Now that the press conferences are over, and E3 is officially underway we here at Monkeygames can focus on whats really important…the games!
This whole 360 “bringing it home” thing has turned out to be a blast, lots of cool free virtual swag, cool trailers, and of course demos from the show floor.
Last night I fired up the demo for Capcom’s “Lost Planet”and so far its the best of this weeks bunch.
Lost Planet will be a 3rd person shooter that takes place on a frozen world. Not much is known about the storyline, but I can tell from the demo its got something to do with Snow Pirates, and big Bugs!
The demo is broken up into two parts. The first has you start outdoors on foot, on your way to destroy a bug hive. The second has you assault a Pirate base all by yourself.
The art and style of this game are beautiful, and the graphics at points are jaw dropping (even more so considering this is a “beta” version). The 360 does a good job of keeping the frame rate consistent even with all the enemies, and action on screen. Bugs range in size from small to down right huge. On the human side of things, the Pirate ground units look great and in some respects look like snow-troopers. There are also Pirate units walking around in massive VC’s or Mechs (trust me more on that in a minuet).
This is one of the first games that feels next gen in its presentation, the lighting and explosions are beautiful, the level of detail in the world and on the enimes is spot on (even more so when you zoom in).

The controls are very responsive, weather you on foot or stomping around in your customized Mech.
Ok by far the best thing about Lost planet are the Mech sequences. Each Mech you jump into can be customized by adding or removing weapon arms either already attached or laying on the ground.
I think the main reason these sequences are so enjoyable is because this is where the action gest stepped up. Lots of Enimes, explosions and fast paced combat.
Now here is something cool, lets say you see a cannon for your Mech on one side of the room, and you can only get to it on foot. You can jump out of the Mech run to the Gun attachment and make your way back slowly. While your lugging this weapon back there may be a Bug or Pirate in your way, so the easy and FUN solution… lean into the massive cannon and blast away. its just fun destroying things with a weapon that should be on a Tank. Once your done attach the arm, and be on your way.
Considering that this is a very early version of the game there are some issues with clipping, and well to put it nicely the Enemies AI is missing the “I”, but for the most part this game is a lot of fun.

Lost planet is scheduled to ship next Winter 2007. It seems a bit evil to make us wait this long, but according to the developers they need this time to build the multi player portion of the game.
If you have a 360 this is a must download (300mb), if not check out the Trailer