Lost Planet 2 Review

EagleThorn

May 20, 2010

As the follow-up to the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Lost Planet, Lost Planet 2 seems to have everything going for it. Aimed at Western audiences, the team at Capcom promised a return of the well received multiplayer mode from the original game, as well as some much-hyped four player co-op for the entire main campaign. Unfortunately, few lessons were learned from the original Lost Planet's problems. Instead, Lost Planet 2 offers online play that feels dated in 2010 and adds a small handful of new issues to the series without fixing what was wrong last time.

LP2Side2 (23K) We'll get the good out of the way first though. Lost Planet 2 is with few exceptions a beautiful game that always seems to have something new to show the player. From familiar ice fields to jungles and cities and deserts, the world of EDN III is often a sight to behold. There seems to be a bit less variety in the kinds of alien Akrid enemies on display, but this is made up for by the variety of enemy factions you encounter and play as. The music is also excellent, with sweeping, epic orchestration punctuating major moments of the game; I want to start making up words for how awesome it is. The bulk of many levels seems to lack any musical accompaniment at all, leading to an often quiet monster hunting experience. This of course is quickly bypassed with a buddy yelling into his Mic out of frustration.

Things largely unravel from there. The controls remain as clunky as they were last time around and deviate from the standard third person layout in a simple way. Want to melee? That's one button. Want to run? Well, that's also the same one button. Want to activate that data post or Vital Suit? We've got the same one button for that too. The grappling hook (or anchor) can still only be used with your feet planted firmly on the ground, and your character jumps like their pockets are full of rocks. I really wished to use the grappling hook while mid-air. Lost Planet 2 is fixated on elaborate activation sequences, and there's generally at least one section per chapter that forces you to wade through some kind of confusing "Rube Goldberg" machine in order to complete your objective--that is, when the game is good enough to tell you how you're supposed to complete that objective in the first place. When it doesn't? That's where the fun starts.

The story is, remarkably, is said to be even less coherent than the previous game's focus on amnesiac Wayne and his quest for identity. However, I never seemed to have this issue and could easily recite some important plot points. Lost Planet 2 takes place 10 years later, as the formerly frozen EDN III has begun to thaw, even more pirate factions are fighting for territory. The military organization NEVEC has plans to exploit the massive Cat-G Akrid that have begun to appear for their valuable thermal energy. I won't say much more on the actual story now. The game's six episodes take place from several views, although the focus sits mainly on a squad of NEVEC commandos that quickly realize, to quote the cliche, that they're in for more than they signed up for.

LP2Side (6K) Another troubling area is the game's level design. Lost Planet 2 is split into 6 episodes of multiple chapters each, and each chapter has several missions. There are no checkpoints between missions, meaning you'll need to complete a full chapter to save your progress in Lost Planet 2, which can often take more than an hour to play through. This means that should you die near the end of a chapter trying to figure out what the game wants you to do, which it never really tells you, you'll have to play the whole thing over again. There's also no jump-in co-op, as new players are forced to wait in a lobby until the other players in the game reach the next mission in a chapter before they can join the session. Campaign levels feel like multiplayer maps populated by enemy soldiers and Akrid, which I and many others actually like. It feels like it has a solid arcade feel to it that only Capcom can achieve. Expect to die over and over at certain points as enemy Akrid or vital suits camp your spawn points. The giant Akrid bosses and mini-bosses return, as does their tendency to knock you down and never let you back up. There is a lot satisfaction to be found from conquering these enormous monsters though.

Competitive multiplayer is largely unchanged from the last game. While the thrill of jumping into a giant robot suit to pound your friends into mush remains. More often than not, you'll have the most success throwing an electrical grenade and killing the temporarily stunned enemy.

Lost Planet 2 does have down sides that could have been easily fixed it someone, anyone, asked some basic questions: "Why can't I pause the game unless I make my game unjoinable?" "Why can't I join a co-op game in progress?" "Why can this monster kill me in two hits?" A little "why?" may have taken this game in a different, more user friendly direction. If you've burned through other multiplayer or co-op options, then there is definitely something for you in Lost Planet 2. The single player campaign is lengthy at around 14 hours with full co-op support and the multiplayer has plenty of maps and modes. Just do yourself a favor: buy some insurance for the controller you'll invariably throw across the room at Lost Planet 2's seemingly endless surplus of enemies and large bosses that are thrown at you. I would, in general, highly recommend this game as I really did enjoy it. Oh! And yeah I got stuck on level 3-2 if anyone wants to help. (That right there is a joke)

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