Customer Reviews

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Collector's Edition (Amazon.com Exclusive Cell Included)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Circa 2007


GOOD:
- Tight fitting responsive controls (which can be adjusted).
- Great looking graphics and effects, also the animations are done very well.
- Shooting feels spot on, with more then a few guns (a grenades) to choose from (like rocket launchers, energy guns, ect... - as for different types of grenades, you get ones like sticky and EMP to name a few). It should be also noted that while on foot you could pull weapons off mechs (only when the mechs are not in use) and use these over sized weapons.
- Grappling hook -Shot (like the one in the Legend of Zelda Series or like the grappling hook from Tenchu), which lets you scale tall buildings, and fly across the landscape.
- Online Gameplay (versus other players), this really helps extend the life/fun of the game long after you have beaten it.

BAD:
- Enemies can be pretty cheap, Example, after you get hit with a powerful weapon like a rocket you go into a fall and have to get up to recover, during your recover animation many enemies will strike at you making you fall over again. What ends up happening is you get stuck into a cycle where you fall over after getting get shot at or hit and while getting up it happens again (enemies shoot you or hit you) so you never fully get back up and fight back, you just fall again. It is very hard to break this cycle after it starts; usually it only ends if the enemies miss or you die.
- Using mechs or any energy weapon uses up you reserve of "Heat Energy". If your "Heat Energy" runs out you can't pilot any Vital Suit or use any energy weapon. It should be noted that in this game "Heat Energy" ties directly into your life bar if you run out of this "Heat Energy" your life will slowly drain till you die. This makes prolong use of any Vital Suit (Mech) or any energy weapon a risk to your health.
- Pretty confusing story which many people will not get nor care to understand.

IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- Sci-Fi 3rd Person Shooter (camera behind the player).
- The game takes place on a world covered in ice and snow, lots of levels have snow and winter theme.
- Life energy or Heat energy plays a big role in this game, this energy ties directly into your life bar if you run out of this energy your life will slowly drain till you die. It should also be noted that this happens even while in doors and underground not just outside in the cold. The only way to refill this energy is to kill enemies or destroy objects in the game, by doing so you'll see a pool of gold colored substance when your characters body touches it your energy bar will refill.
- Fight lots of "Bug" like enemies as well as human enemies.
- Lots of mechs and Mech Combat - mechs are robotic suits of armor you pilot, in this game they are called Vital Suits, they can also equip their own weapons.
- Game is broken up into 11 levels (so essentially this a fairly short game).
- Shoot at to collect "markers" for a higher score (there are "markers" in every level and the look like big spinning coins).
- Wining matches online unlocks new character dress options for your online avatar.
- Online portion of this game has your standard set-up with Death Match, Team Versus, ect...

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (Xbox, PS2)
- Armored Core: Last Raven (PS2)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- This is the Special Edition of this game that comes in a metal case and comes with an Art book as well as a Mixed media CD (that contains Videos, Wallpapers/Photos, Music, and windows icons for your PC). This Special Edition also comes with a new multiplayer level (Battleground), which will be available to all Xbox Live players for free a few more months from now (people who got/get this Special Edition can play this multiplayer level early).
- There are already a few new multiplayer levels available to buy over Xbox Live. The 4 new Levels ready for download and use in online multiplayer action they are called Radar Field and Island 902, which come in one pack and then there is Hive Complex and Trial Point which come in a second package. Both packages sell for 400 Microsoft Points or $5.00 USD each.
- The Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun is the model for the main character named Wayne.

Lost Planet is a third person shooter spearheaded by Keiji Inafune (creator of the Megaman series) in which manages to place equal emphasis on both on-ground and mecha battle sequences. The setting takes place on an entirely cold driven planet. So cold in fact, that the player is required to gather "Thermal Energy" while in battle to maintain their body at a substantial temperature. You play the role of an amnesiac character by the name of Wayne of whom must unravel the secrets of his past, in the process bringing unity to the land.

The graphics and physics in Lost Planet are easily some of the best seen on a console game by far (rivaling that of Gears of War). In some instances (where the climate is cold as can be) excess snow can be seen accumulating on your character's clothing and track (on the ground) once having entered an opened door area. The particle effects and audio are perfectly done, along with debris physics. There are cases where you can interact with the environment, like say, shooting down a boulder (which will dissipate into rubble) on a mountain or fort to clear from an enemy stronghold. Another instance, is how you're enabled to shoot down a steel rail from a ceiling ontop of the enemy. The smoke effects can come with a price, as at times, it can be hard to maneuver yourself once enshrouded in large amounts. This helps add to the intensity of the battle. Music is also very coherently composed. Mostly orchestral, which helps give the game it's cinematic feel.

The detail in each enemy is simply amazing. Some boss characters are so well detailed and animated that they practically look tangible on the screen. Several enemies can been onscreen at once with rarely a trace of slowdown or a single drop in framerate (and some bosses take up nearly the entire screen).

However, that doesn't go without saying, as there are a few notable issues (nothing breathtaking) in LP. For one, the enemy A.I. is dimwitted for the most part. Snow pirates can easily be mowed down with simple run and gun tactics. It's also discouraging as to how (in some instances) an enemy can be knocked off of a mech, and won't even bother to get back on it. This is especially questionalable when there are several unused vehicles spotted on point, yet the enemy won't even bother to use any of them to their advantage. In other cases, the a.i. comes off too sensible, with the slightest sound setting them off on full alert without scrutiny. All in all, the enemy a.i. is a mixed bag.

Another complaint is it seems as though your character is constantly getting knocked down, then heaving (rinse, repeat). For instance, there was this time in which I was hit by a laser (which sent me sprawling to the ground) only for my character to raise and immediately get blown away by a rocket launcher. This can be frustrating at times. A better wake-up mechanic/command could have helped out to suppress this problem. Especially when you're having a hard time locating your character on screen due to all of the smoke and debris particles surrounding.

Last complaint is the lack of NPCs'. During the very first mission in LP, (the backstory stage) your character Wayne is fighting alongside multiple NPCs. This was a unique trait and feature, and it was rather disappointing to discover that none of this was carried into any of the latter stages in the game (unless you count the online mutiplayer). From that point on, you're all on your own.

With all of that said, Lost Planet is still an exceptional action-shooter. Some critics have panned the game for it's lack of innovation. Who said the game needed to be innovative, much less claimed to be unprecedented? The title does what it promises; deliver an action filled (but rather short, the game can be completed in under ten hours) shooting experience. While LP's not tactical like say, Rainbow Six or Gears of War, it's still a masterful shooter in it's own right, in how it manages to blend the words of third-person shooting and mecha immersively into one.

Lost Planet managed to sell over a million copies just two days after it's release in both the US and Europe. It's fairly safe to say that we'll be seeing more from the franchise on the 360 in the near future.

Part mech warrior, part fps, Lost Planet is an enjoyable shooter with a simple run and gun approach featuring linear boss based level design that is appealing as a throwback for long time gamers, though it will likely hurt the campaign replayability. For a $60 game thats a bit unfortunate, but if you have xbox live the multiplayer content should make up for that. Elsewise it would be better off as a rental.

As far as the controls and what not, it's not overly complicated but remembering which mech you are in and what the controls are would really be the only issue there. Well that and the annoyance of trying to pick up weapons for the mech itself. The B button serves several functions and if you don't line up properly over the weapon on the ground and press B you will exit the vehicle, especially bothersome during boss fights when you need to get weapons on the ground as quickly as possible...

The graphics are amazing, no arguing that, however the story really is pretty weak. It feels foreign, like something was lost in translation, which probably wouldnn't bother anime fans because the characters are basically cookie cutter stereotypes from the genre.

All in all, its fun but I must admit I was hoping for a more tactic based campaign with intuitive AI more in the vein of Gears, but LP is still a lot of fun and while not really offering anything new the gameplay feels very familiar. But like most others have already stated the multiplayer is really where the game shines.

This game is insane. I played the Xbox live demo at a pals house, and I loved it. It was fast, furious, and was a breath of fresh air after the run of the mill fps. I haven't played online yet, and it unfortunately deosn't have splitscreen.

I have only played 9 levels, and the story is great. I thought the game was over at level 6 after i played one of the hardest bosses ever, and was amazed to see the introduction of 4 new characters.

Gameplay is non-linear and crazy. More than once you will find and impossible foe, and find yourself hopping into a VS, A.K.A. Vital suit A.K.A. Mech. After those are shot out from underneath you, you will be forced to go out on foot. But, simple solutions are everywhere. Still have rockets in that rocket launcher on your mech? take it off and take it with you. After that fails, you have a slightly underwhelming number of weapons, but the action more than makes up for it. The shotgun and machine gun are clear favorites. The grappling hook also makes levels much more open. You can even use it to grapple onto enemies, and blast them into oblivion at close range. The AI also has some tricks up its sleeves. It will flank you, and force you back into corners. They are brilliant.

Last, the collectible edition. For $10 you will get a art book, multiplayer map, and bonus disk. It is well worth it.

This game rocks. If you have a 360 and don't buy this game, you don't deserve a 360.

I don't really like TPS (Third Person Shooters) as much as FPS (First Person Shooters) and mecha doesn't thrill me (I hated Mechassault) but this one does a pretty decent job.

PROS:
- excellent graphics, good environments, snow, smoke, etc
- some fantastic fire fights
- multitudes of enemies and bosses all with there own behaviors and characteristics gradually introduced to you throughout the game
- tons of work put into the cut-scenes (as much as a half-hour or an hour or so - almost like a mini-movie) and you can thankfully bypass them!
- decent amount of weapon variety with there own characteristics; you can also detach mecha weapons and drag them around
- decent length to the game
- although a TPS, you can zoom in with many weapons to make it appear as if you're in an FPS (although certain actions like reloading will throw you back into TPS).
- vehicles - the game shines here. It's a mecha game (they call it a V-suit) so you get a lot of different things to operate. Big boss anime-style mecha toward the end.
- decent button/stick configurations (although no exact mapping)
- never had to consult the internet because of some glitch or something I was required to do that wasn't intuitive.

CONS:
- No save anywhere (though for the most part you will not need it)
- the entire game bends on you collecting thermal energy (like collecting health packs or armor) or you die, but there is so much of it laying around that it never affects game play. There is no dire urgency to collect it much of the time. Plus, collecting 100 bits of it scattered all over the battlefield is rather annoying. Why not have the game require you to collect 1 pool of the stuff every so often.
- camera isn't always cooperative. your view will occasionally go off into a place you didn't want it to.
- main protagonist character acting leaves much to be desired. Plus he's a bit of a puss and never hits on any of the hot anime chicks in the cut-scenes. 10 million cut scenes and he never even gets to first base.

I'm going to place the story/plot somewhere in the middle even though I didn't really get into it. They put a lot of effort into it (you can tell with all the cut-scenes) and it's a little unfair to criticize games for bad or non-stories (Doom3 didn't need one). Overall a good combo of mecha/TPS.

I bought this game and played it all the way through on single player and it was about a 4/5 star game. It has great graphics, great gameplay but needed something else. Well then I played multiplayer on Xbox Live and this should have a 10 star rating, this is by far the best online gameplay of any game I have played to date, even better than Gears of War.

There are several things I like about this game. The main one is the Vital Suits, VS, which are like big combat mechs you can ride around in and fight with, lots of fun. On the one player game the main thing I like is the huge boss battles. The bosses all look great and are fun to fight. The game has several difficulty settings. The "normal" mode isn't too hard but it also has a hard mode and an extremely hard mode if you're up for a challenge. Of course the multiplayer is fun. It has different modes to keep things interesting.

There are a few problems that keep this game from being better. The first is that you walk very slow. This problem is alleviated some by the use of a grapple that you can use to quickly move around in the multi-player stages, but in the one player there isn't as much to grapple on to. The second problem is the enemy AI. Even on the hardest difficulty the enemies all seem rather stupid. This makes the game on normal difficulty seem really easy, but the game can still be very difficult on the harder modes. A third problem is the story suffers a little from bad localization.

The main thing that makes this game different is the use of thermal energy. In the one player game you are able to use the "harmonizer" to refill your health using thermal energy. In the multiplayer you don't have this option and only use the thermal energy to power VS and energy weapons. In the one player if you run out of thermal energy you will lose health until you refill it or die, but running out in multiplayer only means you can't use a VS or energy weapons until you refill. You get thermal energy from every enemy you kill, from "way points", and from T-energy storage containers. On multiplayer there are specific places you can stand at to fill your energy. You continue to lose thermal energy while walking around and you use even more while using a VS. This help balance out the game and you must consider your T-energy when deciding whether to use a VS or Energy weapons.

Overall the good in this game out does its shortcomings. I really enjoy playing this game and would encourage people to give it a try.

On another note, I bought this special edition. It comes with some artwork and a bonus online stage. I believe this "exclusive" stage has been made available to people who didn't buy the collectors edition. There are some thing you can download to your pc, such as a lost planet skin for windows media player. These are nice but not worth the extra money. The metal box the game comes in is awesome! If I were buying it again though, that wouldn't be enough to sell me on the special edition. Probably anyone interested would be better to get the regular edition.

This is a great game to play. The only problem is that there is no local multiplayer or co-op mode like you would find in Halo. It's a mix between Halo and MechWarrior. Lots of snow!!
This version is cool because you can get an exclusive multiplyer map for Xbox Live.

This game is relatively fun and challenging but it just does not fulfill all of the ratings. The battle system for this game is akward and against some bosses can be annoying.

Very addictive,especially online. Great user interface with lots of options. A must have !