Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

While at the Capcom booth I was hearing a lot of buzz about Lost Planet. I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of it before the show, as it sounded to already be pretty popular. Well, there’s a reason it’s so popular…it’s awesome.

Set in a frozen world, humans need thermal energy to survive in the harsh conditions, and a native creature just happens to be the source of this thermal energy. As you can imagine, this creature isn’t fuzzy, cuddly, or any type of critter. These creatures are called Akrid, and they’re huge bugs that want you dead. You play as a character named Wayne who can’t remember much about his past other than the fact that the Akrid killed his father. In Lost Planet you’re fighting against both humans and bugs as you try to uncover why Wayne is involved in all the drama in this snow-covered world.

Lost Planet is a 3^rd person shooter set in outdoor blizzards, inside human forts and compounds, and Akrid hives and caves. It controls like a typical shooter these days, the left joystick controlling movement and the right moves the crosshairs.

The first thing I noticed was how absolutely beautiful this game is. I was content just watching the guy in front of me play, which isn’t usually the case for me at E3. The lighting is amazingly realistic, explosions kick up tons of smoke and snow, and the animations for all the characters are extremely fluid. The textures and models are all crisp and clear; it’s the best looking game for the Xbox 360 I’ve seen so far.

But then I got to play, and luckily there’s gameplay to match the graphics. Lost Planet is your typical over-the-shoulder shooter, but there are a few fun things to play with to spice things up. Your character gets a grappling hook of sorts, so you can use that to dodge shots or reach higher ground. You can carry two weapons at a time; in the demo I used a machine gun and sniper rifle. I later ditched the rifle when I found a rocket launcher. You can also hop into mechs when you find them, which are useful for taking down bigger Akrid. The mechs are customizable too; if you see a weapon outlined in blue rather than yellow, you can hop out of the mech, carry it over, and attach it to your ride. The mech from the demo could have two different weapons equipped at once, and each could be fired independently.

Lost Planet will also feature online multiplayer and download content, so there will be replay value past completing the main story.

Lost Planet was a blast, and it sounds like there will be a pretty involved story when it comes out. This is definitely one to keep an eye on for Xbox 360 owners, so keep an eye out between now and its release in the first quarter of 2007.

For All E3 2006 Previews