Lost Planet 2 Review
Some questionable design choices mar what is otherwise a varied and often enjoyable co-op shooter
For weapons you get the standard assault rifle and shotguns as well as a few more interesting VS weapons, like in the original game, but this time there are more of them. Alongside the giant mini-gun and shotgun, you get huge rocket launchers, laser guns, grenade launcher, and a shield/melee weapon that can be deployed in front of you and used to wear enemies down. All of the weapons are satisfying to use, and the controls are sharp with a keyboard and mouse. There are an unfortunate number of quick-time events where you have to mash a key, usually when opening data-posts that also serve as re-spawn points. Annoyingly when you are in the middle of opening a data-post by mashing a key, any damage will interrupt the animation and you will need to deal with the threat before continuing. There is an overabundance of knock back attacks, especially during the boss fights, that seem cheap and make some of the encounters challenging in all of the wrong ways.
Stanley Kubrick would be proud
Aside from the somewhat insubstantial campaign, which will last you about 6-8 hours depending on the difficulty setting, are the competitive multiplayer and the utterly baffling training mode. There are a full suite of competitive multiplayer options with standard game types like Deathmatch and Capture the flag as well as a few more interesting ones, and there is also a leveling and unlock system present to give the game longevity. Unfortunately these elements are poorly implemented, your rewards for multiplayer games are chosen randomly, meaning that you will usually unlock an emote or some other silly item rather than a new gun. Sadly the multiplayer community is virtually non-existent, I only managed to get into one or two games with random people, the rest of the game modes I had to check out with friends, and then there were only a few of us so that didn’t work out so well. You can play these modes with bots if you like, but the AI is so bad it’s not worth it.
The other mode, training, is one of the most baffling gameplay modes I have ever seen. You are inexplicably dropped into an odd looking level full of strange geometry with a running timer and no explanation of what you are supposed to do. I’m guessing that there is some way of completing these levels and competing for the best times, but the mode is so confusing and poorly explained that it isn’t worth your time at all. The one time I managed to navigate a level from what I perceived to be the start to the finish, the words “YOU FAILED” popped up on screen. Basically if you want to have fun playing Lost Planet 2, stick to the campaign. Most of the levels are open enough, and the difficulty changes how the game plays enough, that there is appreciable replay value.
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Dec 1, 2010 13:55:46 (Dec 1, 2010 13:55)
