So, who exactly gets to play Lost Planet 2? There's something ever so slightly suspicious about Capcom's exclusive announcement on the 360's Marketplace.
Late last year, Lost Planet's executive producer Keiji Inafune told Famitsu about their multi-platform plans for the Dead Rising and Lost Planet sequels. Meanwhile, Capcom's 2008 financial report (issued to reassure their shareholders of their ongoing commitment to make money rather than, say, make Facebreaker and Mirror's Edge) stated the company would no longer be dabbling with console-specific exclusives. "All major titles launched during the next fiscal year or thereafter will be developed as multi-platform games," said last September's report.
Now, though, Lost Planet 2 has debuted exclusively on 360, but it's a meaningless debut if the game ends up on other platforms. Naturally, drama erupted across the internet, and Capcom began closing forum threads speculating on Lost Planet 2's multi-format release. Even the press release isn't clear on the matter; it explains how the game is - yes! - "in development for the Xbox 360", but nowhere does it use the word "exclusively" or even the phrases "timed exclusive" or "coming first to Xbox 360."
Capcom's UK spokesperson told us, "All we can say at this time is that we've announced Lost Planet 2 for the 360 - that's all I can say", while Capcom USA's Christian Svensson went on to set the record not-especially-straight by explaining, "I'm going to have to remain silent for a little bit longer. It's complicated, it's confusing, I do understand that it's confusing how it was announced. It's not clear. Clarity will come over the coming months."
Here's your clarity: Lost Planet 2 will be a multi-platform game, very likely released first on 360. Mindshare isn't so valuable a commodity that Microsoft would splash the cash just for Capcom to announce the game on their system a few months before announcing the simultaneous release on PC and PS3; or rather, if they have, somebody deserves a hot slice of redundancy pie for pishing away so much cash on so valueless an exclusive at a time when Microsoft is dropping staff left, right and centre.
Anyway, the game itself: because Lost Planet was bastard, bastard hard, it's unlikely you finished it (not without our guide anyway), and because Lost Planet was as Japanese as it was difficult, it had a hatstand-catflap-mental storyline. As predictably evil mega-corporation NEVEC set out to warm up the frosty planet with a doomsday device which will temporarily strip the entire planet of life, a group of Snow Pirates set out to stop them, while their own scientist works on his own planet-warming tech. With the help of improbably-named amnesiac hero Wayne, the pirates abort NEVEC's plan, but at the cost of Wayne's memory. Again. Idiot. Anyway, one year later Wayne shows up to witness the first test of the Snow Pirates' technology which melts the snow in localised pockets, revealing grass beneath.
Ten years later, and the seeds sown in Lost Planet have grown, with entire rainforests in isolated pockets surrounded by snowy wasteland. Ancient cities have thawed and forests stand where before there were glaciers and Akrid hives. New factions of Snow Pirates have risen up to take control over the isolated fertile lands and Wayne Holden is, apparently, nowhere to be seen...
Which is probably all for the best. Lost Planet was at its best online where you played as random Snow Pirates and were offered (admittedly quite limited) options to customise your character. Knowing this, Capcom have made every character in your four-man squad fully customisable using a modular system which really will make your Snow Pirate your own this time out. Hop online and you'll bring your customised Pirate with you, in co-op or versus.
Lost Planet was already director Kenji Oguro's uniquely Japanese take on Halo, blending it with elements from classic 2D shooters like Contra - the linear structure, Hilton-sister-dumb AI, and colosso-bosses are all relics of the 16-bit generation, dragged up to date in 3D. But, this time, Lost Planet 2 is labouring the Halo side of things more heavily. That means Halo-style customisation, open battle-fields, smarter AI, and four-player co-op.
The huge bosses are still in, complete with obligatory glowing orangey bits to shoot and rocky blue bits to, er, not shoot, but Lost Planet 2 is making more creative use of the original game's brilliant grappling hook, with Akrid you can actually climb over and blast up close and personal.
Dead Rising and Lost Planet were Capcom's attempts at cracking the Western market. "I really thought that using the Xbox 360 was only way to break into overseas markets," explains Keiji Inafune on Capcom's Japanese website, "and I took that hypothesis all the way. I think the success of the two titles was a major achievement for our company. That the Xbox 360 was such a big hit, and the products that we made for the overseas market were so well received, was extraordinary."
It's a hypothesis still ongoing. Like Dead Rising 2 and Resident Evil 5, Lost Planet 2 has been heavily westernised in all the best possible ways; combat is now more tactical, mission structure is more open and freely flowing, levels play out with three team-mates at your side, and the enemy Snow Pirates will put up more of a fight. "I'd like to grow by having a policy of mutual respect, taking what is good about Japanese games and learning about what is good about American and European games," says Inafune.
What makes Japanese and Western game design different is obvious, but what makes them compatible isn't so clear. Remember, Lost Planet 2 is being made by team members drawn from Resident Evil 5, which failed in its attempts at aping Gears' cover system and co-op mode. Like Dead Rising, there's lots on the 'to fix' list if Capcom want Western gamers to jump on board the sequel - but they'll get a chance to see if they're successful at June's E3 conference.
Everything we've seen of Lost Planet 2 is stronger than the original - from small additions like sprinting and fluid weapon-changing, to big ones like the brand new structure and co-op play. But let's not forget Capcom made a laundry list of errors in westernising Resident Evil 5, so at this stage we remain cautious, but (excitedly) optimistic.
Never played it. Tried the demo and always meant to see if I could get a budget copy but it never happened.
The idea of taking down massive bosses with friends could be good, but it could also be too easy. As long as the difficulty scales from "difficult but possible" in single-player to "difficult but possible" in multiplayer. Normally if it's a challenge offline it's cake with a team and if it's a challenge online it's utterly impossible solo.
I'm still worried about the obsession with making everything co-op. Not every game needs it, and even fewer are improved by it. RE5, for example, didn't need it. At least an explosive shooter is a safe bet.
Loved the first, don't understand the bastard hard comment. I generally don't complete many games get stuck, get bored, give up but I breezed through the first. 2nd ones looking ace anyway might be a pre-order for me
Wait...Resi 5 a co-op failure? I only got the game because i enjoyed the co-op. The co-op is the best feature of that one. That is the one reason I'm waiting to see how Lost Planet 2 comes out, the co-op play.
Resi 5 co-op is ok, is better than bog standard where the second person is just an extra gun. It failed because people expected tense horror, and co-op really ruins that.
If you want great co-op, play left4dead, no-one really cares that it isnt terribly scary cus the co-op is excellent and the level designs are brilliant.
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