Lost Planet: Extreme Condition DX10 Demo

When Earth becomes a bit too hostile for people to survive on it, humanity tries to look for salvation on a different planet, settling for anything that's not on fire, or filled with poisonous gas. Thus the frozen planet by the name of E.D.N. III seems like the best choice, mostly because it is very similar to Earth, except for the gruesome ice age that has taken over it for a while.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a third-person shooter that tells the story of the company by the name of NEVEC, which attempts to develop a new cradle for the human civilization to evolve somewhere on another planet. As previously mentioned, they settle on E.D.N. III, although it comes with a few drawbacks and requires a bit of cleaning before the colonists can land and start a new life.

Hence, the mountains of snow and the freezing cold turn out to be the least of their problems, since the planet happens to have quite the nasty alien population buried deep underground, which start to come out as soon as they feel the new guests arriving. Naturally, the big company won't just give up when faced with a bunch of oversized bugs and decides to exterminate them, in order to make room for the people. However, after a bit of exploring and plenty of dead aliens, it turns out that the insects posses vital thermal energy, which could be used by the humans in order to survive the harsh conditions.

Although the game is played from a third-person perspective, you can switch to first-person any time you like, especially when you need more accuracy. Most of the monsters you face off against are rather big, especially the imposing boss creatures that await you at the end of each level. On the other side, they all sport a brightly colored weak spot, which is explained as being their own thermal generator. Obviously, the bosses are defeated by shooting at these weak spots, which turns out to be quite repetitive and boring most of the time.

You can have a bit of fun with the game as well, though, since the impressive graphics, nice creature models and the superb, but linear landscapes give you plenty to look at as you try to stay alive. The special effects deserve a special mention as well, since the explosions are great and the motion blur makes for some very intense action sequences.

Despite the nice graphics, smooth controls and inspired level design, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition still manages to quickly become very boring and repetitive, mostly due to linearity and the lack of a challenge when it comes to defeating the enemies. However, you can still have a lot of fun with the game, especially if you do not play it for too long at once.