Our third visit to the hostile world of EDN-III takes us back before the first game in the series to a rough-and-ready, shake-and-bake colony and a blue-collar hero trying to earn hazard pay for his wife and child back on Earth.
Those who’ve played the first game will remember EDN-III as an ice-world full of dangerous aliens and human colonies run by NEVEC, a corporation determined to control mankind as it leaves a dying Earth. Lost Planet 2 advanced the timeline to after EDN’s ice melted.
Those who haven’t played the previous games may miss a few minor references and in-jokes, but nothing important. This is a good point to jump into the series.
The ice is back in Lost Planet 3, and NEVEC are — on the surface at least — a benevolent corporation bent on saving the Earth and its people. At least, that’s what their adverts say. Needless to say, the truth will out eventually.
Our hero is Jim Peyton, a tough subcontractor with his own Rig — a 10-metre-tall mecha used in construction and mining. Unlike the combat mecha of the first Lost Planet, the Rigs are unarmed, which brings the delights of either hand-to-hand combat between giant robot and giant alien, or the equally fun prospect of taking on the huge alien on foot, armed with pistol, rifle or shotgun.
Peyton’s story is told as a flashback as he lies trapped beneath a rockfall, confessing his sins to his granddaughter.
Peyton is a really well-designed character. His long face and beard are distinctive and unusual — a hint of the younger Donald Sutherland — his dry, calm manner likeable, and his devotion to his wife and child is revealed in a series of cutscenes as they swap video messages, he from the cab of his Rig, she from their apartment back on Earth. Even Jim’s musical tastes are explored as his wife sends him copies of his favourite songs to play in his cab.
Similar attention to detail is evident in the storyline. Why aren’t the Rigs armed like the combat mecha of the original game? We overhear an argument between a fellow Rig driver and the station boss, Braddock, who says the regulations won’t allow it. Later still we find a diary tape revealing that Braddock won’t allow the Rigs to be armed because that would move the colony from a science operation to a military one and he’d lose command.
Graphics are pretty good too. The wild nature of EDN is brought to life in a series of storms and blizzards. Interior scenes are claustrophobic, outdoor scenes sometimes spectacular. The rough nature of the colony comes through in dialogue and artwork.
Taken as a whole, the story, characters, audio and graphics could be an object lesson in how to set mood in a game.
Where Lost Planet 3 is lacking a bit is in the gameplay: it can get a little repetitive. It’s the setting and story that drive interest.
That’s not to say the game’s boring — there’s enough variety in the aliens you spend much of your time fighting to liven things up. The huge level bosses are edge-of-the-seat challenges, and as gripping to watch as they are to play, to judge from the reaction of a gamer buddy who popped round while I was taking on a giant armoured snow crab with a shotgun.
But hordes of smaller beasts become rather tedious after a while, and the tactics needed to defeat both them and bigger creatures remain essentially the same: dodge, shoot rapidly, reload and dodge some more. Mid-sized and huge creatures are generally invulnerable except in glowing weakspots, which increases the challenge.
For variety, it’s fun to see what the Rig can do. You don’t always have the option — Jim’s often out on foot — but when you do, it adds some spice to grab a critter with your robotic claw and pulverise it with a drill. In base form, the Rig is a lousy combat device. Fortunately you can collect or buy scrap to upgrade its armour and melee attacks.
One of the biggest challenges, though, is to prepare your weapons loadout. You can carry two guns and a grenade. The pistol — with unlimited ammo — is a necessity, which means you’re really only choosing which longarm to take. And the game doesn’t really give you any clues as to what you’ll be facing.
When I could finally afford the hunting rifle and sniper scope my next mission threw me, without warning, into a dense tunnel crowded with hordes of small aliens. How I wished for the shotgun I’d left behind — but there was no way back.
Loading times are also annoying. Each area loads separately, so if you’re in a big space you’ve no problem. But moving into base through a nexus requires moderately lengthy loads, over and over again.
Lost Planet 3 is a fun, beautiful and well-envisioned game. If you liked shooters such as Gears of War, you’ll enjoy it.
Box: Lost Planet 3
Developer: Spark Unlimited
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action/Third-person shooter
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Version tested: Xbox 360
Star Rating: 4/5
