Lost Planet 2 Review

Given how much more rewarding the game is with human partners – the allied AI couldn’t find its arse on a map, though it’s pretty good at keeping your T-ENG levels high – the presence of splitscreen (of a sort) and system link play alongside online co-op is almost standing-ovation-worthy. The 10 map, five mode competitive multiplayer is quite full-figured, but short on imagination: we’re talking variations on CTF and deathmatch, basically, plus the catastrophically unbalanced and self-explanatory Fugitive.

The thermometer is no longer an issue, but there are still chilly moments.

If there’s one area in which Capcom’s latest is an unequivocal success, it’s the technical. Not close-up, perhaps, with textures on the serviceable side, but this is a game designed for spectacle, not close-ups, and the spectacles are second to few. Motion blur hides rough edges in the frame rate, Akrid bosses are enormous and intricate, and the SFX department routinely sets fire to the furniture.

Lost Planet 2 is a mongrel of a shooter – huge, vivid, complex, feature-heavy, unfailingly cheesy and, at times, a bit broken. One of the most fascinating things about it is the way it draws on and welds together elements from the action genre at large: Monster Hunter’s compartmentalised areas; Resident Evil 5′s taste for set pieces; Gears of War’s roadie run and squad bromance; Battlefield’s fluid numerical baseline. The results are a bit of a bodge job, but fans of teamwork and good old fashioned scale will find much to enjoy.

Lost Planet 2 is out now for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Train a laser beam on our scoring guide, then flash some emoticons at the forums.