Lost Planet is an Xbox 360 game that is a fast-paced entertaining first-person shooter with some unique aspects that I found created a challenging and fun environment. Most FPS games that I’ve played have been fairly consistent in the way that they work: I get a gun, I get some ammo, I get a bad guy and you kill him/her/it and then move on to the next in line. In Lost Planet, I still get a gun and some ammo and some bad guys, but in addition to that, the environment is one that is actively working to kill me.

Part of the backstory to the game is that we have been left behind on a planet because of a failed colonization attempt. The planet has not been terraformed and is not a friendly environment to humans. It’s a very, very, very cold place. So one of the goals in the game is to seek out thermal energy. Fortunately the main bad guys are these giant bug things that are called Akrid, and they spew thermal goop when they die. We then collect the goop to keep ourselves alive. If nothing else, I think this part of the story is kinda cool.

The game is laid out in a series of missions that revolve around reclaiming the world for humanity, gaining information about the world and the people on it, and squashing some giant bugs for warmth. Throughout the game, there are various weapons that can be collected for use, though the maximum number of weapons that can be carried is two. Amongst the weaponry available are things like shotguns, machine guns, grenade launchers and lasers. This is not to say that that’s all that is available.

There also are VSs. VS is short for Vital Suit, which is basically a suit of powered armor with really big weapons on it. VSs give better protection against the big bad bugs and also allow for much more powerful weapons. The one drawback is that the VSs also run on thermal energy so the need to collect it after squashing a bug is just as vital as it is with out the suits. Now, if the VS is damaged beyond usability, the weapons mounted on it can be dismounted and carried by hand. This aspect of the game is interesting because now the character is carrying a weapon designed for vehicular mount and the animation shows it as the character hobbles about with the extremely heavy load.

The graphics and animation for the game are good and definitely enhance gameplay. There is a lot of detail in the world environment, and there seems to have been a lot of effort put into the development of the props to create a more realistic experience. The AI also is very good. The bad guys don’t just rush to their deaths, they actually seek out cover and work as a team to defeat their enemies. Oh, yeah, the Akrid are not the only opponents. There also are human opponents to be dealt with, and they are, at times, more dangerous than the giant bugs.

The user interface worked well for the game and did not interfere with gameplay by taking up too much of the screen. It kept track of the necessary information needed to keep the character alive and well-armed and was not so busy as to detract from the environment. Though I did find myself focusing quite a bit on the Thermal Energy meter as it continued to drop closer and closer to zero and my pending doom from freezing to death. So there was, at least for me, a sense of urgency to find sources of thermal energy to replenish my supply so that I could continue to play.

The game controls are pretty basic and easy to use: point and shoot or throw a grenade. Though, for me, I would have liked to have had an ability to customize the control setup so that the buttons did what I wanted them to do.

When playing games like this, I usually like to start on the middle level of difficulty. Typically this lets me play the game and get through it without to much difficulty and still gives me a good challenge. In this case, the medium level of difficulty was almost too hard to play at some points. Most all of the missions were doable for me. But there were a number of points in which I was almost ready to run the disk through a meat grinder. The game does not allow you to change the difficulty midgame, so what you start at is what you have to finish the game at.

I went into the online multiplayer game for a couple of sessions. Online seemed to be all about PvP on a massive scale. It was very fast and furious, and there was not much time to think; just get moving and try to stay alive. Generally I don’t enjoy this sort of play, and though it was fun for a distraction, it’s not something that I’m really interested in playing again.

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing Lost Planet; the game kept me hooked enough so that I was unwilling to play anything else until I finished it. The story was interesting and helped keep me interested in the game to see where it would go. There was not anything in the game that was excessive for kids other than the shooting part. And the big scary bug things. So I would say that the T rating is appropriate for the game. I’m not sure this is a game I will play again, but I can see where the multiplayer aspect would be appealing to some players.