Lost Planet: Extreme Condition -- Final Opinion.

It took me roughly ten hours to complete the eleven missions that comprise Lost Planet's single player campaign. In those ten hours and eleven missions I found exactly what I was looking for from the game. As I stated in the previous entry I was expecting a great looking game with some good run and gun 3D action versus a whole lot of space bugs on a frozen planet with a massive hunk of the typical Capcom story cheese. Well, the game is certainly good looking. From the world to the characters to the enemies the game isn't hard on the eyes. There are some wonderfully pretty explosions in the game. The game also features an epic score of the cinematic variety. No complaints there. The action is really solid, just be sure to turn off the aim assist. You have a wide and interesting array of weaponry at your disposal. In both the on foot and mech based varieties. The game is a mix of standard run and gun shooting interlaced with some mech combat. The gimmick here is the extreme condition of the planet you're dealing with. Just picture Hoth infested with giant space bugs and you'll get the idea. The game employs a shielding system. As long as you maintain your shields then you can't die. The shields in the game are based on the planet being so cold. You need thermal energy to survive. So as you're going along you need to collect and maintain your thermal energy levels. Thermal energy just so happens to be inside the billion space bugs you'll be fighting your way through. So it really doesn't become much of an issue. The game also features some really good boss battles. In fact they're probably the best part of the game. Each one an epic battle of survival. As for the story, well that's a huge helping of cheese, even by Capcom's standards. It's the story of an attempt to colonize a frozen planet and the race to terraform it between some space pirates and an evil corporation all the while dealing with the billion space bugs. And it's cheesy, although I did find the ending curiously touching. Lost Planet features a full-fledged online side. All the standards deathmatch variants are present. Lost Planet was exactly what I wanted and a good game to pick up at $19-$29. Kenji Inafune can't seem to do anything wrong these days. I'm looking forward to the sequel Lost Planet: Colonies. I'm giving Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for the Xbox 360 a rock solid 8.