Lost Planet 2 - Review

Capcom's games rarely disappoint me. Besides some exceptions. Resident Evil 5 was an outstanding game and of course Lost Planet 1 was a great game. It had extremely amazing graphics and the story was good enough to keep the fluid gameplay going. Now a few years later does the sequel's new environment without snow, provide a fresh experience or is it lost on its own planet?

Lost Planet 2's plot is nothing extraordinary. In fact it's worse than the first game's story which was just good. It's set a few years after the first game and now the snow is all molten snow. But Thermal Energy is still the ultimate resource. You play as 6 different factions and all of their missions have their own different taste. Other than that the plotline doesn't deliver anything emotional or deep for you to immerse into. What saves it from being too boring is one of the factions' story which is awesome and the action-packed cutscenes in general.

The soundtrack in Lost Planet 2 is great. The epic tunes provided in equivalently epic fights suit in perfectly. For example how the music increases in volume when fighting a huge boss, which I'll go into more detail later. I just wished there was more than the same 4-5 songs playing over and over but I'm glad they add to the heat of the battle.

The sound effects in Lost Planet 2 deliver outstandingly. Guns sound loud and like they pack a punch. Especially VS shotguns. The treading on shallow jungle water or snow interrupted by a herd of enemies that scream hostilely is one of the few examples I can give out that this game is exceptionally great with its sound. I'm extremely satisfied with the effects and leaving the best for last, I love all the Akrid sounds and screeches. They all make you feel intimidated by the huge monsters presented in front of you and without exaggerating, it did kinda remind me of the awesome Shadow of the Colossus.

Of course the sound has its flaws. It has mediocre voice acting that are forgettable and just decrease the decency of the story. But anyway, I didn't rent Lost Planet 2 for the story so this won't disappoint you that much.

The game has non surprisingly great visuals. The lighting reminds me of Resident Evil and the enemy design reminds of its predecessor. Everything looks so realistic. The water effects are great, lush jungles and gorgeous monsters are jaw dropping. The human type enemies look decent, with its own faction having its own personality and appearance. Half-naked Mexican factions to leaf-covered jungle factions all give you a variety of enemies to fight. Guns also look great. The machine gun, your standard weapon, is the beginning of your unique repertoire. Weapons range from disc grenades to Laser Swords attached to your VSs. VS shotguns are brutal, rocket launchers decimate VSs in seconds, rifles clean out all enemies from a far distance and some VS weapons can be charged in cost of your Thermal Energy instead of ammo. I was surprised to the variety it provided.

All boss fights look and play amazingly. Different settings add on to the different type of way you can play bosses. From a train with a huge railway gun, to a huge vehicle blasting the other wings of another vehicle. There are minor flaws of course like the stiff animations in cutscenes and bland textures in indoor areas. I also thought the environment could have been designed better and some levels are plainly frustrating and not challenging sometimes.

The gameplay of Lost Planet 2 is also great. In a few words it's a third person shooter with some unique elements added in and a heavy emphasis on epic boss fights and this can all be done in 4 player coop. There's a grapple hook all factions have that can elevate you but is very clunky sometimes, like in the first game. You can't shoot while grappling and some environments block the way for you while grappling up to a place and can sometimes lead to an unfair death because you thought your character wouldn't fly off.

The shooting is good with its own flaws of course. I dislike the complex control scheme. Up on the d-pad to zoom in? Right stick pressed down to reload. These are controls that reminded me of the abomination known as Damnation. I still cringe when I hear the name of that game. But the variety in this game saves it. The objectives vary and save it from being too dull with the human enemy fights. The game provides a challenge alot of the times and if you don't use your Harmonizer (that depletes T- Energy) and activate data posts to increase your Battle Gauge, you will find yourself starting from the beginning of the chapter. I like a challenge so I don't see this as a flaw. What I wish it had was smart AI. Your team AI is retarded to say the least. They will rarely help with objectives and thank good ness they don't deplete the Battle Gauge. Thankfully my playthrough of Lost Planet 2 was in co-op and not solo.

The co-op lobby doesn't bother me much. Drop in drop out co-op would have invented new flaws for the game, like no achievements unlocking and I can see why it's like this since it's a level based game and not a free roam like Borderlands. I also got disconnected unfairly once, despite me having almost no latency and I had to beat a level 3 times for it to make me progress to the next chapter. It was annoying but nothing gamebreaking.

Boss fights usually occur in the end of every chapter and are, for the 1000th time, epic. They all have a weak spot (orange bulb usually) and their health bar slowly depletes. Not all of them are just you shooting them directly though. Some provide teamwork, for example provide shells for your teammate as a result to shoot a huge railway gun on the huge Akrid. They are all huge and breathtaking and leave you gaping. They are my favorite parts of the game.

The multiplayer in Lost Planet 2 is mediocre sadly. It had potential to be as good as its single player but fails in some aspects. The huge maps with a lack of tutorials make you feel it was only designed for Lost Planet 1 MP veterans since it can be unfriendly to noobs. It is also slow, but it has its moments. Like fighting another VS in your VS and just shooting each other to death. I wish it was just more accessible.

Lost Planet 2 is a great game overall. Despite some of its flaws that deprive it from being amazing, it is definitely a rental and maybe even a buy if you loved its predecessor. So the epic single player is amazing enough to play this game over and over because of the high replay value it has. Don't bother with the multiplayer though since it's forgettable.

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