Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (PS3)

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Lost Planet for PS3 is let down by a poor frame rate

Lost Planet became one of the most successful Xbox 360 titles when it launched early in 2007, but it wasn't without problems. Some solid if not spectacular reviews didn't seem to hurt sales though, and now PS3 gamers can enter Capcom's icy world to take down giant bugs and pilot nimble mechs. Has it been worth the wait or has another Xbox 360 game lost a little something during the porting process to Sony's console?

A lot of effort has clearly gone into creating a story for Lost Planet, which sees an earth-like world covered in ice and snow, inhabited by humans and an alien species known as the Akrid. Unfortunately for the humans on the planet, Akrid are more or less a species of deadly bugs of all shapes and sizes, but they do harvest and store precious thermal energy. This glowing orange liquid is at the heart of the game's story, being the vital resource the main characters are after and what keeps Wayne, the game's pivotal character, alive. Before too long, a story of revenge and survival is set-up, and this plays out in-between the 11 missions that make up the game.

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Lost Planet is a third-person shooter and a simple one at that - although a back to basics shooter isn't really a bad thing. For a large portion of the game, particularly early on, Wayne moves around on foot, and the Akrid are by far the biggest threat to his life. These bugs range in size from dog-sized walking and flying nasties that constantly spawn from gruesome looking nests, to amazingly large beetle and crab-like monsters that wouldn't be out of place in the Starship Troopers movies. The larger enemies are incredbile and the way they break out of the snow to enter the scene is never anything less than breathtaking.

Being a lone man (something later human enemies constantly remind you of), fighting enormous beasties isn't easy, but a few things give you a slight upper-hand in most combat situations. The most obvious are the 'attack the weak spot for maximum damage' glowing yellow areas on the Akrid. Every one of the bugs in the game has a weak spot so clearly signposted that knowing how to take them down isn't a problem, but doing so isn't as simple as it looks. For one, each type of bug will attack in a different way, and many are capable of lunges from a long distance, making a still Wayne, a dead Wayne.

The whole VS/mech aspect of Lost Planet is actually quite surprising, not in their inclusion, but in how much of a part they play in the whole game.

Well, he would be dead if it wasn't for his nifty use of thermal energy. Wayne is fitted with a special adapter that allows him to harness the planet's energy (seen in-game as pools of orange liquid) to keep him alive in the extreme conditions, and it also doubles as a handy way to restore health lost through enemy attacks. This thermal energy store depletes over time, so it's best to keep moving and to pick up energy left behind from slain Akrid. Your recharging health makes the first third of the game remarkably simple, as it's nigh on impossible to die, with only severely punishing attacks doing enough damage to reduce your health to an unrecoverable level.

While the constantly depleting energy pushes you through the game, it makes exploring the environments a rather risky act. Wandering off path isn't something you'll have to do often, with thermal-energy-giving posts scattered around the levels pointing you in the right direction, but there are numerous tokens to collect in each mission, if you're into that kind of thing.

When on foot, Wayne has one more trick up his sleeve, and it plays a vital part in a number of the game's vertical levels: he can use a grappling hook to reach high platforms and to quickly evade enemy attacks. It's a nice addition to the fairly formulaic third-person shooter gameplay, but it's simply not as great as it could have been. You can't propel it out while in mid-air, so there's no flashy trick grappling for us, and you can't aim directly above (something which also affects shooting), so you'll find yourself doing a bit of shuffling around near a vertical wall to make sure you hit the wall at the right place to launch Wayne onto the platform above.

It would still be a fine looking game had it not been so choppy

Walking around is only one of the ways to get about in Lost Planet though, with Vital Suits (VS for short - mechs for all intents and purposes) providing a more lethal way to tackle the pesky Akrid. Wayne can hop in and out of these mechs whenever he wants, but like pretty much everything else in the game they'll only run while you have thermal energy to power them. Sadly, the mechs can blow up if they take too much damage, but it's worth the risk given that they pack a lot more fire-power than on-foot Wayne and leave behind huge thermal energy deposits when they explode.

The whole VS/mech aspect of Lost Planet is actually quite surprising, not in their inclusion, but in how much of a part they play in the whole game. During later missions you'll rarely want to be outside a mech, and you'll be searching around for more weapons to pick up and new machines to get into. The variety is great for a game that isn't focussed entirely on mech combat, with jumping, hovering, flying and tank mechs all available at some point during the game, with an extra special VS appearing at the close of the game. Action from within a VS has a MechAssault feel to it, but the variety of enemies and their large numbers make Lost Planet a far more exciting game to play.

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