Prior to release, Lost Planet 2 had some serious marketing and publicity going for it. Capcom was releasing trailer (of considerable length, I might add) after trailer, showcasing the game’s new tropical setting, giant boss monsters and co-operative gameplay. I’m not a huge fan of the first game , not having played too much of it, so it would take a lot to get me kicked about the sequel. And it worked (believe me, it did). I was on several gaming websites on a daily basis checking out each of the game’s many trailers (there’s even one with the boys from Epic’s Gears of War) and gameplay videos. I was really kicked. Too bad I played the game afterwards.
If you think narrative has no place in a game, then you’ll feel right at home with Lost Planet 2. It doesn’t make the slightest effort to tell a story, introduce a plot or characters. The approach seems very Left 4 Dead, and while this may appeal to some, it’s sure to put off many (yours truly included), particularly because the game opens with a cutscene that is on-par with big-budget titles. The cutscene gives the player an insight into the back-story of the Lost Planet and its various warring factions. The introduction is aimed at putting the player at ease with the universe of the game, which it does rather well. And then, nothing. No more story, no more plot. You just find yourself fighting your way through thousands of Akrid (the native hostile species of the planet and prime source of ‘thermal energy’), turning on data nodes for no rhyme or reason. It’s the lack of consistency that’s more baffling than anything — why bother with the opening sequence in the first place?
Co-operative gameplay was clearly the main priority when Capcom was designing Lost Planet 2 and this is evident from the first screen of the campaign menu. You don’t simply start a campaign on your own like the first Lost Planet (or even Left 4 Dead for that matter), you actually have to ‘host’ a single player game. You can have up to a maximum of three AI companions on each mission — if you’re playing on a single console, the split-screen feature lets another player join in on the action. The four-player co-op campaign is accessible only if you’re connected to PSN or Xbox Live, which is alright. However, there are some glaring issues in this co-op-oriented system. Granted, Lost Planet 2 was never meant to be played alone, but that doesn’t mean that you make a complete mess of the AI design. The ‘mindless-horde’ mentality of Akrid is forgiveable, but the friendly AI is mostly useless and particularly annoying when you’re playing co-op. It’s most often at the wrong place at the wrong time and seemingly oblivious to objectives. A squad command system would have been useful, but going by the poorly designed (and sometimes overly complicated) controls, I think we should be thankful to Capcom for not including the feature. The lack of a jump-in co-op feature is baffling as well. Other players can join games only during the game’s transition periods — each mission basically has you going from point-A to point-B (which will feature a transition point to the next area). Similarly, if a player drops from a game, you’re left fending off the Akrid with fewer numbers. Lost Planet 2’s broken co-operative play is topped by an even more broken checkpoint and save system. The checkpoints, which double as save points are spread really far apart, and the lack of a functional pause feature means that you can’t really stop playing the game between checkpoints –— almost like Capcom is forcibly shovelling piles of Lost Planet 2 down your throat for each 10-15 minute section. If you die (which is tough, admittedly, given the large sum of respawn points), you will have to start right after the last save point, which, as mentioned above, will see you having to repeat 10-15 mintues of gameplay.
Of course, the faults in game design could be tolerated if the game sported tight controls, intuitive interface, slick graphics and a competent multiplayer component, right? Right?! I’m sorry to report that Lost Planet 2 features none of these. The controls are rubbish (triangle + L1 to switch grenades? C’mon!), the shooting feels awkward if nothing else, the interface and graphics look very dated and the multiplayer suffers from the same faults that the campaign mode does. I don’t see the LP2 servers having any players after a month following the game’s release. The only redeeming quality (if we must) is that some of the boss-fights (featuring ‘Category-G’ Akrid) are pretty good, but in actuality, you’ll just be pumping millions of rounds into each boss-monster. This takes about 15-20 minutes at times, so yeah, you kind of get your money’s worth.
Verdict: Epic boss-monsters aside, Lost Planet 2 has nothing to offer.
— videep@gmail.com