Game Reviews

Lost Planet,isn't a shooter meant to be played alone. Demanding constant communication between teammates, Lost Planet 2 was designed with multiplayer in mind, from the boss designs to the level objectives to...well, the online multiplayer. And because of its dependency on teamwork, Lost Planet 2 may isolate a part of its audience who wouldn't want to play with a buddy online or work cooperatively towards a collective goal.

But to enjoy Lost Planet 2, you have to belong in the group that enjoys working with a partner. Playing the single-player campaign alone is often maddening, not because of the game's tepid, confusing story line, which culls together several disparate plot threads and thinly ties them together in the end, but because of its emphasis on cooperation. Unlike the first Lost Planet, which centered on one protagonist, Lost Planet 2 shares the stage with several different groups of pirates and military squads, each comprised of a group of four men. Many level objectives require the entire team to work as a unit: defend an area against the enemy while protecting key assets, sweep an area clean of enemy units, or hold your ground until time runs out. Brain-dead, unhelpful, and unresponsive, the computer-controlled team members are a liability rather than a resource.

It's a shame that your computer teammates aren't smarter, because you'll need all the help you can get in several missions and boss fights. One sequence, in particular, calls for total teamwork to take down a giant, category G Akrid boss, a colossal worm that crawls alongside a moving train. The only way to kill the worm is by firing an equally colossal cannon mounted on the train, but operating that weapon requires a squad's total concentration. The cannon has four main mechanics: a cooling system, a turning mechanism, a reloading area, and a firing cockpit. You can't control them all from one convenient location, and you can't delegate a specific action to your stupid computer teammates. My advice: pray and hope that someone on your team brings a shell to the reloading station. Without the ability to delegate definite roles, the train segment becomes an annoying mess of trial and error, which could have been avoided if your team was a bit smarter -- or if you were playing with your buddies online, each assigned to a specific task.

And that's where Lost Planet 2 excels: the levels and bosses designed as a shared, cooperative experience. Without someone who can respond instantly to commands and requests, these elements feel cheap and unfair, but with rational teammates who can make decisions on their own, they're some of the best moments in the game.