Pros
- Excellent graphics.
- Intense firefights with lots of weaponry at your disposal.
- Very detailed, large and destructable environments.
Cons
- Xbox 360 controls not as fluid as console version
- Too many bugs in multiplayer game mode
- Linear and short missions.
Storyline
Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions tells the story of Wayne Holden and humans trying to survive on a distant, hostile, and frozen planet called E.D.N.III. From the opening scene, Wayne is thrust into a conflict between Humans and the Akrid, which are robotic like creatures native to the planet. Stricken with amnesia Wayne journey's through various missions and encounters to recover his memory and help human kind defeat the Akrid.The single player campaign contains 12 relatively short missions that piece together the struggles of humans and Akrid on this lost planet. The missions contain some great battles with each ending in a "boss" encounter that will leave your fingers sore, but overall they are very linear. Maybe we've become spoiled by other games with open ended storytelling, but having different outcomes based on the actions you take during the game makes for much more engaging storyline. With Lost Planet, you seem to already know the outcome without having to play through all the missions.
Features & Game play
Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions is a typical third person shooter with most of the normal controls found in these types of games. Being a Games for Windows title means that Lost Planet supports the Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, however controlling and accuracy are two different things. When comparing the Xbox 360 controller and PC mouse/keyboard, the mouse/keyboard was much more accurate in terms of aiming and movement. Often accurate aiming with the Xbox 360 controller was difficult on targets at a distance, while the mouse was dead on target.Weapons are plentiful in Lost Planet but you only have the ability to carry two at a time; They include machine guns, grenades, rocket launchers, shotguns, gatlin guns, sniper rifles and more.
In addition to the standard weapons, you also have mech warrior style suits called Vital Suits. Vital Suits are an integral part of game play in Lost Planet by offering more protection, faster movement, and more fire power. There are various styles of Vital Suits some with special abilities such as flying, jumping and more, in addition each Vital Suit can carry and fire two weapons simultaneously.
In order to survive on the frozen planet you must have a constant supply of thermal energy, or T-ENG. T-ENG helps to renew your life points and can be collected from various sources such as dead Akrids, tanks, and data posts. Your T-ENG however, continually drops during game play, onces it reaches zero you'll begin losing life points so it's important to collect as much as possible.
Graphics & Sound
The in game graphics and cut scenes for Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions are excellent. The environements are very detailed and made more realistic with the excellent HDRI effects of sunlight on snow and the affect it has as you go from indoor to outdoor environments. In addition the character and model of creatures is visually appealing. The sound effects of Vital Suits and firefights are very good and while the cut scene animations look good, the dialog and voice acting are just fair.Bottom Line
Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions for the PC strength is it's single player campaign and graphics, which look better than the Xbox 360 version. The multiplayer mode however is full of bugs and connection issues. These can hopefully be ironed out with a game patch. In spite of this, the linear story and some minor game play issues, Lost Planet still succeeds in being a fun and action packed game.
