Gamersmint Review : Lost Planet 2
Lost Planet 2 is the kind of game you’d take for granted to be destined for greatness. Being a sequel to a brilliant mega-monster-battle title has its own perks. Fuse that with a great marketing campaign and you’ve probably got another Halo 3 or Half Life 2 in the making. Right? No, if you happen to be Capcom! They did everything right except fixing technical and gameplay issues which the gaming industry itself overcame ten years ago, thereby diluting Lost Planet 2’s status from a ‘worthy sequel’ to ‘mediocre setback’. Lost Planet 2 is a sine curve of hits and misses, and while there are the occasional thrills to be found, it’s still a far cry from its shining predecessor and will likely leave your overall experience colder than the ice on its surface.
Story & Campaign
Lost Planet 2 is based 10 years after the events of the first game on the same fictitious icy planet of E.D.N. III. Snow pirates, mercenaries, NEVEC (a space corporation) and Akrids (resident insect species) continue to fight each other for survival and control amongst the newly formed jungles & deserts. NEVEC aims to harvest the ultimate thermal energy source from the planet, not caring if it dies in a resulting ice age. As the realization of NEVEC’s plan dawns on the resident human factions, they join forces to thwart their attempt in a bid to save their ‘home’.
While easily put on paper, the story in first four episodes of the six episode campaign stays totally incomprehensible. Each episode is played out from a different perspective and is divided into chapters and missions. The game keeps directing you to activate data posts or killing foes 80% of the time citing one lame excuse or another. While Lost Planet’s story originated as a meaty ‘revenge’ tale, its successor showcases a blatant lack of plot with things falling slightly in place towards the end. The episodic approach does not allow its nameless characters to develop well and the climax feels lame, despite ample potential in its ‘coming together of all factions’ approach. Even the Akrid sequences and boss battles appear disconnected and forced in the entire setup.
The mission designs are pretty skewed with some being overly long & others being surprisingly short. ‘Short’ = the time spent on mission completion may be equal to the performance calculation following it! Not only does this kill player involvement, it feels like a setback compared to the long and elaborate level designs of Lost Planet. The campaign is salvaged to some extent by a reasonable 12+ hours of play time, but in the absence of any plot (or worse, even humor), feels like a ride without power or fuel.
Graphics
Thankfully, the power absent in the game’s plot can be found in its graphics which are pumped out of Capcom’s own MT-2 Framework engine. Spread across lush green jungles (which look straight out of the movie Predator btw), industrial & residential complexes, sandy deserts, military facilities, ice fields, underwater chasms and even space, most of the levels are extremely well-detailed and a sight to behold. You may frequently pan the camera around to absorb the breath-taking sceneries even during battle. Brilliant lighting infuses further realism into the surroundings and special effects like rain-drops, weapon fire, sparks & explosions are nicely done.
The game movies are also an impressive watch! An ‘Avatar’ reminiscent opening movie, electrifying train crashes, godzilla dwarfing boss battle introductions – most of the in-game videos succeed in delivering a fair amount of ‘wow’ factor. Character designs & appearances are quite varied for each faction with the Mad Max 2 villain look-alike sand raiders being the most colorful of the lot. Akrids strike a decent impression thanks to their huge sizes and well animated movements. The only grudge is the comic-book appearance of objects like data posts, weapons, credit boxes, etc which stick out like a sore thumb. Otherwise, great looks is probably a major reason you will propel through the game in the absence of a coherent plot.
