I remember when this game came out.  It was panned by fans and critics, saying it was a Gears clone and not Lost Planet. The studio shut down and it was the last game in the series. We played it and wanted to see how it actually was.

I had played the other Lost Planets and thought they were meh. I remember people were hyped for the first one, and I didn’t know why. I played the demo, and it was a generic third person game with a grappling hook. The next one was almost like Monster Hunter with guns, but it was basic. When I saw the third game I wasn’t interested.

The game is a prequel to the first one, and tells how the planet EDN 3 was settled. Its told through flashbacks of the games main character Jim Payton. A rig operator sent to find minerals to save Earth. You and your crew are part of the Nevec Corp’s expedition. It sounds generic and like a bunch of other games.

The gameplay is a third person cover shooter, but you can’t always use the cover system. That may sound bad, but it doesn’t hurt the game. You use your robot to go places, repair stuff, and fight things. Outside the base, you will be asked to do multiple things in one outing. It may start with clearing out enemies, then lead to fixing something, or helping someone. This sounds like a lot of games, but it’s different after every mission it feels like you’re protecting and maintaining the frontier. The missions seem like they would get repetitive, but they don’t. 

Most of the enemies you fight are the animals of the planet, and they can be hard to kill. Each has its way of attacking and ways to get you out of cover.  You have to shoot them in certain places while they can hit you anywhere. They have some good accuracy. Theres also giant bosses like in the first two games. Some you fight in your robot, others you fight on the ground, or both. One thing that makes fights interesting is if you take too much damage in your robot, it shuts down and you fight on foot. Robot gameplay can clunky and you can’t jump or boost. But it feels like a mineral drilling robot would. One issue is in the big boss fights, the collision physics can be off if an animal charges you. They may get stuck on top of you. This will give you a little damage, but It’s nothing that ruins it. All you need to do is move from under them. You fight the same mini boss three times in the game, but it’s fine.

For level design it’s decent. Theres snowy parts and parts inside the planet with some variety to it. Theres cool ideas and you can tell these people liked Alien and The Thing.

The graphics look good and hold up. The lighting and weather effects look nice. The snowstorms can get blinding at times and areas can feel pretty unique. The way it shows you where to go also gives a feeling of your exploring.

The characters are generic. You have the generic main guy trying to get money for his family. The annoying guy who always helps him and others.  The scientist with his crazy experiments. But they have more depth to them to make them less generic.  By the end some moments can be very well written. The voice acting is decent, but some parts can sound off and have bad writing

Gunplay wise theres an Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Pistol and Sniper Rifle. They feel better than your typical shooter. Theres upgrades and alternate ammos. I only used the one for the shotgun, which works pretty well. The sensitivity can feel high and we turned it down to half on x axis and it felt almost like Gears of War.

The game feels like it would’ve been really good if the devs had more time. They had to simplify stuff to complete the game. I give it a 7.5, you can see what they wanted to do, but weren’t able. What they did put in the game makes you wonder, why this wasn’t a cross gen or next gen game? They would’ve had more time to finish it. The reason Lost Planet fans didn’t like it is because it’s not like the first two. To us that was a good thing and they fleshed out the world.  This is the lowest rated game thats made our hidden gems list. A lot of you guys like God of War 2018. The narrative director for GOW, was this games director.