Unfortunately, unlike the Lost Planet: Extreme Condition demo release, which was both a benchmark and playable demo, the one for Lost Planet 2 is strictly for benchmarking.
Though the game’s official PC release date is unknown, Capcom has gone ahead and released a Lost Planet 2 benchmark that allows you to test both DX9 and DX11 modes. To help make up for the familiar delay this time around, Capcom has introduced DirectX 11 support into the game. In almost a rinse and repeat scenario, both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 saw the game’s release this past May, with the PC release still tentative. To make things worse, the game was plagued with performance issues when running under DX10 mode – even the top-end cards were sluggish.ĭespite all that, the game sold very well, and paved the way for Lost Planet 2. Personally, the game did little to grab my attention, and I found myself rather bored a mere hour or two into the game. The problem, though, was that the game was hit or miss for gamers in terms of likability.
Given that the DX10 software selection was quite slim, many gamers opted to purchase the game when it first came out, and in the case of sites like ours, it became a popular benchmarking tool also. For PC gamers, the “Extreme” delay wasn’t exactly appreciated, so to help keep interest high in the title, Capcom unveiled DirectX 10 support for the game.Īt the time, many PC gamers were sporting either AMD Radeon HD 2000 or NVIDIA GeForce 8000 series of graphics cards, both of which supported DirectX 10. Why? These minor issues aside, a worthy addition to anyone's collection, whether you're a lost planet fan or not.In early 2007, Capcom released Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for the Xbox 360, and about six months later, it became available for the PC. There are a couple of upgrades for it which, while inexpensive, are almost pointless, like a cutting/welding torch that you use once. It has such potential, but other than a few akrid battles, a rig on rig battle and wandering around doing odd jobs, it feels really underdeveloped. The rig is Peytons personal 30 foot tall mech, as opposed to scavenging VS's in the previous games. The only real let downs with this game were with the utility rig.
Visually the game is stunning (for best results use a full 1080p display) with nice little touches added here and there to add atmosphere. The characters are superbly well developed (except Laroche, who seems to switch teams in a whim), and the cast are simply stellar in their performances, especially Bill Watterson as Jim Peyton. It also works as a prequel, setting a scene for the first game and introducing the father first game's protagonist in his youth, before being hardened by war. To that end, the story is quite rich and full of surprises. Lost planet 3 delivers a much more cinematic and story driven experience than prior instalments. What story there was tended to be thin and a little convoluted in places. While lost planet 2 was clearly geared towards multiplayer formatting and did a reasonable job of it, it lacked in the story department.
Lost planet 3 gives a much needed burst of life to the series. This review is purely for the main campaign content, not multiplayer.