Lost Planet 2 Review

Some questionable design choices mar what is otherwise a varied and often enjoyable co-op shooter

Posted by Tim Reid on December 1, 2010 - 1:06am EST

One of the most impressive aspects of Lost Planet 2 is the presentation; as a PC game this is a fantastic package. The game is extremely polished and well optimized, I didn’t experience a single frame rate hitch or notice a single errant pixel in the 12 or so hours I spent with the game. The graphics are extremely impressive from both a technical and artistic standpoint, if you have a DirectX 11 ready machine this game will take full advantage of it, but if you don’t the game still looks great and runs brilliantly in DX 9.

If you plan on spending any time in training mode, get used to this screen

Textures are of very high resolution, shadows are smooth, the lighting is impressive and the Akrid animate extremely well. You will need a fairly beefy machine to run the game maxed out with Direct X 11 enabled, but in order to enjoy the game in DirectX 9 a fairly modest rig will do just fine. Many levels are also very impressive artistically; one level in that takes place in an abandoned, flooded city is particularly impressive. The musical score is also quite good and very well implemented, although some of the voice acting is rather cheesy. Sound design is quite good with sound effects getting appropriately muffled when you are under water.

When it comes down to it Lost Planet 2 is a substantial game that simply has too many problems with its design and AI to reach its full potential. The campaign is a quite fun as long as you play it with some friends, and there is fun to be had online if you can find people to play with. If you are looking for a new co-op shooter to entertain yourself with over the holidays, Lost Planet 2 might suit your needs as long as you can overlook some design oddities.

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Our ratings for Lost Planet 2 on PC out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)

Presentation

Excellent visuals with full DX 11 effects, sound design and music are very good although some of the voice acting is underwhelming.

Gameplay

Fairly basic third person shooter gameplay with some interesting vehicles and weapons, controls are sharp and fighting larger Akrid is awesome.

Single Player

The campaign is designed around co-op so it�s almost impossible to play on anything other than the lowest difficulty by yourself, training mode is strange and confusing.

Multiplayer

The campaign in co-op is a lot of fun with some friends, competitive multiplayer is decent but the lack of a community means you won�t get much out of it.

Performance

(Show PC Specs)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e7200 @ 3.1ghz
GPU: Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 PCS+
RAM: 4GB DDR2
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

You will need a fairly capable machine to see the game running maxed out in Dx 11 mode, but Direct x 9 still looks great and runs flawlessly on modest hardware.

Overall

As long as you recruit some friends to join you, Lost Planet 2 is a fun and varied shooter that has some very impressive boss fights despite being a bit generic a lot of the time.

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Dec 1, 2010 13:55:46 (Dec 1, 2010 13:55)

SpectralShock
Great work! I actually didn't even get through the original Lost Planet, it wasn't interesting enough to me. I tried the demo for LP2 and that didn't change my mind.