::GAMER BOY::

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a third-person shooter video game created by Capcom for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. It was produced by Keiji Inafune, the creator of the Onimusha and Mega Man series. The game utilizes both vital suit (also known as VS, which is like a mecha or robotic armour) piloting and on-foot exploration and features Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun as the model for the main character, Wayne. Lost Planet was released on January 12, 2007, in North America and PAL regions.Lost Planet: Trag Zero, a prequel which focuses on the character of Gale, Wayne’s father, is also expected to be released on cell phones. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition was released on Windows in June in Europe and North America. The Windows version includes DirectX 10 support, when run in Windows Vista, and enhanced graphics. A demo for the Windows version was released on May 15, 2007, which was the first playable game to showcase DirectX 10. On 17 October 2007, Capcom announced a PlayStation 3 version, including all 360 downloadable content and PC bonus characters, would be released in 2008. The game will offer 16 player online play. THE PLOT The game’s plot focuses on the amnesiac character Wayne Holden, his father, Gale Holden, and the past and future of the planet E.D.N. III. After a particularly vicious battle against a large Akrid (alien) known only as “Green Eye”, Gale is supposedly killed, and Wayne lost on the icy planes of E.D.N. III. The planet of E.D.N III is perpetually cold and snowy, originally inhabited by a species of aliens known as Akrid, who forced humanity to abandon E.D.N. III by strength of numbers and surprise. Initially, the Akrid deterred humans from colonization, but this changed when T-ENG was discovered. Thermal Energy, or T-ENG, is a powerful energy source, found only in Akrid bodies, made humankind determined to fight them, for which purpose they created the Vital Suit, or VS, technology, essentially mechs powered by T-ENG, carrying mounted weapons. At the beginning of the game, Wayne is found on the snow planes by a small band of snow pirates, colonists left behind after the evacuation. References from Rick, the gang tech wiz-kid, suggests that the gang may have been larger at one point, but because of an attack by a rival gang, they are all that’s left. The band consists of the cool-headed leader, Yuri Solotov, the wiz-kid Rick and his sister Luka. From the beginning, attention is put into a device implanted in Wayne’s Arm. Called the Harmonizer, this device feeds from Wayne’s T-ENG reserve, and uses this energy to heal his wounds. The game starts off with the gang suiting up for the trek trough the mountains leading to the dome where Wayne last saw Green Eye. Along the journey they meet a woman named Basil, who has VS piloting skills and an arm-mounted device similar to Wayne’s Harmonizer. She’s looking for a man named Solotov, who has apparently at this point vanished from their party. She also lets the crew know about a third mysterious faction called NEVEC. Shortly afterwards they find Gale’s VS, described by Rick as possibly the most advanced VS ever produced, and use it to defeat Green Eye. After the battle, NEVEC soldiers show up, along with a commanding officer, named Shane Bandero, who also has a harmonizer-like device though far more crude. His appearance triggers Wayne’s memory, making him realize it was not Green Eye who killed Gale, but it was Bandero who made his soldiers kill him. After a short battle between Wayne and Bandero’s VS’s, Wayne is forced to retreat on Luka’s scooter. They leave the dome to discover that their trailer has been destroyed and Rick captured by NEVEC troops. To compensate for their losses, and continue hitting NEVEC, they recede to guerilla-tactics, hitting NEVEC convoys and the like. After one of their raids, they discover Rick and Basil in a small shelter. Rick was actually attacked by NEVEC, but Basil rescued him and helped him though the year after his separation from Wayne and Luka. Now big events start to take flight. By capturing a NEVEC soldier named Joe, and negotiating with him, they learn about NEVEC’s Frontier Project, a terraforming operation to make E.D.N. III habitable by humans without the aid of T-ENG. At first, it seems harmless enough, though the truth is far from harmless. The Frontier Project will not only destroy the entire Akrid race, but will also kill any human beings left on the surface of the planet. In their attempt to stop it, they meet Bandero again, along with his superior, and the commander of Nevec, Dennis Isenberg. Meeting Bandero a final time, and killing him, thereby reclaiming Gale’s VS. They find Yuri, who has been tortured by NEVEC. Yuri then hands Wayne an attachement to his harmonizer, allowing him to realize Gale’s VS’s true power. Their plan to take down the Orbital Elevator goes into action. Basil sacrifices herself to hold off NEVEC troops, while Joe plants high-strength charges to take out the Elevator itself. At this point, Wayne is seen installing his Harmonizer’s attachment, which causes great transformations in his VS, which, among other things, allow it to fly, and use dual energy swords. Wayne then flies up the elevator and battles Isenberg in the skies around the Elevator. Isenberg’s VS is also top-of-the-line second only to Gale’s. After Isenberg is defeated by Wayne, Wayne’s memories are erased again by the attachment. A year passes, and Luka and Rick have picked up where Yuri left off in his more safe attempts to terraform at least parts of the planet. They use modified data posts to warm the local environment up considerably, melting the snow and revealing earth and grass, Luka saying that this is a small but important step, and also mentioning she wished Wayne was there to see this. Almost as if he planned it, Wayne appears out of nowhere, proclaiming he never expected to see dirt on E.D.N III. Luka stares at him, confused, then reintroduces herself, leaving the player to wonder how it goes from there. COMBAT SYSTEM Most of the game revolves around combat. Wayne can use a variety of weapons, like machine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers. In addition to hand-held weapons, Wayne can pilot an assortment of robot suits (mechs), called Vital Suits (VSs). Weaponry is used to combat the planet’s native species, the Akrid. The Akrid are a hostile, insectoid species, which come in many forms. They can range from smaller than a person to several times larger than a mech. Wayne also fights groups of enemy human soldiers, called Snow Pirates. The Snow Pirates use the same kinds of handheld weapons and VSs that Wayne does. There are multiple Vital Suits available for use. Also, when on foot, Wayne has the ability to remove heavy weaponry from these vital suits for upgraded firepower. For battlefield mobility, some of these vital suits can “Transform” into a faster, more agile form. For instance, one light-weight vital suit can transform into a Snowmobile-type transport with a chain-gun attached to it. As for weapons, there are some of the typical science fiction weapons such as sub-light speed lasers and slow-moving plasma bolt guns. The main weapon in the game is the previously mentioned machine gun, which somewhat resembles a FAMAS. It is quite effective at both medium and short ranges when against humans and small to medium-sized akrid, but is of limited use against boss akrid and VSs. Wayne can carry a maximum of two weapons at once. He, and multiplayer characters, are capable of using a grappling-hook type tool to gain vantage points. In both the single-player and multiplayer game modes, there is a “T-Eng” (Thermal Energy) meter below the character’s health. This counter goes down continually in the cold, and can refilled by collecting pools of glowing orange “heat” that drop from dead enemies or other heat sources, such as an explosive barrel. It can also be replenished by activating data posts. The T-Eng is used to refill Wayne’s health in the single-player mode, and is used to power energy weapons such as plasma rifles and removable mech energy weapons. If the T-Eng drops to zero, Wayne’s health will begin to drop.

The Plot

The game’s plot focuses on the amnesiac character Wayne Holden, his father, Gale Holden, and the past and future of the planet E.D.N. III. After a particularly vicious battle against a large Akrid (alien) known only as “Green Eye”, Gale is supposedly killed, and Wayne lost on the icy planes of E.D.N. III. The planet of E.D.N III is perpetually cold and snowy, originally inhabited by a species of aliens known as Akrid, who forced humanity to abandon E.D.N. III by strength of numbers and surprise. Initially, the Akrid deterred humans from colonization, but this changed when T-ENG was discovered. Thermal Energy, or T-ENG, is a powerful energy source, found only in Akrid bodies, made humankind determined to fight them, for which purpose they created the Vital Suit, or VS, technology, essentially mechs powered by T-ENG, carrying mounted weapons.

At the beginning of the game, Wayne is found on the snow planes by a small band of snow pirates, colonists left behind after the evacuation. References from Rick, the gang tech wiz-kid, suggests that the gang may have been larger at one point, but because of an attack by a rival gang, they are all that’s left. The band consists of the cool-headed leader, Yuri Solotov, the wiz-kid Rick and his sister Luka. From the beginning, attention is put into a device implanted in Wayne’s Arm. Called the Harmonizer, this device feeds from Wayne’s T-ENG reserve, and uses this energy to heal his wounds. The game starts off with the gang suiting up for the trek trough the mountains leading to the dome where Wayne last saw Green Eye. Along the journey they meet a woman named Basil, who has VS piloting skills and an arm-mounted device similar to Wayne’s Harmonizer. She’s looking for a man named Solotov, who has apparently at this point vanished from their party. She also lets the crew know about a third mysterious faction called NEVEC. Shortly afterwards they find Gale’s VS, described by Rick as possibly the most advanced VS ever produced, and use it to defeat Green Eye. After the battle, NEVEC soldiers show up, along with a commanding officer, named Shane Bandero, who also has a harmonizer-like device though far more crude. His appearance triggers Wayne’s memory, making him realize it was not Green Eye who killed Gale, but it was Bandero who made his soldiers kill him. After a short battle between Wayne and Bandero’s VS’s, Wayne is forced to retreat on Luka’s scooter. They leave the dome to discover that their trailer has been destroyed and Rick captured by NEVEC troops. To compensate for their losses, and continue hitting NEVEC, they recede to guerilla-tactics, hitting NEVEC convoys and the like. After one of their raids, they discover Rick and Basil in a small shelter. Rick was actually attacked by NEVEC, but Basil rescued him and helped him though the year after his separation from Wayne and Luka. Now big events start to take flight. By capturing a NEVEC soldier named Joe, and negotiating with him, they learn about NEVEC’s Frontier Project, a terraforming operation to make E.D.N. III habitable by humans without the aid of T-ENG. At first, it seems harmless enough, though the truth is far from harmless.

The Frontier Project will not only destroy the entire Akrid race, but will also kill any human beings left on the surface of the planet. In their attempt to stop it, they meet Bandero again, along with his superior, and the commander of Nevec, Dennis Isenberg. Meeting Bandero a final time, and killing him, thereby reclaiming Gale’s VS. They find Yuri, who has been tortured by NEVEC. Yuri then hands Wayne an attachement to his harmonizer, allowing him to realize Gale’s VS’s true power. Their plan to take down the Orbital Elevator goes into action. Basil sacrifices herself to hold off NEVEC troops, while Joe plants high-strength charges to take out the Elevator itself. At this point, Wayne is seen installing his Harmonizer’s attachment, which causes great transformations in his VS, which, among other things, allow it to fly, and use dual energy swords. Wayne then flies up the elevator and battles Isenberg in the skies around the Elevator. Isenberg’s VS is also top-of-the-line second only to Gale’s. After Isenberg is defeated by Wayne, Wayne’s memories are erased again by the attachment.

A year passes, and Luka and Rick have picked up where Yuri left off in his more safe attempts to terraform at least parts of the planet. They use modified data posts to warm the local environment up considerably, melting the snow and revealing earth and grass, Luka saying that this is a small but important step, and also mentioning she wished Wayne was there to see this. Almost as if he planned it, Wayne appears out of nowhere, proclaiming he never expected to see dirt on E.D.N III. Luka stares at him, confused, then reintroduces herself, leaving the player to wonder how it goes from there.

Combat system

Most of the game revolves around combat. Wayne can use a variety of weapons, like machine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers. In addition to hand-held weapons, Wayne can pilot an assortment of robot suits (mechs), called Vital Suits (VSs). Weaponry is used to combat the planet’s native species, the Akrid. The Akrid are a hostile, insectoid species, which come in many forms. They can range from smaller than a person to several times larger than a mech. Wayne also fights groups of enemy human soldiers, called Snow Pirates. The Snow Pirates use the same kinds of handheld weapons and VSs that Wayne does. There are multiple Vital Suits available for use. Also, when on foot, Wayne has the ability to remove heavy weaponry from these vital suits for upgraded firepower. For battlefield mobility, some of these vital suits can “Transform” into a faster, more agile form. For instance, one light-weight vital suit can transform into a Snowmobile-type transport with a chain-gun attached to it. As for weapons, there are some of the typical science fiction weapons such as sub-light speed lasers and slow-moving plasma bolt guns. The main weapon in the game is the previously mentioned machine gun, which somewhat resembles a FAMAS. It is quite effective at both medium and short ranges when against humans and small to medium-sized akrid, but is of limited use against boss akrid and VSs. Wayne can carry a maximum of two weapons at once. He, and multiplayer characters, are capable of using a grappling-hook type tool to gain vantage points.

In both the single-player and multiplayer game modes, there is a “T-Eng” (Thermal Energy) meter below the character’s health. This counter goes down continually in the cold, and can refilled by collecting pools of glowing orange “heat” that drop from dead enemies or other heat sources, such as an explosive barrel. It can also be replenished by activating data posts. The T-Eng is used to refill Wayne’s health in the single-player mode, and is used to power energy weapons such as plasma rifles and removable mech energy weapons. If the T-Eng drops to zero, Wayne’s health will begin to drop.

Reviewed by Labyrinth