Gamertell Review: Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition

Title: Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition
Price: $29.99
System(s): Xbox 360, PC
Publisher (Developer): Capcom
Rating: Teen
Pros: Still fun game play, great music, lots of weapons and mechs, great online play, tons of new additions.
Cons: AI is still poor, graphics are dated, not as many people online now, weak story.
Overall Score: One Thumb Up, One Thumb Sideways; 85/100; B; * * * 1/2 out of five

It’s been little longer than a years since the original Lost Planet was released for the Xbox 360. The game went on to be one of 2007′s surprise hits and even the demo had a ground breaking one million downloads on Xbox Live.

Now, three months after Playstation 3 fans finally got their hands on Lost Planet, Microsoft is hoping to pull gamers back to the 360 and PC with the release of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition.

Squash S’more Bugs

This new edition is more than just a mouthful to speak with plenty of new game play features and goodies, both online and off.

The core of the game remains pretty much the same: You follow the same path as the original title, fight pretty much the same and encounter many of the same story events. This isn’t a bad thing but the new maps do add enough new material to change things up a bit.

Lost Planet follows Wayne, our hero as he tries to uncover his past, prevent a planetary Armageddon and transform the permanently snow covered world of E.D.N III into a paradise. All the while battling snow pirates, mercenaries, the evil corporation and of course, the Akrid, the native alien bug life forms.

Unfortunately, the story never really takes off and you’ll probably side with the opposing bad guys. Sure, the villains were evil, but what they were trying to do in the game didn’t really sound all that terrible (outside of killing thousands of innocent people who you never run across during your game play).

New Toys

Game play is still pretty straight forward, but still fun. You’ll battle your way through a dozen or more maps, most of which are pretty large. Set against you are a number of giant bugs, pirates and an evil corporation bent on destroying all life on the lost planet. What makes Lost Planet different is you’re able to hop in and out of various super-charged Mechs scattered throughout the maps.

A number of new features have been included in the single-player game: Score Attack, which awards players with points based on how you defeat a particle enemy; Trial Battle Mode, which allow players to battle each of Lost Planet’s bosses one after another; and Off Limit Mode, a god-mode where weapons are super charged and the character’s speed is increased.

Online is where most of the fun is going to be. There are four new multiplayer maps including: Crossfire City, which is a wide street that provides that pits snipers and Mech battles; Area 921 which has two large industrial compounds located in a vast desert; Lost Arena players who wish to match Mech against Mech gladiator style; and Assault Space, which is set on board a large space ship and in zero gravity.

These are all really fun maps that add a lot to the multiplayer experience.

The mode that most people are going to enjoy is the new multiplayer Akrid Hunter mode. One side gets to be the humans, while the other side gets to play as the Akrid insect monsters as you get to utilize a number of the Akrid’s special abilities. Plus, just being a dozen feet taller than a human, crushing them under your feet is very cool as it makes for some of the best online moments.

Cheap price tag, fun and plenty of new additions

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition offers many worthwhile additional features including a new first-person perspective mode, new weapons, new single player’s maps, new vehicles and cross-platform play with the PC. All at the cheap price tag of only $29.99.

Site [Gamer Tell] Site [Capcom]