The Pacer

Issue date: 1/16/07 Section: Technology

Snow has never looked so pretty.
Of course, it's not real snow, and you're going to be out in it a lot, which might get to you after a while. But overall, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for the Xbox 360 is stunning.

In the game, you play as Wayne, whose last memory before being knocked into a coma was of his father being killed by a giant bug-like alien called the Akrid.

These aliens are fighting the humans who have come to the Lost Planet to terra form the planet in order to colonize it for humans. Of course, the humans decide to fight back instead of just trying to find another planet to colonize. During the course of the game, other humans and characters come in to play as Wayne regains more and more of his memory.

Thermal energy plays a large part in keeping Wayne alive. One of the more frustrating things about the game is that your thermal energy, which you must have to stay alive, is constantly running down.

In order to survive, you have to kill enemies and break things open to find it. While this normally isn't a problem - you can find it almost anywhere - it gets a little hard when you find yourself in a battle. Every time you're hit, you lose thermal energy, which means you have to constantly run around and look for more instead of fighting. This can result in long battles or a lot of dying.

The graphics for this game are fantastic. The smoke effects from explosions look incredibly realistic. The best part is when you stay out in the snow for a while, you can actually see snow beginning to build up on your character's body.

The battles are also fantastic, especially the boss battles. While it can be frustrating constantly looking around for thermal energy to stay alive while fighting, these fights are actually a challenge. The bosses are huge, instead of something that happens to be your size and all you have to do is point and shoot. The Akrid can be huge, which means you've got to figure out how to bring them down. This can prove to be difficult, but at least it's not boring.

The game play is pretty good as well, but, unless you change your control settings, you might find it hard to aim or turn. The controls can be responsive, but only if you up the sensitivity. Otherwise, you're just going to add even more frustration when you find you can't turn as quickly as you like, or aiming properly is almost out of the question.

Of course, you get guns. Big ones, and that's one of the things that keeps you interested in playing. The vital suits are like mini Transformers, and can cover the snow-covered ground quickly while you fire at your enemy. Or, if you prefer, you can chunk a grenade at them at watch the pretty fireworks.

Continued...

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