Tony:
Among the playable games at Capcom’s PAX East booth was
Lost Planet 3 for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Having never played the first games in the
series, I decided to try it out. My playtime was limited so I was unable to
experience the entire demo, leaving out certain mechanics such as Mech battles
against larger monsters. My experience was limited to a third person segment of
me traveling though an abandoned laboratory of some sort.
The game takes place before the events of the first Lost
Planet game on the still frozen planet, E.D.N. III. Our main character, Jim
Peyton is sent to the planet by the corporation NEVEC in order to mine resources for the
Earth by using a massive mining mech. As he continues his mining, he finds
pockets of heat energy that melts away the snow and begins to uncover details about NEVEC and the ferocious monsters that live on the planet. During my playthough, the game would occasionally cut from the action to a cutscene where
Jim is recording a video to his wife, explaining his job and the wonders he sees.
It is an interesting way to describe the game’s background and to create
contrast in Jim's character, from being cheerful on the video to becoming worried and violent when moving the frozen landscape.
The part I played in the demo felt what could have been the
game’s first mission, as the main character seemed surprised by various events
taking place. After melting one area, he found a facility beneath the ice and
snow, questioning why it was there. Entering the dark, frozen complex, my
immediate thought was how much it reminded me of Dead Space 3. The persistent darkness, mounting numbers of dead bodies, and ominous noises from the air vents were all things I had seen
Dead Space do before. At one point, I had to force open a door that I knew it
would lead to a monster attack. Sure enough, after pressing the X button to
force open the door, an insect jumped on top of me. Once the bug had jumped on
me, the game prompted me to press the X button rapidly. But after that, two
reticules appeared on screen, which I assumed had to be aligned. After three
tries ending in failure, I learned I had to press the right trigger once they
had been matched up. This bothered me, as there was plenty of button prompts
everywhere else in the demo but here.
After that event, I was able to move about a large generator
room where I got a good look at the game’s emphasis on lighting. A large
glowing mechanism lit up the room while large panels rotated around it,
creating moments of darkness. If there was one thing Lost Planet 3’s demo did
well, it was the lighting. Shortly after entering the room, I was attacked by more
alien insects. Much like in other third-person shooters, I had to aim my shotgun toward them as they approached. However, I quickly found that to be
rather difficult as the camera moved in too close to Jim, making it hard for me
to see the targets, not to mention that the aiming sensitivity was too high, causing me to often
over-shoot the monsters. While sensitivity might be customizable, I am not sure
about the camera work, which made fighting the smaller monsters challenging.
Another thing I noticed was the lack of any run button. I tried a variety of
buttons and could not find the sprint button. In a game with monsters, running
is important as I tried to keep my distance form them. It is possible that my
trouble with controls could have been fixed with customization or by simply
playing the game more.
My time with the demo ended with me turning off the
generator to get through a locked door. In order to turn it off, I had to hold
the X button down for several seconds as the generator slowed down. I felt this
was a foreshadowing of events later in the game where Jim might have to turn
something on or off while hoards of monsters try to stop him. As expected, once
the generator was turned off, a bunch of insects entered the facility prompting
another battle but this time with much less lighting. It was here that
my playtime ended.
Lost Planet 3 may take place before the first game in the series, but my experience made me feel closer to what I had seen of Dead Space 3 more than the Lost Planet series. While I hear there are other
additions as wel' as mech battles, I sadly did not get a chance to play them so my
impressions are limited. The close aiming camera, lack of running, and the
promptless quick-time events were my biggest frustrations of the game,
while its lighting and environment were definitely its strengths. I hope the other
portions of the game outweigh the parts I had trouble with, or else this game
will have trouble standing out from other games using the same style of aesthetic. Keep an eye out for more of this game when it comes out for Xbox 360,
Playstation 3, and PC in June.
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