Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive graphics, sound... but kinda boring in all honesty..., March 1, 2007
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
You know, it's amazing that in this day and age, you can have a game with spectacular graphics and unbelievable surround sound and the game is just.... blah.
I mean, graphically Lost Planet is pretty nice. Beautiful, actually. There are some boss battles that are pretty astounding in how they are presented. There's one moment at the very beginning where a creature named Green Eye appears and the size of this thing is enough to make your jaw drop. There's also another moment when you're running across an open field getting chased by this monstrous worm thing that is an experience on its own. This is definitely a game that benefits from being played on an HDTV setup with surround sound.
But then the story kicks in and you can't deny that it makes very little sense, not to mention the fact that the hero of the story is really not an interesting character to begin with. The gameplay itself is a bit repetitive and really, the game just amounts to little more than eye and ear candy. Even when you're not on foot and riding around in the mechs, it just doesn't add up to any memorable experience.
The online portion of the game isn't enough to make you want to play it a lot, especially with games like Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas out there. It's kind of stale and just not that interesting.
I'm really down the middle on this game. I'd say that it's worth a rental and then if you like it, get it. I wouldn't call this an outright purchase as it just didn't grab me the way I would've expected it to.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Monsters - No Co-Op Play, March 31, 2007
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Lost Planet - Extreme Condition is a classic run-and-gun game set on a frozen planet. This isn't a game of stealth or strategy. You see, you shoot, you move on.
There is a plot here - but it's really best to ignore it. You, a young teen guy, are battling either ice monsters or other clans of pirates. Sometimes you fight both simultaneously. Missions in essence tell you - "go here, kill everything".
Part of the fun is that you get to fight both on foot and inside a mech, hopping in and out whenever the whim takes you. This gives you a nice variety of weapons to choose from. Now, I have to comment that for a space-age distant planet colony, these weapons seem pretty modern times. You would think they would have progressed to laser cannons and plasma rifles as their sole weapons by now. I do like the grapple hook, though. It gave a fun, Zelda-like aspect to many of the levels.
To add to the arcadey feel, your health naturally depletes over time and the only way to stay alive is to collect replenishing energy. Silly? Perhaps. But no more silly than most other arcade games and the reasons they give for you to collect objects.
What's really impressive here is the way that large enemies seem "massive". You really get the sense that these are giant, ponderous beasts with weight and heft. The designers did a good job with enemy design and boss battles. From the small, intricate flying beasties to the larger main enemies, each creature is enjoyable to fight. Speaking of Zelda, you even get Goron-like rolling rock monsters.
But, to diverge into the storyline for a brief moment, isn't it a bit troubling that man-kind has decided to land on a super-snowy (i.e. not ideal) planet - and when it found indigenous life there - decided that the appropriate action was therefore to wipe it all out? Surely if we're going to be on a hostile-environment planet anyway, we could find one without current inhabitants ...
I also wish they had in-home multiplayer. Playing online on XBox Live is all fine and good, but with the relatively short built in missions, I'd really like to play co-op with a friend against them, and crank it up to super hard. That would be a ton of fun. I love playing this type of game multiplayer co-op, and for them to not even have that as an option seems a great shame.
So a nice start - but I'd like to see a Lost Planet 2 with a better plotline, better weapons, and co-op play.
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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good But Not Great, January 16, 2007
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
This game has amazing graphics and is really a lot of fun to play. So this is not a negative review, plus I have yet to use the Xbox live component, which I have heard is impressive. However, as far as the single player mode is concerned, the game is weak on a few fronts and you might want to rent it before buying
1.) The story is really crappy - lame dialogue - pointless missions - and undeveloped characters. The developers were going for Sci-Fi action, but the storyline comes out as Anime. The characters are completely forgettable and in most cases annoying.
2.) The missions, and there are not too many of them, are simple and Boss-oriented. They all seem to follow the same formula - ascend corridor -> fight boss, climb ridge -> fight boss
3.) The game is not strategic or tactical like Gears of War or COD. This is a "run-and-gun" shooter -- that is there is not much "taking cover" or flanking and a lot of running around and circle strafing bosses.
So while this game is fun, you might want to rent for the 3 reasons above. Plus you could probably play through this game in a couple of nights. If you don't intend to use the multiplayer options (online only - no split screen) you might want to rent or pick it up used.
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