Everything about this nice-looking, mostly online shooter is cumbersome and unpleasant to deal with in one way or another.
The action has gotten hotter on E.D.N. III. On paper, Lost Planet 2 looks like it ought to be a good (or great) online-oriented third-person shooter. It's got a lengthy campaign full of absolutely enormous monsters, and a lot more varied environments than the arctic-only levels of the first game. There's a full multiplayer component with a variety of maps and modes, and a whole array of giant powered robot armor (called vital suits) to pilot. And it's all tied together by a global character-progression system that lets you unlock a bunch of new weapons and abilities, not to mention some silly new cosmetic doohickeys, for your warrior. By the numbers, that seems to me like a recipe for an all-around entertaining (if not entirely original) action game.
But the unfortunate reality is that every piece of Lost Planet 2 is poorly designed or clumsily bolted onto all the other parts, or both, resulting in an inconsistent, frustrating, and sometimes baffling experience whether you're playing the action or just trying to sift through the byzantine menus. You frequently get the sense that nobody at Capcom ever stepped back and really took a hard look at how all the game's systems fit together, to see if all the mechanics made sense and whether the action was fun to play or not. It's just a roughly made game from top to bottom.
The outlandish akrid bosses are the most memorable thing about the campaign. Lost Planet 2 styles itself as such an online-centric experience that when you go to start a campaign game, you're actually creating a four-player online lobby. You can set your lobby to offline, but even then you're still advised to play with AI-controlled characters that actualy have fake usernames hovering over their heads to simulate the online co-op experience. The game practically requires real players to be any fun, though, since the AI teammates only pull their weight some of the time. Other times, they'll just hang around and not really pitch in while you do all the heavy lifting yourself. At times (mainly when fighting the bosses), the game is so punishing that the difficulty feels like it was balanced toward four real players capable of thinking tactically and not mindless automatons who run around aimlessly, so you'd be forgiven for playing the campaign on the easy setting if you're forced to play it alone. That's certainly the most pleasant way to play it by yourself.
Despite the focus on cooperating with other human beings, Lost Planet 2 makes it maddeningly hard to actually get a co-op game going. You can't bring in players who haven't already reached the point in the campaign that you're trying to play, and likewise you can only join games that are running levels you've already seen yourself. Joining a game in progress doesn't drop you right into the action but merely leaves you staring at a static menu screen showing the players (both real and fake) who are currently playing. Presumably, you'd eventually get to join in the action at a checkpoint, but 15 minutes was the longest I could stand to look at that unmoving screen before quitting out, so I never got to test that particular feature. Other shooters have certainly gotten the chapter-selectable, drop-in style of campaign co-op right--Halo and Gears of War come to mind--so it's hard to understand why this one makes it so tough to just get in and start shooting with friends.
The action is too slow and clunky to keep up with other modern shooters. Whether you're playing with friends or bots, the unbalanced difficulty is made a lot worse by the distance between checkpoints. If you run out of what passes for extra lives while fighting one of those bosses--and when's the last time you remember a shooter that had a finite number of lives?--you could find yourself losing 30 or 45 minutes of progress as you zoom way back to the last time the game meted out a checkpoint. As archaic as that is, it's not the worst of the game's messy campaign infrastructure. At one point in the back end of the campaign, I was playing an online-enabled game, on the off chance that someone might randomly jump into the action. My Internet connection dropped out for a second and disconnected me from Xbox Live, at which point the game abruptly cut to a black screen with a "Disconnected from host" error message. In a single-player game. That set me back at least 30 minutes of progress and incidentally made me never, ever want to play Lost Planet 2's campaign again.
It doesn't help that the campaign isn't really much to write home about, anyway. It takes place some time after the first game, when the previously snow-covered planet E.D.N. III has undergone a rapid warming due to ongoing civil war, developing deserts, jungles, and vast oceans. With the focus squarely on co-op, the missions start to feel generic, almost like a primer for multiplayer, after a while. And since the story shifts from one warring faction to the next between every episode--with most characters wearing face masks and having no obvious names--it's hard to keep up with or really care about the events of the plot. The best part of the campaign is the sheer, ludicrous size of the "category G" akrid monsters, which should be familiar to veterans of the first game. You'll spend most of the campaign in this sequel shooting at human enemies, but every once in a while a boss monster will trot out that's so big it puts almost any other video game boss to shame. Too bad these guys aren't as fun to fight as they are impressive to see; you generally spend 10 to 20 minutes shooting them in glowing weak points, and soaking up a ton of damage from unavoidable attacks, until they finally die (or you do, and revert to the last checkpoint). Having been weaned on Contra in my youth, I'm no stranger to shooting things in glowing weak points until they die, but this is just excessive.
Unlocking new gear is more complicated than it needs to be. The game's competitive multiplayer is a little more sensibly designed. It's got your standard run of deathmatch and territory-control modes, as well as variants on kill-the-VIP and capture-the-flag (or in this case, the akrid egg). The vital suits are available in the campaign but they play a bigger role here, since there are all manner of huge suits that can accommodate not just a pilot but several hangers-on who can fire from the sides. Heck, sometimes they aren't suits at all but more conventional vehicles like helicopters. There are a lot of ways to mix the vital suits and other gameplay-variable elements into the different modes that can change up the action. The typical ranked and custom multiplayer game types are available, as well as a faction match that lets you pick one of the five sides and compete over a lengthy period of time for global supremacy.
It's too bad that the action in the multiplayer shares the same basic clunkiness of the campaign, though. The core controls just feel awkward, slow, and unresponsive compared to the better shooters on the market. You have to stop moving to change weapons. It takes what feels like forever to get up after getting knocked down. The sprint move feels slower than the regular movement speed. The grappling hook only works on a few surfaces, you can't use it in the air, and it takes way too long to get you on top of a ledge. The list goes on. The aiming and shooting are serviceable, but the movement isn't nearly as streamlined and accessible as it should be to make Lost Planet 2 feel as playable as other contemporary shooters. It's almost as if the game prioritizes long, flashy animations over basic playability. Both modes lean too heavily on meters and numbers, too. The thermal energy from the first game has been modified so that here you can use it to heal yourself and repair vital suits, but it still feels unnecessary. There's also a "battle gauge" that determines how many times you can respawn in the campaign (yes, you respawn, with a timer, even in single-player). The last thing I want to do in a heated firefight is micromanage multiple gauges and statistics that dictate my survivability, but there you have it.
Seriously, c'mon. The campaign and multiplayer modes are unified by a de rigueur character level-up system that parcels out new weapon types and plenty of for-looks-only armor and clothing options to customize your online fighter. But this system is perhaps the most baffling of all, since the game does a poor job of communicating information to you about virtually everything that's going on, from the amount of experience you gain through both the campaign and multiplayer matches to how your online characters from each faction level up and how or when you unlock new equipment. You mainly cash in experience points on an in-game slot machine to randomly unlock new weapons and abilities, but I repeatedly wasted my points receiving new online titles and emote animations more frequently than I got real new gear to use. Talk about frustrating. It's telling that I actually had to go to the game manual to clarify some of these obscure, unintuitive systems. Ask yourself how long it's been since you had to rely on a manual to enjoy a game like this.
It feels like Capcom barely missed making a great game with Lost Planet 2. It looks fantastic; the multiplatform MT Framework engine that powered Resident Evil 5 last year is still pumping out truly great visuals, the enormous akrid bosses being the most prominent example. With faster and more responsive controls, a better multiplayer framework, and a smoother character progression system, this one could have been surprisingly competitive in its category. But with so many problems holding it back, Lost Planet 2 is hard to recommend against all the other great shooters already out there.
" This review was very poorly-written. Brad, as an English major, you should know when to use commas. I could hardly read this review on account of all the comma splices. "
I don't believe it was poorly-written at all. There are no comma splices in this entire review; all of the inclusions of commas are grammatically correct. "
Actually Jrinswand is right. There are multiple examples of comma splices, like this one: "at one point in the back end of the campaign, I was playing an online-enabled game, on the off chance that someone might randomly jump into the action." Still, STFU grammar nazi. "
A comma splice is two independent clauses joined by a comma and not a period. There are fewer than two independent clauses in that sentence. But thanks for playing.
Edit: Regarding your use of "poorly-written," adverbs ending in -ly don't take hyphens before the word they're modifying. So hey, pot-kettle?
I don't agree with something so it's shit! Oh, Internet, never change. "
I don't like a game, so it's shit! Oh, internet, never change. "
Except...no one said that?... "
Think he is talking about Brad. "
If he was, that comment has reached exponentially stupid levels. That's what a review is for. To decide if a game is good or not. I'm not sure what else you're expecting to read with a review. "
Actually I was remarking on some of the comments on here, but thanks for trying to insult me right away! Maybe if you defend enough reviews and suck up to the staff they'll acknowledge you one day! Won't that be dreamy
Also, thanks! It's always been my dream to be acknowledged by the staff then my life shall be truly complete. Some people strive to be doctors or teachers but all I need is a simple @ reply in order to forever make me happy...Maybe some day...
@Brad: Touche, good sir. While I stand by my statement about your overuse of commas, I understand that I am not the ideal grammarian myself. Such miscalls are bound to happen after being out of school for several months.
Also, I want you to know that I think it is awesome that you guys actually respond to your audience, whether it be to flamebaity trolling or not. I've gotta say that makes a world of difference in the often critically sterile world of video game journalism.
@Keeng: i agree with the point about monster hunter. This game and monster hunter do not differ much. Ive been playing all day and have yet to find any means to agree with all these western reviews of LP2. To me it looks like reviewers just cant play the game properly. This game and monster hunter are very much alike, just without item carrying and guns. The only issues I really have with this game is some balance issues in the multiplayer and the soldiers AI (companions and enemies), atleast so far for me it seems that way on normal mode, I hear hard mode is impossible to do without real people
" This review was very poorly-written. Brad, as an English major, you should know when to use commas. I could hardly read this review on account of all the comma splices. "
I don't believe it was poorly-written at all. There are no comma splices in this entire review; all of the inclusions of commas are grammatically correct. "
Actually Jrinswand is right. There are multiple examples of comma splices, like this one: "at one point in the back end of the campaign, I was playing an online-enabled game, on the off chance that someone might randomly jump into the action." Still, STFU grammar nazi. "
A comma splice is two independent clauses joined by a comma and not a period. There are fewer than two independent clauses in that sentence. But thanks for playing. Edit: Regarding your use of "poorly-written," adverbs ending in -ly don't take hyphens before the word they're modifying. So hey, pot-kettle? "
OK so you got me; it's not a splice. Still, I picked that sentence because the use of commas is just plain unnecessary. Just sayin'...
I thought the first Lost Planet was alright, but it definitely lacked polish in the game play department. It's too bad that sequelitis didn't work in favor of this series. I'll take Brad's word for it and take a pass since I tend to agree wholeheartedly with all of his reviews (except Flower). Don't ever change Brad. Tell it like it is.
Man, thats what the preview buzz was too. Single player feels like a multiplayer game etc. Being someone who is more interested in the single player aspects of Lost Planet, I suspected I was out of luck when the focus shifted to multiplayer. I really enjoyed the original (other than the final boss) but this one looks like a pass for me. Thanks for the review, Brad.
" This review was very poorly-written. Brad, as an English major, you should know when to use commas. I could hardly read this review on account of all the comma splices. "
I don't believe it was poorly-written at all. There are no comma splices in this entire review; all of the inclusions of commas are grammatically correct. "
Actually Jrinswand is right. There are multiple examples of comma splices, like this one: "at one point in the back end of the campaign, I was playing an online-enabled game, on the off chance that someone might randomly jump into the action." Still, STFU grammar nazi. "
A comma splice is two independent clauses joined by a comma and not a period. There are fewer than two independent clauses in that sentence. But thanks for playing. Edit: Regarding your use of "poorly-written," adverbs ending in -ly don't take hyphens before the word they're modifying. So hey, pot-kettle? "
OK so you got me; it's not a splice. Still, I picked that sentence because the use of commas is just plain unnecessary. Just sayin'... "
The fact that you care this much is nothing short of heartbreaking. There are a bunch of fish in the Gulf of Mexico that could use a good scrubbing. Why waste your energy on such negativity? I want my fish sticks, dammit!
I'm playing through the game at the moment and am really enjoying it. I'm just over half way through the campaign. As far as controls are concerned if you played LP1 then you should know what to expect. The controls remind me of RE5 on how people were divided with the usual comments of "Why doesn't it control like Gears of War?". Well... because it's not Gears of War. I guess you either accept it and enjoy the game or it's a wall you're not going to get past.
I like the games design to collect Titles, Costumes and Weapons. If you're a collection junky like me then you'll get a kick out of it. The campaign chapters are designed to be played over and over to improve your score, unlock more items, level up and get all the good job medals etc. If you just want to breeze through a campaign and are not bothered about such things then you're not going to get the most out of this game.
Just to clarify a few points from Brads review:
1. Check points - Respawn These are the dataposts which you have to find and activate. Some are on an obvious path and others slightly hidden. If you don't activate them then you'll respawn back at the start of the level or an earlier datapost.
2. Unavoidable Akrid Attacks? Again this probably comes down to whether or not you're happy with the controls but the attacks aren't unavoidable. You just have to learn the Akrids attack patterns and dive out of the way when it attacks.
3. On-Line Campaign ends if internet connection lost Although it could be a bit more robust there are certainly other games out there like this. The last one I played was Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. That games campaign is not even co-op and yet if your connection to PSN fails then it's game over. If you're playing on your own then set the game type to off-line to avoid this problem.
4. Controls - Poor design Some people seem to want realism like 1 shot kills (headshots Jeff :) but as soon as they're realistically encumbered by heavy items and can't run at 30mph while changing weapons, throwing grenades and shooting an entire clip, they're not happy. I don't think this is down to poor design, it's simply a different design choice. LP2 is actually quite a slow game where you have to think before you do something as certain items and actions have consequences.
5. Poor AI Sure the AI is not overlly active and the game is best played with other human players but most people have friends on XBL or PSN so it shouldn't be a problem. If you try playing some of those levels on your own without any AI players then you'll soon be thankful of the extra firepower they provide so it's not all bad. They simply don't run ahead and activate dataposts or key objectives without you guiding the way.
@EgoCheck616: That's being generous indeed. The review gives every impression of being an unfair complaint piece based on an unfinished runthrough playing with bots (at best clocked on easy solo as the review seems to suggest), putting it on the same level as community reviewers that play it wrong and get owned. I don't see how this kind of derision for the game is justified based on not exploring the game fully, or playing it as it was intended.
@EgoCheck616: It takes about 30 seconds to think of and then write a comment. Does 30 seconds of work imply that I care alot? No, I don't think that it does. I'm just bored.
Really? This again? You DO realize they have a number of different accounts. Right? "
Of course everyone knows this.... but if the game was as bad as he said, and he didnt want to play the campaign again, why would he do so on his own account later? That don't make sense. This is chewbacca. Why would a wookie live with ewoks? That don't make sense. If Chewbacca lives on endor, then the review don't make sense.
Seriously though, I wont say bad review but just strange. I played the demo and even then it doesn't feel like he's talking about the same game. I mean, to him the game doesnt play like he thinks it should but doesnt it make the game harder or crappier? I would understand if like in Monster Hunter, you taking health stops you and just gets you hit, But everything except the weapon change feels ok. Not super fast, but takes forever to get up? Seriously? I mean, how fast should someone get up? And he couldnt just back out of the lobby thing and find another game? Why wait even 5 minutes, just keep trying to find a game. And he gave FFX3 a better score? What the fuck is going on?!?!
Hi to all Penny Arcade types. You should stick around. This is a quality community. You should go make a profile and edit a wiki page for your favorite game. Then you might just get hooked on the quest system here on GB that the awesome engineers have made. Fun stuff.
Really? This again? You DO realize they have a number of different accounts. Right? "
Of course everyone knows this.... but if the game was as bad as he said, and he didnt want to play the campaign again, why would he do so on his own account later? That don't make sense. This is chewbacca. Why would a wookie live with ewoks? That don't make sense. If Chewbacca lives on endor, then the review don't make sense. Seriously though, I wont say bad review but just strange. I played the demo and even then it doesn't feel like he's talking about the same game. I mean, to him the game doesnt play like he thinks it should but doesnt it make the game harder or crappier? I would understand if like in Monster Hunter, you taking health stops you and just gets you hit, But everything except the weapon change feels ok. Not super fast, but takes forever to get up? Seriously? I mean, how fast should someone get up? And he couldnt just back out of the lobby thing and find another game? Why wait even 5 minutes, just keep trying to find a game. And he gave FFX3 a better score? What the fuck is going on?!?! "
So, you're criticizing Brad for playing Lost Planet 2 some more on his own account and not just on the office account? Since you think that the game is great, shouldn't you be pissed at him if he didn't play it at all on his personal account? This seems like one of those situations where people complain no matter what the reality is, and that's intellectually dihonest.
" This review was very poorly-written. Brad, as an English major, you should know when to use commas. I could hardly read this review on account of all the comma splices. "
I don't believe it was poorly-written at all. There are no comma splices in this entire review; all of the inclusions of commas are grammatically correct. "
Actually Jrinswand is right. There are multiple examples of comma splices, like this one: "at one point in the back end of the campaign, I was playing an online-enabled game, on the off chance that someone might randomly jump into the action." Still, STFU grammar nazi. "
A comma splice is two independent clauses joined by a comma and not a period. There are fewer than two independent clauses in that sentence. But thanks for playing. Edit: Regarding your use of "poorly-written," adverbs ending in -ly don't take hyphens before the word they're modifying. So hey, pot-kettle? "
OK so you got me; it's not a splice. Still, I picked that sentence because the use of commas is just plain unnecessary. Just sayin'... "
I'm pretty sure playing the grammar nazi card and then being wrong about the grammar means that you pretty much insta-lose at whatever you were trying to argue.
" Hi to all Penny Arcade types. You should stick around. This is a quality community.
@takua108 said:
" Hello, Penny Arcade readers! :D "
I got so psyched when I saw that article. But I wonder how many people who link over from there will click on the comments thing and actually see our warm welcomes being offered to them...
" @Keeng: i agree with the point about monster hunter. This game and monster hunter do not differ much. Ive been playing all day and have yet to find any means to agree with all these western reviews of LP2. To me it looks like reviewers just cant play the game properly. This game and monster hunter are very much alike, just without item carrying and guns. The only issues I really have with this game is some balance issues in the multiplayer and the soldiers AI (companions and enemies), atleast so far for me it seems that way on normal mode, I hear hard mode is impossible to do without real people "
I'll definitely play it. It really doesn't seem like a bad game. More than anything, now that I've seen a lot of the game and read a lot of opinions, it seems like a game that plays in a really specific way that is divisive for most people. That means it's not too different from something like Monster Hunter, Metal Gear Online, or Killzone 2 with respect to those games and the genres they're a part of.
So....upon reading the giant bomb review i have come to realize that before becomeing a professional game reviewing website, you should probably be better at the games you review before you put mindless drivell on a page where it seems like not anything you wrote is actual cognative thought..........i actualy popped this game in and went throught the first 3 chapters on normal before realizeing i wasnt playing online, my AI partners worked so well i thought i was playing with actual people infact later on in chapter 5-3 when i was on a laser cannon my AI partners hit me with thermal energy to charge the cannon broke off all four wings and killed the enemy cannon in one shot cause of that.......so it makes me wonder when i read these so called reviews if anyone even knows how to pay video games anymore..........I mean....it is your job isn't it.....don't you think you should be good at it then
Honestly I like this game a lot. Got used to it within the first few hours I played it. They only real issue I have, and it's pretty big for the multiplayer, is the online lobby system for ranked and fraction matches. There is no way to group up with friends and play in ranked games or fraction matches, which revolve around communication and working together to be successful at. I hate having to play with random people and try and communicate when all they want to do is run n' gun and most of the time don't have a headset to talk. I was hoping that there would be a patch coming out to fix it after I got the game, but after going online I don't see any indication of it or that capcom has even put any thought into the matter. It's a shame because this lobby downfall has basically ruined the game's multiplayer for me to the point where I only play the game for the co-op campaign mode. I would also like to see more choices of weapons or atleast get rid of the meaningless emotes and titles in the slot machine that I always seem to get rather than new weapons and abilities.
I played some of this game a while back and MAAAAAANNN...yes, two stars is about right. It's poorly executed in pretty much every respect even though the core concepts are pretty sound.
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