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Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
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Graphics & Sound:
I first had the opportunity to touch Lost Planet: Extreme Condition when it was available for demo on XBOX Live. I had such high hopes for the game, but I never got a copy of it on the XBOX 360. So, when I had the opportunity to get my hands on the PC version, I had the same high hopes and expectations. My hopes grew cold quickly.
The graphics were beautiful, just as they were on the console version. Alas, I don't have DX10, yet, so all of my play was done on the DX9 version of the game. I think my video card took as much of a beating in this game as I did. In order to achieve a playable 30 frames, you have to cut everything, and I mean everything down, even though I am well above the minimum specs with my PC. I know that this game has the ability to push some of the best video cards, but come on, the market has not caught up enough to force this type of video muscle.
The boss music is large and sweeping. It is the type of music you would expect sweeping across open plains in an RPG style epic. There were many times that there was nothing to the music and it was just you and the howl of a deathly cold wind, and that was awesome too. I was, however, disappointed that there were no voiceovers in the cut scenes. |
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Gameplay:
In Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, human kind has been forced to flee the earth and seek out other planets to colonize. E.D.N. III, though frozen, seems like the place until a hostile insect race known as the Akrid makes it nearly impossible to live. With both species having a will to survive, the human race develops weapons in which to defeat the menace. The Vital Suit, or VS, is a mechanized suit allowing you to go head to head with the Akrid.
As Wayne, you play a soldier who has been found and returned to health by a group of ice pirates whose seemingly only mission is to eradicate the Akrid. This suits your needs just fine, because as it stands after your extended stay in the cold, you only remember two items. First is that you remember your name is Wayne, and second that the beast known as "Green Eyes" has killed your father. Using these few facts, the ice pirates use your various skills to meet their own needs as you get to exact revenge against the Akrid and search out Green Eyes.
As well as the better than average story, there is a fairly in-depth Multiplayer Mode. Games include your typical area-control games such as Post Grab, and a Fugitive where it's you against the world. There are also old favorites like team and solo elimination. I think that you might have an issue finding others to play with. |
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Difficulty:
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is pretty much a walk in the park with the ability to use a mouse and keyboard instead of the XBOX 360 controller. To prove this point to myself, I made it a point to actually play through both ways. It almost feels like cheating to play using the mouse and keyboard. The pace doesn't change to accommodate either mode, so it is a cinch to pick off enemies as they stand still and shoot at you. The game feels like it pushes exploration, so sometimes the path is so large that it gives the feeling that you may not actually be heading the right direction, but the game does a great job of allowing the exploration while keeping a definite storyline path for you to follow.
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Game Mechanics:
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition has a good blend of new and old tricks for your fragging pleasure. The use of a grappling hook is not a new one, but it has been a tried and true one. In this variation, you fire the hook and it automatically pulls you up and into a jump. I would love to be able to grab one of the many flat surfaces that would pull me up and then allow me to fire from the elevated position. It was the first time that I had seen the use of the flinch buttons that allow you to snap turn 90 degrees. The third person view can make it difficult to aim, but by slowing down the turn rate into more of a strafing arc, it gives you the ability to track targets easier. This arcing motion makes it easier to target, but hard to turn and move. The snap turn allows you to confront flanking enemies in... well a snap, by instantly turning you 90 degrees instead of a slow arcing turn. I like being able to make personal use of the big guns that would normally reside on the VS's. Making use of a giant Vulcan machine gun, after your VS has been rendered inoperable, is a nice equalizer.
I enjoyed the game well enough. There did get to be the standard droll of go and kill bugs, pirates, and stay alive. I didn't find anything amazingly wrong with this game, but with the hit your system takes, and the beast of the system required to run the game properly, it is a little bit of a letdown. If you don't have the system to run the "recommended" system specs, then you will be disappointed in the gaming experience.
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-WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd |
Minimum System Requirements:
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: OS: Windows XP SP2, Processor: Intel(r) Pentium(r) 4 HT, RAM: 512MB Windows XP, 1GB for Windows Vista, Hard Drive: 8.0GB, Video Card: NVIDIA(r) GeForce(r) 6600 or Greater, Other: DirectX(r) 9.0c/Shader3.0
RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS : OS: Windows Vista, Processor: Intel(r) Core 2 Duo, RAM: 1GB Windows XP SP2 or 2GB for Windows Vista, Hard Drive: 8.0GB or greater, Video Card: NVIDIA(r) GeForce(r) 8600 or Greater, Online Multi-player: Broadband Connection, Drive: DVD-ROM drive |
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Test System:
Windows XP Pro, 3.2 GHz P4HT CPU, 2 GB Ram, 512 PCIE 16 ATI X1600XT |
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