Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Xbox 360) Preview

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 12.19.2006

Hands-on preview!



I got to spend some quality time with Lost Planet last week at Capcom's Media Event here in San Francisco. We were given an in-depth look at the online multiplayer mode as well as a sneak peek at a new mode that would be available during multiplayer.

Having played Lost Planet quite a bit at E3 and through the online demos, I was glad to see that not a whole lot had been changed. The graphics are still looking detailed and clean. I didn't notice any noticeable framerate issues as the game ponied along just fine. The multiplayer mode did not feature any lag, though everyone was playing in the same room, so we'll have to find out how the final version does online.



For multiplayer, there will be a max of 16 players allowed per match. This seems like the sweetspot for Capcom as again, there wasn't any lag during our matches. Players are able to choose from a variety of characters as well as different attire. The battles were neither fast paced nor too slow. It had more of a realistic feel to it where you're also encouraged to duck and hide for cover. It's possible to be quite sneaky so don't expect for all players to come guns-ablazing!

I was also given a first look on a new multiplayer mode. Basically this mode is like a game of tag, similar also to one of Red Steel's multiplayer modes. One person is "it" and the rest of the players will attempt to find and kill that particular player. I wasn't told how many players would be allowed in this type of mode but I wouldn't expect there to be 16--then again I could be wrong--we shall see.



We were told that the most recent update which Capcom had revealed this week, was not yet patched to the version we were playing. I was also glad to see that the game still controls pretty smoothly and is rather easy to pick up and play.



Lost Planet is set to release in January of 2007 and I will be giving my full on review shortly after it has shipped.