Review: Lost Planet (X360)

Lost Planet has too many weaknesses to compete with the more contemporary ‘360 shooters.

The basic premise of the game, as a 3rd person shooter, is fine and Capcom have some pedigree in this genre. However, I feel that the game has been dreadfully let down but an extremely confusing, poor and unresponsive control system. A quick flick through the manual reveals a huge variety of buttons/controls used in the game, with many combinations and modes. The default button layout contradicts the established layouts used by many other games resulting in some confusing and frustrating battles. Even changing the button mapping only partially resolves the problem as every button is used for something or another! Context sensitivity seems to have been limited to just “B” (which in itself is wrong!).

Worst, however, is the ability to turn to face your foes. It is so bad that the developers felt it necessary to include further complication by having 90’ & 180’ turn buttons to compensate for the control issue. I have tried changing the settings, but it only makes a slight improvement. The VSs’ are not much better either, and the buttons frequently feel unresponsive.

Finally, the difficulty ranges from easy to stupidly unforgiving at the turn of a hat. Even the opening level has you instantly dieing if you deviate by 1mm from a prescribed path. My most frustrating moment, however, was the VS battle at the end of level 3: I was stuck in a situation where I basically had 3 seconds to move, get into a VS and try to fight before I would be instantly killed. I’m afraid 3 seconds of instant split second action repeated 30 or more times before I managed to get a shot off was not funny!

The graphics are very good, although the character animation on the main avatar is a bit lame. He looks like he is not joined at the waist! I also found the grapple/jump to be laughable as well - it must be a low G environment on this planet! The game features some cheesy but acceptable voice acting, and on the whole the sound track is pretty good.

The game is frustrating in many places and also appears to be quite short. I suspect the addition of the “coins” to collect was to lengthen the game and replay value. The online multiplayer is okay-to-average: like most shooters, you run around shooting peeps, but it is nothing special.

I am quite disappointed with this game. I have no problem with a old-school 3rd person shooter (without cover et al) but if Capcom think this is the way shooters should be they are very much mistaken: more controls /= better games.

This had the potential to be very good with some nasty large enemies, intriguing plot, assorted mechs, and that grapple. However, the final game has been let down with a lame plot, repetitive action, unforgiving difficulty, and stupidly complex & unresponsive controls.

6/10