Lost Planet 2 Game Review

Lost Planet 2 Game Review

Review by EuroGamer 6/10

Jun Takeuchi wasn’t exaggerating when he described this sequel as “almost a totally different game”. Unlike the lonely, icy adventure that constituted the original, the hugely ambitious Lost Planet 2 has been re-envisioned as a four-man multiplayer adventure in a variety of climates. You still get to activate data posts and shoot the obvious, glowing orange weak spots of terrifying insectoid behemoths on a regular basis, but that’s where the similarities end.

Most of the changes seem grounded and well-intentioned on the face of it. Who wouldn’t want a more varied, expansive and technically astonishing follow-up to an already highly promising game? Being able to experience the intensity and chaos alongside up to three friends offline or online should help Lost Planet 2 to be one of 2010′s most desirable shooters.

However, unexpectedly, the very things that make the game sound so appealing are also the things that conspire to undermine your enjoyment.

Lost Planet 2 Full Review

Review by Games Radar 7/10 Good

Lost Planet 2 is like a cute, eager-to-please puppy with horrible breath. It’s giddy, silly, enthusiastic, and really really wants you to be happy, but alas, it comes with an inherent flaw which makes the good times a bit of a slog to get to. But we’ll come to that soon enough. First up, the basics.

Lost Planet 2 is a Big Dumb Action Game, with a major focus on multiplayer co-op. If it had been released in the ‘80s it would be Contra. If it was a movie, it would be Predator. And there’s not a damn thing wrong with that. BDAGs are what gaming was built upon, and it’s actually bloody refreshing to play one as balls-out dedicated to the cause as LP2.

If the idea of standing on the roof of a speeding train, blasting the living crap out of mechs and rocket turrets using a hand-held Gatling gun big enough to make Jesse Ventura feel like half a man is appealing, then there are some truly awesome times to be had in Lost Planet 2. If it doesn’t, you probably won’t enjoy it at all. But then again, you probably don’t enjoy life either.

Lost Planet 2 Full Review

Review by IGN 6.0/10 Passable

Capcom’s epic action sequel gets left out of the refrigerator.

As the follow-up to the critically liked and commercially successful Lost Planet, Lost Planet 2 seems to have everything going for it. Aimed at western audiences, the team at Capcom headed up by Keiji Inafune and Jun Takeuchi promised a return of the well received multiplayer mode from the original game, as well as some much-hyped four player co-op for the entire main campaign. Unfortunately, few lessons seem to have been learned from the original Lost Planet’s problems. Instead, Lost Planet 2 offers online play that feels dated in 2010 and adds a host of new issues to the series without fixing what was wrong last time, leading to a game that is in many regards worse than its predecessor.

We’ll get the good out of the way first though. Lost Planet 2 is with few exceptions a beautiful game that always seems to have something new to show the player. From familiar ice fields to jungles and cities and deserts, the world of EDN III is often a sight to behold. There seems to be a bit less variety in the kinds of alien akrid enemies to see, but this is made up for by the variety of enemy factions you encounter – and play as. The music is also excellent, with sweeping, epic orchestration punctuating major moments of the game, though it would have been nice to hear it more often. The bulk of many levels lack any musical accompaniment at all, leading to an often quiet monster hunting experience.

Things largely unravel from there. The controls remains as clunky as they were last time around, and deviate from the standard third person layout in perplexing ways. Want to melee? That’s the B button. Want to run? Well, that’s also the B button. Want to activate that data post or Vital Suit? We’ve got a B button for that. The grappling hook (or anchor) can still only be used with feet planted firmly on the ground, and your character jumps like their pockets are full of rocks. Every animation is over-emphasized to the point of getting in the way of playing the game. Even worse, you’ll often be forced to endure agonizing waits as you hammer the B or circle buttons at data posts, or impatiently sit in a Vital Suit while it goes through an activation sequence that repeats every time you enter it. The new multi-seat VS are cool in concept, but must be deactivated for more users to jump on. Lost Planet 2 is fixated on elaborate activation sequences, and there’s generally at least one section per chapter that forces you to wade through some kind of convoluted Rube Goldberg machine in order to complete your objective – that is, when the game is good enough to tell you how you’re supposed to complete that objective in the first place.

Lost Planet 2 Full Review