I'm a bit of a wintery type, myself. I'll take snow and ice over tropical humidity any day of the week. So, it was with a little trepidation, then, that I ventured into Lost Planet 2, a game which has ditched its series' previous chilly locales in favour of greener climes. While Svend SPOnG has been off sampling LP2's multi-player action of Capcom's third-person shooter, I've been sinking my boots into the jungle mud of the campaign.
What's instantly noticeable about
LP2, however, is that it's
all about multi-player of one sort or another. As soon as you navigate toward the campaign from the start menu you're invited to play in co-op.
Even if you opt
not to play in co-op, the default option is to have three AI teammates. You can choose to play on your lonesome, but you'll have to twiddle with the options to do it. Furthermore, once you actually get into the game you notice that the AI, rather than having sensible Snow/Jungle Pirate names like WhiteandGreenBeard, have names you'd expect to find belonging to foul-mouthed teens from Ohio like Mr Baykal and Death Sumner constantly floating about their heads (it's actually 'Death Summer', but I like to think he's related to New Order's lead singer). The AI will even die and re-spawn at the data points you activate as you make your way through the maps, just like you do.
So it was that I journeyed through a good old chunk of the early campaign. I destroyed mines, stormed swamps, fought huge great category G Akrid, snuck (well, shot) my way onto ocean outposts, nicked giant trains, that sort of thing. There were machine guns, there were rocket launchers, there were shotguns, there were bigger versions of all the above that had been prised off fallen VS Suits (robot suits!). It was nice.
And did the co-operative play make much difference to all that? A bit. I was surprised, however, that there wasn't a bit more co-op-centric play given the emphasis
LP2's set-up places on teaming up with either your mates or AI stand-ins. You can, for instance, pick up shields and carry them forward, providing cover for your buddies. You can also charge up your mates' supplies of T-eng, the thermal energy that affords you superhuman regenerative abilities. And... well, that's about it, actually, from what I've seen so far. If you've got your shit together you can, of course, work out tactics for cover fire and all that, but none of the above feels particularly necessary or important to your progression.
Having someone with a shield in front of you is helpful, but no more helpful than having a Gatling Gun you tugged from a VS Suit. Having a comrade zap you with some T-eng is pleasant, as it enables you to do some rapid healing, but I rarely seemed to be in short supply of the stuff. In any case, when I was killed it was usually because I'd just been smashed in the face with a rocket or some other such thing that sapped my health too quickly for me to replenish it, so T-eng wasn't always much help.
I suppose, however, that having co-op game elements that were integral to the campaign would have ruled out playing without any mates or AI. You can't have it all ways.
That's not to say, either, that the co-op doesn't make a difference. The difficulty doesn't seem to scale based on the number of men in your squad and playing with one buddy is a tougher proposition than playing with three.
The campaign is generally well handled, too. It's tight, with missions offering plenty of variety in terms of terrain and layout. Fighting Akrid is as much fun as it was in the first game. Jumping into a well-placed VS Suit offers plenty of extra grunt to your efforts and is blistering fun. There's plenty to keep you entertained.
I do, I must admit, miss the chilly environments of the first game. In
Lost Planet you didn't just need T-eng to top up your health – you needed it to avoid freezing to death. Your levels were constantly dropping, with 0 on your gauge marking a frosty demise. This meant that there was constant tension in everything you did, because if you didn't keep finding T-eng you were a goner. I also miss the sub-zero landscapes that characterised the first game. They set it apart from its peers visually and while the jungles and settlements that have sprung up on E.D.N. III are still easy on the eye, they're nothing you won't find elsewhere.
But then, maybe you didn't play the first game and don't give a flying f#%k.
From what I've seen so far,
Lost Planet 2 isn't going to make you rue the spot in your wallet where 40 quid used to be, but you probably won't be talking in hushed tones about how awesome it is in five years' time, either. Here's hoping that the rest of the game builds on the solidity of the earlier missions with a bit more flair.
If you haven't read Svend's
Lost Planet 2 multiplayer preview,
GET ON IT.
If you want a history lesson, here's my
review of the original Lost Planet from a simpler time.
