Lost Planet 2: Review

When the first Lost Planet came out I struggled to find the appeal to it. Having a standard definition television at the time meant that I couldn’t really see some of the aesthetic beauty inherent in its design; it was definitely a game that showcased why High Definition gaming is far superior. In a recent article a fellow Arcadian talked about the “wow” factor and I certainly experienced that when I first saw an Akrid burst out of a snow-covered hillside in 1080p.

Lost Planet was a thing of sumptuous visuals but the game design, from a mechanics perspective, could not have been more inspired by 8-bit philosophy. Many complained about the odd control system, how it did not respond like other third-person shooters of the time. Others found the anchor – a grappling hook by another name – to be too restrictive in that it required the main character to be firmly planted on the ground before he could fire it. It was almost as if they were trying to make a Bionic Commando game…

That old-school Capcom feel was everywhere, especially the bosses which were huge, screen-hogging monstrosities. They all had their own attack patterns and obvious weak spots but it never made them any less fun.

This philosophy certainly endeared Lost Planet to me. I appreciated that Capcom had laid out a set of rules with the grappling hook and T-Eng requirements (a resource – thermal energy – that was constantly dwindling, meaning replenish or die) and then gave the player a weird kind of constricted freedom within these rules.

It sounds like a contradictory statement but this game laid down tangible boundaries that felt logical, and then allowed you to play around inside them as much as you wanted to. Whether you are able to enjoy Lost Planet 2 will hinge on whether you can enjoy these oddities from the first game making their way into its sequel, albeit with more variety and three other players tagging along for the ride.

Lost Planet 2 is frustrating, punishing and all the better for not curtailing what made it different to other third-person shooters. There have been some concessions made to the people who complained, however. The control system is still odd but more fluid in this instalment. The threat of T-Eng running out and the player dying mid level (brutally common in the first game) is no longer as pronounced since you are given abilities that waylay it. Yet the level challenges can still be gruelling if you don’t know what to do, the anchor/grapple remains unavailable in mid-air and the boss battles are gorgeously, fantastically, epic.

It is a hard sell to the original’s detractors and newcomers alike, but the opening is an easy and welcoming beginning to a game that ends up presenting a lot of depth and inventiveness.

Speaking of inventiveness and the opening level… when slipping into the shoes of Player 1 you will go through a tutorial that seems very similar to that of the first game, with mechs (here known as V.S) and weapons introduced at an even pace. You move through the snow-covered area, shuffling from activation beacon to activation beacon. However, if you happen to be Player 2 or 4 in a multiplayer game you will find yourself in a dropship hurtling through a ravine, heading towards where Player 1 and 3 are, while being pummelled from all sides by flying Akrid. Once you get through that you are dropped right in front of the first Boss in time to meet up with the rest of the team.

How you beat this Boss is entirely down to your squad and load-out, but as an introduction to the things that Lost Planet 2 gets right, regardless of your perspective, it is exhilarating.

Although the T-Eng mechanic has been de-emphasised in terms of being a regular concern, it has been supplanted by the Battle Gauge. The Battle Gauge is tied in to your lives and is usually set around 2000 points; you lose 500 points every time you die but gain 500 every time you activate a beacon (these have the dual purpose of being respawn points and BG boosters). Reach zero and it is game over and time to start again. Successfully get through a section with a clean run and the game rewards you with more points and upgrades. In single player this is straightforward enough; however in co-op multiplayer the Battle Gauge becomes a source of considerable stress.

You see, the gauge is shared amongst all human-controlled players so it won’t matter if you are headshotting Akrid left-right-and-centre – if one of your teammates has a magnetic attraction to missiles and no one to cover his back then it will be game over before you know it, and without you ever having died.

This was criticised in early reviews but the truth is that it puts a heavier onus on team work. Going in and trying to grandstand without a coherent plan is only going to result in everyone failing. In many ways it reminds me of the Bitmap Brothers’ classic Chaos Engine (known as Soldiers of Fortune in North America) in that you cannot hog every power upgrade, weapon and special because if you cripple your team then divided you will fall.

The superlative level design ties into this emphasis on co-ordination. Every area has good sniping spots, alternative routes with the ability to grapple up into vantage points as well as hidden weapons and battle armour that make it almost feel like a deathmatch arena instead of a linear progression.

Each level is also so very different in mood from the last, which is a huge upgrade from the original where you often felt like you were traipsing through the same (admittedly beautiful) snowy landscape. As you should be able to see from the screenshots on this page,  in Lost Planet 2 you will go from jungle to imposing cityscapes to desert lands and even space.

Certainly there are some areas that are more straightforward but the further you progress the more the level design oscillates, with the outcome of certain scenarios being wholly dependent on the path you chose previously. In particular, the last level actually has extra bits that you may not encounter unless you travel along a specific course, one of which gives an interesting twist to the narrative (such as it is).

Some called this design ‘schizophrenic’ but for me it is inspired. It is not often that you get to chase a floating fortress through a copper-sand ravine on speederbike vehicles, take it over and then have to use the fortress’s giant cannon on a an equally titanic arachnid.

Also, despite what I wrote about the Battle Gauge, Lost Planet 2 is very much a multiplayer game. The personality of your team will influence how you play and how you approach each challenge. Playing it on your lonesome will detract from your involvement in the game as well as the meta-drama that often evolves over a playthrough with friends.

Lost Planet 2 is an accomplished sequel. The design is quintessentially Japanese but don’t let that dissuade you from trying this game out with at least one friend who finds the idea of jumping into a mech-suit and free falling through a planet’s atmosphere appealing.

Just don’t play it for the actual story as that is rubbish.

A special thanks to ‘A Friend to Noobs’ and ‘Vegetarian’ who helped me to get all of the shots of the customised characters that require you play a ridiculous amount of Lost Planet 2.