It has never been totally clear what Capcom want to achieve with Lost Planet as a series. It’s like a shapeshifter that undergoes a transition to something different every time a new game is released. The only safe expectation any gamer can have of the series is that the player will shoot giant bugs and pick up whatever orange goo exits from them as a result.
The inaugural game was a good graphics test but was otherwise a pretty inoffensive third person shooter set on a horrid ice-planet with some body-heat-retention based survival elements and mech combat. The second was co-op multiplayer focused without much narrative content and entirely changed the art direction toward a tropical-mechanical jungle away from the harsh snow of the first.
Lost Planet 3, seemingly, has reeled in a lot of the second game’s changes. This is a prequel, one that takes place slightly before the events of the first game. Set on E.D.N. III while it’s still a planet-wide frozen tundra, you play as Jim Peyton, a man who’s made a living performing whatever unsavoury task is required in order to provide for his family back home on Earth. That’s the motivation behind anything he has to do: it’s all in service of raising money.
Peyton's latest job - and this is where you come in - is to help the company that’s attempting to terraform the planet for prolonged habitation and investigate it as a source of fuel. It’s unlikely that this will remain the case because this is a video game plot and it involves a massive corporation.
Our recent preview threw us right into the start of the game as Jim lands on the planet and is under-equipped and far away from the main base (quelle surprise!) He trudges through snow to clear a path to day one of his new career, shooting countless violent indigenous monsters in the attempt. This all took place on foot using a pistol so we were unfortunately unable to see much of how the mech-based combat works out. The on-foot action, though, was good fun as over-the-shoulder alien shooting goes.
There was later some allowance to wander around using Jim’s mech, just without the combat element thrown in. It will get you round quicker than on foot and seemed to get the feel of being a hulking great mechanical frame mostly right. Here's hoping the combat holds up too.
At the base, Jim’s acquainted with a cast of characters also working for the same company. There’s actually been a lot of work in trying to provide real character depth and motivation here, which is a clear necessity when measured up with the previous game that had absolutely no qualms about confusing the player as to who anyone was, where they were or what they were doing. Here, people talk and act like people, conveying part of who they are as they push the narrative forward.
It’s a small touch, and maybe it’s not even something that the developers have put much active thought into, but the amount of T-Energy (Lost Planet’s form of currency) that Jim’s raised in his stint helping make the planet more inhabitable is often visible when out walking around and at all times displayed in the cockpit of his armoured Rig(a bipedal precursor to Lost Planet’s signature VS-Mechs and a tool that Jim uses to perform scouting expeditions that take him far outside the base). It’s a great character nod that he’d be continually wanting to look at what he’s already managed to save up - the proverbial picture of the wife and kids tucked into the dashboard. Intentional of not, that’s great characterisation through mechanics and a clever way to say a lot about someone without being overly explicit. This money doesn’t just act as a points-tally, this is currency that you’ll spend to buy new gear and upgrade what you’ve already gotten.
Though there is a multiplayer mode, it didn't strike us as something to get too excited about. It consists of mode-based team-objective challenges of the sort we've seen countless times before. We firmly predict it’ll only be a matter of months before the multiplayer audience fades away. It’s not offensive or unplayable, it just doesn’t justify itself above more focused options, at least from what we've seen.
The take-away from this glimpse was the knowledge that Capcom has clearly learned from criticisms of the previous games and tried its best to address them. As such, we're verging on optimistic about this latest instalment, and certainly look forward to seeing just exactly how it turns out.
The inaugural game was a good graphics test but was otherwise a pretty inoffensive third person shooter set on a horrid ice-planet with some body-heat-retention based survival elements and mech combat. The second was co-op multiplayer focused without much narrative content and entirely changed the art direction toward a tropical-mechanical jungle away from the harsh snow of the first.
Lost Planet 3, seemingly, has reeled in a lot of the second game’s changes. This is a prequel, one that takes place slightly before the events of the first game. Set on E.D.N. III while it’s still a planet-wide frozen tundra, you play as Jim Peyton, a man who’s made a living performing whatever unsavoury task is required in order to provide for his family back home on Earth. That’s the motivation behind anything he has to do: it’s all in service of raising money.
Peyton's latest job - and this is where you come in - is to help the company that’s attempting to terraform the planet for prolonged habitation and investigate it as a source of fuel. It’s unlikely that this will remain the case because this is a video game plot and it involves a massive corporation.
Our recent preview threw us right into the start of the game as Jim lands on the planet and is under-equipped and far away from the main base (quelle surprise!) He trudges through snow to clear a path to day one of his new career, shooting countless violent indigenous monsters in the attempt. This all took place on foot using a pistol so we were unfortunately unable to see much of how the mech-based combat works out. The on-foot action, though, was good fun as over-the-shoulder alien shooting goes.
At the base, Jim’s acquainted with a cast of characters also working for the same company. There’s actually been a lot of work in trying to provide real character depth and motivation here, which is a clear necessity when measured up with the previous game that had absolutely no qualms about confusing the player as to who anyone was, where they were or what they were doing. Here, people talk and act like people, conveying part of who they are as they push the narrative forward.
It’s a small touch, and maybe it’s not even something that the developers have put much active thought into, but the amount of T-Energy (Lost Planet’s form of currency) that Jim’s raised in his stint helping make the planet more inhabitable is often visible when out walking around and at all times displayed in the cockpit of his armoured Rig(a bipedal precursor to Lost Planet’s signature VS-Mechs and a tool that Jim uses to perform scouting expeditions that take him far outside the base). It’s a great character nod that he’d be continually wanting to look at what he’s already managed to save up - the proverbial picture of the wife and kids tucked into the dashboard. Intentional of not, that’s great characterisation through mechanics and a clever way to say a lot about someone without being overly explicit. This money doesn’t just act as a points-tally, this is currency that you’ll spend to buy new gear and upgrade what you’ve already gotten.
Though there is a multiplayer mode, it didn't strike us as something to get too excited about. It consists of mode-based team-objective challenges of the sort we've seen countless times before. We firmly predict it’ll only be a matter of months before the multiplayer audience fades away. It’s not offensive or unplayable, it just doesn’t justify itself above more focused options, at least from what we've seen.
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