Lost Planet Colonies - Full Review
Capcom has been very aggressive in releasing Xbox 360 titles so far in the cycle; Devil May Cry 4, Dead Rising and Lost Planet. All three games have been warmly accepted into Microsoft's lineup as they fit perfectly into their target audience, which mainly amounts to hardcore gamers looking for strong game mechanics alongside gorgeous visuals.
To me, Lost Planet is the only game that hasn't gotten the proper respect it deserves. It did reasonably well in stores, but had a luke warm reception from game journalists and didn't get much main stream attention. Some may blame Capcom for marketing it wrong while others may blame the game journalists for not keeping an open mind. To me, this is all irrelevant.
First of all, I want to mention the visuals. Although they have gone essentially untouched since this game was released last year, I still believe it is part of the upper tier of games available for the Xbox 360. The way the snow reacts to your body is incredible, the textures pop off the screen and the smokes is by far the best I've ever seen in a game.
This game has some of the most unique game mechanics I've seen in awhile (including the mech-like "Vital Suits" and the Akrid battles online) and those deserve to be appreciated. Jumping into an online game gives you some of the most vertical flexibility I've ever seen in a game, which is a great change of pace from the Halo 3's and Call of Duty 4's.
Colonies Edition has greatly expanded the already deep package by offering all of the previous games maps and modes and including even more, allowing for an incredibly deep package that could keep anyone entertained for a long time.
A few things really bother me about this re-release, though. I find it hard to believe that Capcom really had to splinter the Colonies edition and the original version's online modes in order to bring this game out. That means no game saves or online progress carry over. That may be very hard to stomach for some of the hardcore. Plus, the single player modes, though they have new ways of being played, don't offer any new missions, which is quite a disappointment.
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition was far and away my favourite game of last year. Although many people will fault it for it's slow pace and initially off-putting control scheme, those who get into it's depth and intricacies will find this game hard to put down. With the addition of several new game modes and multiplayer maps along with the $30 price tag, this game deserves to be in everyone's collection.
Positives:
+ Even more new content to an already deep game is great!
+ Gorgeous visuals even a year later
+ The game mechanics are strong
+ $30 is a steal
Negatives:
- Splintering the two versions of the game and no new single player content is a let-down
Final Score:
9.0
