Lost Planet loses its way
LOST PLANET 3
Rated: ★★★
Available on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC
Rating: T for Teen
Lost Planet 3 grabs your attention with its addictive storyline and eye-popping graphics, but after hours of play, the missions and gameplay can become tedious and repetitive.
The game opens with an old man and his granddaughter trapped inside an icy cave. As the girl works to free her grandfather from debris that has landed on his legs, he tells the story of how he ended up at the bottom of the cave. Players are taken back decades to when a young Jim Peyton first arrived on the desolate planet E.D.N. III to help an interstellar corporation called Neo-Venus Construction (NEVEC). He was to help mine a rare source of energy from the planet, which could prove to be the solution to ending energy shortages on Earth.
To find the energy, players have to pilot giant mechanical suits of armour that help them traverse E.D.N.’s surface. Players will hop in and out of the armour depending on the task before them. The mechanical suits are great for fighting big enemies or fixing large machinery but have to be abandoned in order to allow the gamer to access caves or more constricted locations.
The storyline and the dialogue are superb and cinema-like, allowing the player to watch as Peyton meets the various players at NEVEC’s underground compound and interacts with them. He also regularly gets messages from his wife, who remained on Earth. E.D.N. III is a desolate world filled with snow and ice. The creatures that live there are horribly disfigured, carnivorous and extremely hostile. No one in their right mind would travel to this planet, and yet Peyton and a handful of others have. For Peyton, the planet and its energy stores will allow him to provide for the family he’s left behind. The interaction between him and his wife is moving and helps the player to genuinely develop an attachment to the character.
It’s this attachment, coupled with the incredible and awful world in which Peyton is living that propels the story forward and almost forces players to keep going to find out why Peyton is still on the planet decades later and how he ended up stuck at the bottom of the frozen pit.
Still, the repetitive gameplay is annoying and is what keeps Lost Planet 3 from being exceptional. However, if you’re a fan and seek to return to E.D.N. III, it’s definitely worth checking out.