Lost Planet 3 - Snowy Space Western!

[Carnivol]

Soo... gotten a few hours into Lost Planet 3 here, developed by Spark Unlimited (responsible for many atrocities), and I must say ... I'm quite pleasantly surprised.

Long timers might know I've had a bit of a hard-on for this franchise and, well, I'm happy to say LP3 isn't a bad game.

However ...

Just like LP1's multiplayer was radically different from Colonies' multiplayer, and LP2 turned into one of the most underappreciated co-op gems in recent history and changed itself in many ways from its prequels, LP3 is a very different game.

The funny thing is of course how much LP3 has in common with E.X. Trooper -- sharing a hub system, various types of missions, purchasable upgrades, lots of dialog, and all that jazz -- Lost Planet 3 skips the anime style and goes straight for the real and actually employs some of the finest voice acting (and dialog) I've seen in a video game. Period. It also has pretty good facial mocap and some rather nice cutscene animation in general, only really limited by the poly count of the current gen character models.

Soundtrack's provided by Jack Wall, whom probably most knows for his involvement in Mass Effect, and is a mix of orchestrated stuff (most of which hasn't really reached Jamie Christopherson levels, at least not yet, in terms of iconic feeling) and space western (Firefly). The latter being used as background music as first, but then given to you in full force as an e-mail attachment to use with your Utility Rig - and it's glorious. Guess if they'd made E.X. Trooper and Lost Planet 3 into a single game, it'd be the Lost Planet version of Cowboy Bebop.

Haven't dug entirely into the weapon system yet (upgrades, impact effects, etc.), and far from touching multiplayer, but I love some of the new elements, such as being near a utility rig gives you access to remote functions such as its radar, live ammo counter and all that jazz, meanwhile getting too far from it cuts off all HUD elements (they start crackling as your distance increases) and in the end; only the targeting reticle remain. Kinda works a bit like data posts did in the previous games.

Aim float can be adjusted, the left and right shoulder aiming for shooting backwards still remains, the roll still remains, jumping is gone and grappling restricted to grapple points. 90' turns are replaced by a single 180'. Ultimately it's far from perfect, but it has a great atmosphere, has "heart", and basically seems to offer an experience worthy of the game's own existence.


Also; Love how the Utility Rig sounds like a friggin house party if you abandon it with the radio on - blasting out either your unlocked playlist tracks or custom tracks like the world's biggest boomblaster

[BBboy20]

So is it a corridor shooter? LP has always been linear but it's levels were expansive enough that you could get "lost" when ever you tried looking around for stuff.

That Kotaku review I read also said the same thing about the game really being a love letter to the average working man who shed and dies for our infrastructures that were obtained and sustained in the last 160 years.

Still, Spark Unlimited has been my most disliked dev since the disappointment of Call of Duty: Finest Hour and trying out that Turning Point game.

[Carnivol]

Wouldn't really call it a corridor shooter. At least not if LP1 and LP2 weren't corridor shooters. Level design/structure is mostly the same (variety of some open stuff, some corridor stuff, some vertical combat, some vehicle, etc.), but everything seems to be somewhat connected and explorable to a certain degree (opens up more and more based on story progress and your base sort of acts like your main hub for both shopping, upgrades, and picking which direction you go.)

There are also main assignments and sub-assignments you can do around the world. So you don't always have to go chasing story progression. Lots of little logs to collect too, that expand upon the universe in either audio or text format. (Goes in seperate folders to the e-mail video calls you exchange with your wife and stuff)

[Greko]

I definitely have this game on my pick-up list, although I was a little disappointed from the one preview video I watched where the mech looks like something we'd operate these days; i.e. slow and clunky.

I know that this is way earlier in the games lore so their tech is a little less advanced than the other games, but I was hoping for something with a smoother ride than that was all. I guess it makes sense considering the direction away from anime they've moved the game though so I can't really complain much if the game itself is fun!

[Carnivol]

Controller config has 3 layouts you can alter; One for on foot, one for the utility rig, and another for something that has an icon that looks kinda like the "Hardballer" VS from the previous games.

[Code_R]

I liked the first one at the time, it has some frozen wasteland mood I liked and some of that arcadey robot shooting stuff but I kinda let the sequels pass me by. Wasn't a fan of some of the boss fights, particularly the last one.