Wayward Warriors- Lost Planet 2 Reviewed

2006’s Lost Planet: Extreme Condition was a beguiling blend of Japanese and Western sensibilities. Resembling the transcontinental love-child of Monster Hunter and Gears of War, the title merged giant mechs, a stimulating succession of insectoid bosses along with a salubrious amount of ballistic battles. The recently released sequel, Lost Planet 2, maintains that combination, adding a new intermingling to the mix – Capcom’s creation exhibits both the future of gaming, as well as recalls its antediluvian past.

Pop the disk into your drive slot (pausing once for a mandatory 4.61 GB install) and the game’s campaign mode defaults to a four-player online cooperative game. Remarkably, Lost Planet 2’s matchmaking is both transparent and intuitive, allowing players to advance right into the title’s principal storyline with up to three Akrid-annihilating accomplices. Those seeking a more solitary experience can tweak the settings to create an AI-controlled squad. Be warned that the aptitude of your bot teammates varies wildly. One moment each member will be aggressively attacking adversaries and opening data posts, the next instant they’ll be gathered, having what appears to be an involved discussion in some corner of the map.

Collectively, the title’s arsenal of shotguns, rocket launchers, machine guns, and plasma rifles used to eradicate a boundless collection of antagonists, is consistently gratifying. Unlike Lost Planet 2’s predecessor, the game’s environments display a range of motifs- players will be skirmishing through lush jungle vegetation, stark deserts, and deteriorating urban outposts. Although the game’s protagonists shift through the six episode, multi-chapter story, the objection remains static – players are tasking with collecting T-ENG, a dwindling energy resource. While gathering the commodity by activating data posts and eliminating smaller antagonists is compelling, Lost Planet 2’s gameplay noticeably deteriorates when combating bosses.

While each gargantuan beast is impressively rendered, the actual mechanics of each core battle often feel unrefined. The first showdown places players on a diminutive dock; while one side seemingly offers cover, the stage’s enemy inexplicably reaches through walls. Another stage has players working cooperatively across a speeding bullet train, where it was regrettably easy to be knocked off to your death. Generally, skirmishes involving peppering enemy’s weak spots with as much ballistic damage as possible, while avoiding attacks that will send players reeling through a protracted hit animation. Lost Planet 2’s decision to have moments where control is seized will undoubtedly frustrate, and is exasperated when a ‘game over’ message means losing up to an hour of committed advancement. Mercifully, players can crank the game’s difficulty down, ensuring a proliferation of stronger weapons throughout the landscape.

Luckily, moments of frustration were absent from the title’s please multiplayer matches. Although gamers are given the requisite elimination, team elimination, and capture the flag variants, the deliberate pacing and inclusion of grappling hooks (called an ‘anchor’) and mechanized armor elevate the competitions above a sea of homogenous fragging contests. Solidifying the relationship between the single and multiplayer components of the title is a robust experience system with a slew of unlockable weapons, clothing, nicknames and emotes for players to collect.

While Lost Planet 2’s MT Engine is capable of generating lavish fields of flora, and delicately detailed enemies, it does display some substantial technical hindrances. Sporadically, all on-screen action would freeze for a fraction of a second, marring the game’s sense of immersion. More frequent were framerate drops, which occurred when fighting the game’s enormous bosses or as a horde of enemies would charge the player. Often these anomalies would surface at the most inopportune times, precariously reducing the responsiveness of the game’s controls.  Sonically, the title’s soundtrack is executed with skillful finesse, stylishly swelling with each conflict’s crescendo.

Those who were attracted to the original game’s single player campaign should be aware: Lost Planet 2’s focus is on delivering an online co-operative and competitive experience.  With a team or two of human participants, enough gratification can be mined from the title to overcome its deficiencies. Concurrently fascinating and frustrating, Lost Planet 2 is a curious mixture which should develop a loyal following for its intermingling of divergent sensibilities.