IGN
Lost Planet Campaign Mode Hands-On
Deeper into the review build we go.
by
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. December 18, 2006 - Last month, we
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. at the first four missions of
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.'s campaign mode. Now that we've received the review build, we've had a chance to go further into the game to update you with new screens, movies, and impressions. While we've had fun with the multiplayer modes recently thanks in large part to the Xbox Live Marketplace demo, the campaign mode has us frozen to our gaming seats (ah, the joy of puns). The farther we get into the game, the more impressed we are with the enemy design as new Akrid continue to be planted in our path.
The first four missions played nearly identically to the preview version that we looked at recently. Some bits of the story, as crazy as it is, were filled in to give us a better idea of what is going on. We'll leave the details to you to discover when the game ships so as not spoil any of the plot. The fifth mission continued the trek through the mountains that was interrupted by the giant moth boss fight in the previous level. It began outdoors and required us to make use of the grappling hook to climb up. Some of the smaller Akrid spouted from their nests to hamper progress, but they didn't pose any real threat to Wayne and his machine gun. Making it to the top was a little bit awkward since we couldn't always tell which bits of the slope one can stand on and which would send you back to the bottom. Even once we had the route down, the moth that tortured us through the fourth mission made a repeat appearance. The bombs he dropped on our head were not friendly.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mothra would be proud.
Once we made it to the top of the cliff face, the path lead directly into the mountain. Inside, some of the flying Akrid we've seen in the past were swarming along with a few new enemies. One resembled a giant wasp and had a nasty electric sting. The other was more plant-like and sent out explosive "seeds" from its pod every so often. This inner canyon could be explored from top to bottom and several vital suits were present to help deal with the huge number of Akrid enemies. To proceed, we used a ramp that spiraled up to the top and made use of the many loose rocks to bowl down the bugs. After dropping through a few tunnels, we came to the boss; a giant, long legged, insect-like Akrid.
The sixth mission put us up against more human enemies in a frozen and mostly broken down set of streets. This fight was the toughest we'd faced yet. There were dozens of snow pirates and they were armed with everything from plasma guns to rocket launchers to vital suits. Simply making it through the initial fight with your thermal energy at a reasonable level is tough. After dying a few times, we found a specific order to take down the more dangerous foes that worked for us. Still, with rockets flying at us nearly non-stop and most of the cover coming in the destructible variety, this fight made us rethink our strategy of just running down the center of the street firing guns.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Snow pirates are tough little guys.
Past the initial fight, we found a few more snow pirates waiting to be dealt with inside before coming across a new vital suit. It was time for a boss fight with Green Eyes, the Akrid that killed Wayne's father. This was one of the more difficult and impressive battles in the game. It not only looked great; mastering the methods to win was a ton of fun.
Now that we've seen how far the visuals are going to go, we can definitively say that Lost Planet looks fantastic. Now matter how much we play the game, the smoke effects continue to impress us. The environments and enemy design are top notch. This is truly an audio-visual treat. The only major fault with the visuals is that the v-sync is not turned on and so there is ample screen tearing. It happens most often when large explosions get set off right near the player. Perhaps the particle effects, which look fantastic, are a little too taxing on the engine.
We've only made it through about half of the single player game, but what we've seen has us excited for more. Make sure you take a look at our updated media and then keep your eye on IGN for our full review in early January.
Linear Mode
