all these issues come to a head in one giant cluster-frustration. In one particularly tough boss battle, you will struggle with viewing perspective, controls, the whole shebang! You will be hitting the boost in your VS to avoid taking damage but unable to end the boost to take back control. If you get slammed up into a wall you’ll see the back of your VS and not much else, unable to grasp any sense of situational awareness. You’ll try to accurately aim at the boss’s weak spots but will be frustrated by the VS obstructing your view. Most ragingly frustrating of all, your VS gets stunned by large projectiles, only to recover and get hit immediately and stunned again. This hit-stunned-hit-stunned scenario happens while on-foot as well.

The action in Lost Planet is frenetic and constant. For those of you with itchy trigger fingers, there is a lot here to scratch. A plethora of enemies are on screen at pretty much all times. It helps that there are many unique Akrid types, ranging from the man-sized variety to the downright monstrous. Each Akrid design is also inspired; I haven’t seen creatures that look quite like this before. Some engagements are flat-out thrilling, like a massive worm smashing its way up through a frozen field of ice and snow, towering several stories above you. Each level has a boss battle and each is usually a challenge and a spectacle. Defeating the Akrid takes more than just indiscriminately pumping them full of lead. Sure, you could aim anywhere and unload, but most have weak spots for strategic kills. The Chryatis, for instance, has very large arms with weak spots near their base; by focusing fire on these weak spots the arm will eventually snap off and therefore reduce the Akrid’s offensive capabilities.

Like the Akrid, your weapons are also diverse. Your standard assault rifle, shotgun, and sniper rifle are all present, but along with more original additions like the plasma and energy gun. There are also several different grenades - the disc grenade being the notable standout as it’s thrown like a Frisbee and sails through the air until finding an object to attach itself to. All the weapons satisfy and have specific functions and advantages, although you’ll never need one particular weapon to get by. Your weapons’ attractiveness may be a moot point anyhow, as it’s the reactions from the Akrid that satisfy most. Most Akrid animate wildly when shot; get the aforementioned Chryatis on the ground, for example, and it will spasmodically flip and jerk about when shot repeatedly. There reactions are so violent, that it lends an ethereal and frightening dimension to combat. Different weapons will also have different effects with different enemies. One of my favorites involves the Dongo – an armadillo-like Akrid that curls into a ball then launches itself at you in a rolling charge. During this charge, a well timed shotgun blast will cause the Dongo to spin onto its side and out of control until unfurling into a prone position leaving itself vulnerable. The effect is awesome; battles like this feel as though they’ve been touched with just a hint of insanity.

I wish the same could be said of battling humans. Frankly, they’re downright stupid. Their behavior consists mostly of standing, shooting, and occasionally running behind cover. Menacing they are not. Sure, the Akrid may just mindlessly attack, but considering they’re animalistic aliens, they can get away with it. In one particular scenario, I was able to snipe what seemed like nearly 20 guys with barely a reaction from those still standing. Duuuuuuh. It doesn’t help that their battle chatter is totally asinine: “This is my end!” Yeesh. Just die, buddy. VS battles are also pretty lame, with the variety of maneuvering boiling down to jump, dash right or left, and shoot.

Even the lamest battles, however, are helped along in a big way by what may be Lost Planet’s greatest strength: explosions. Yes, it may seem silly, but what Gears of War did for sheer detail, Lost Planet does in special effects. You’ve never seen explosion and smoke effects like this; they are spectacular. What may be most impressive is just how much chaos the game manages to put on screen with rarely a hit to framerate. Take those otherwise lame VS battles, throw in a heap of explosions and billowing smoke, laser fire illuminating a dark landscape, and smoke trails from rockets, and you’re treated to a visual extravaganza. It isn’t much of an exaggeration to say that the explosion and special effects elevate the game as a whole.

Besides just the special effects, the game is a looker. The VSs, while not so fun to pilot, look awfully cool with great animations and plenty of individually articulated parts. There is a good amount of detail in just about everything, a commendable feat considering the rather barren setting. There is real beauty in the simplicity of these outdoor scenes, blowing snow effects looking particularly great in HD. The excellent visuals are complemented by a competent soundtrack and fine sounds effects; nothing to gripe about, nothing to write home about.

But again, there are flaws reigning in even the greatest strengths. While the action is non-stop, it’s just a little too much. All sorts of enemies are thrown at you from the very get-go, even some of the largest ones. The effect is that some of the more menacing enemies aren’t that menacing after all. One feels as though with a steadier hand guiding the pacing, the game could have had many more dramatic and memorable moments. Problem is, subtlety is sometimes required to set a mood, and Lost Planet is anything but subtle. With regard to graphics, while the environments look fantastic, none of the preset viewing angles is very good for appreciating the environments. What’s more, there’s a surprising amount of levels spent inside which aren’t nearly as impressive.

There is a rather robust online multiplayer portion to Lost Planet with four game modes: elimination, team elimination, post grab, and fugitive. Elimination and its team variant are basic deathmatch. In all modes, you can play with up to 16 players, and allows team elimination up to 4 teams. The twist in the elimination modes is that success is not tallied in total kills, but points. The team with more points wins, of course, but you gain points not just through kills. For instance, data posts are scattered throughout the levels for teams to activate thus earning a good chunk of points. There are also medals (ala Halo 2) that can be earned in each match. In fugitive, the host is all on his own trying to earn points against an entire team by moving about and not getting killed. This mode is pretty fun, especially if you’re one of the 15 players mobilizing to hunt down the fugitive.

Regardless of the game mode, the star of multiplayer is certainly the combination of great maps, the large amount of players, the anchor shot, and VSs. Although there are a few dud maps, of the eight total most are fantastic. They look great, just as good as the single player campaign. There is also a ton of variety between maps, some ranging from a destroyed and lava filled highway system, to strips of land separated by a giant chasm and linked by two tiny expanses. Moreover, and this is the real kicker, most maps have a remarkable amount of height. While this might not sound like much, it makes navigating the maps with the anchor shot a real treat. It’s a blast just watching competitors and teammates scrambling all over a dilapidated structure in every direction possible. Throw in plenty of VSs on a map, and you end up with online matches that are frequently exciting and unfold with plenty of variety. The only significant complaint has to do with hit detection, which in its present state is less than explicit.