Those of you who don't own an Xbox 360 missed out on a moderately kickass game. If you've got a good computer though, you'll get a chance to play it this June according to new Famitsu information. Capcom plans on bringing the PC version of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition to the U.S. and Europe later this year, with DirectX support and resolutions up to 2560x1600. For now it's unknown whether it will only be a Vista release, or if we'll also get a version that works on other types of Windows.

PC ports of console games rarely bring huge sales, but this should be good news to PS3 graphics whores who are patiently waiting for Heavenly Sword and Lair to come out.

Capcom just sent me word that they'll be offering new multiplayer map downloads for Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions on Xbox Live Marketplace soon. The first map pack will cost 400 Microsoft Points ($5) and will be up for download "on or about March 9" - the same day that their Lost Planet patch should be available. The download will include two new multiplayer levels for everyone, here's the official details from their press release: 

"The first pack is planned to be released via Xbox Live® Marketplace on or about March 9 and contains two new multiplayer levels: “Radar Field,” a close quarters facility which is under construction and has a giant radar that provides a peak vantage point, and “Island 902,” a sprawling Pacific-themed battlefield with several islands connected by bridges as well as vast underwater areas."

There's more on the way though - Capcom promises that two more packs will be available in the coming months, but that's not all. If you purchased the Collector's Edition of the game, then you also have a free “Battleground” multiplayer map coming your way soon, and it'll be a free download too. That's a pretty good update for a game that didn't come out too long ago. Capcom's vice president Charles Bellfield is "Committed to bringing new content to the thriving community of Lost Planet fans,” so hopefully there's even more to look forward to in the future. As long as they don't run into the same problems that the Call of Duty 3 map pack faced, I'll definitely be downloading these when they come out. You can read my Lost Planet review here.

Update: Here's 20 new Lost Planet images of what you can expect from the map pack levels mentioned above. The Island 902 level looks like it might be a lot of fun:

A recent interview with Capcom's Keiji Inafune (the man wearing no pants in the photo above) revealed that both Lost Planet and Dead Rising were originally going to be canceled, but thanks to Keiji's pleading, they went through with  the production of the two games that went on to become huge hits:

“Actually for a while there we were practically on the verge of having the projects cancelled. But I knew that Capcom just had to follow through with these titles, that the company needed them. So over the course of several months, I did my best to convince the decision-makers that these games have what it takes to succeed, to be hits and make money for the company. There was a time when I considered giving up on these two games, but I’m really glad I stuck with them and convinced management to let us make the games.”

Inafune, known as Inafking by his fans, was the led produce for both games that went on to sell millions and help establish Xbox 360's graphical power. His next project is a secret Wii game that he won't give any details on yet. A new Mega Man game maybe? I hope not, but I'm sure it'll impress.

Capcom's trying to keep the attention on their new game, and is releasing a Lost Planet patch "on or about" March 9th. By using extra icon indicators in the multiplayer lobbies, Capcom hopes to improve  online communication and connection speeds. A bunch of odd Lost Planet bugs have also been fixed, making multiplayer more fair now that the invisible player glitch problem has been solved. You can read the full press release details below:

Updates

• In the pre-game lobby, a country flag icon will be shown next to the Gamertag of each player. This will be especially helpful for determining location of the match host.
• In the pre-game lobby, an icon will be added next to each player’s Gamertag, indicating connection strength, speed and rating.
• In Team Elimination, Post Grab and Fugitive modes, an indicator will be added next to the Gamertag of the person who is speaking.
• At the post-match Results screen, an indicator will be added next to the Gamertag of the person who is speaking.
• At the post-match Results screen, Gamertags of the players who have left the session will be darkened.

Bug Fixes

• Sometimes in Fugitive mode there would be multiple Fugitives instead of just one -- Fixed
• Occasionally, if an error occurred on the lobby screen, another lobby screen would be displayed on top of it -- Fixed
• Sometimes when there was a long delay/lag, the game would hang at the transition screen going from the lobby to the game and then reboot -- Fixed
• Sometimes when there was a long delay/lag, depending on the console, certain players in the match would become invisible for the duration of the match -- Fixed
• Sometimes post-match Results screens would show players who did not participate in the match -- Fixed
• Starting a taunt animation during a reload shortened the reload time as an exploit -- Fixed

Last week I started off the new site feature for TheLastBoss - video game reviews and giveaways for the vocal readers. If you missed out on the Lost Planet  review and giveaway then don't worry, it'll be happening a lot more in the near future. Here's how it works:

• Step 1: Readers pick a game for me to review (Last week I chose Lost Planet to get it started)
• Step 2: I dig into the game for one night, and write up a First Impressions mini review.
• Step 3: Within a week of the First Impressions post, I finish it with a followup full review post.
• Step 4: Readers just have to leave meaningful comments on the review to qualify to win a video game.
  
• Step 5: I announce a random winner, and everyone that loses gets mad but thinks up new games for me to review

Many readers signed up and participated last week when I reviewed Lost Planet and asked what game you guys and girls wanted me to review for the site next. There were at least a dozen different suggestions, but the request I got the most was WarioWare: Smooth Moves for Nintendo Wii, so I'll be digging into that game soon. A few readers brought up that its childish mini-game aspects calls for a drunken gameplay test run segment in my First Impression write up, so I'll be sure to take care of that this weekend with some friends. Expect a First Impressions post on Monday, and a full review and game giveaway following a few days later in the week.

So who won a free copy of Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions? I gave a day or two for people to qualify, and a few minutes ago I pulled out my dorky trusty TI-83+ calculator to write a simple program that would pick a random winner. The result was TLB reader Adam - congrats dude!! I sent you an email asking for your shipping details and I'll get the game to you as soon as possible.

So what would have happened if I picked a random commenter that didn't even have an Xbox 360 to play the game? No problem - I'd just have you pick a recent video game of equal or less value and ship that to you instead. This site has been up and running for a few months now and I think it's time to start a reader community of gamers voicing their opinions - so start leaving some comments throughout the week and I'll work on getting you all the game news, media, and reviews that you want to see and read. Thanks for all the feedback so far - good luck to everyone in next week's giveaway!

Want a copy of Lost Planet? All you have to do is register an account for TheLastBoss and leave a meaningful comment on this post for a chance at getting a copy of this game. Don't want Lost Planet? That's cool too, just suggest a game you want me to review for another giveaway in the next few weeks. Here's how it works:

• Step 1: Readers pick a game for me to review (This week I chose Lost Planet to get it started)
• Step 2: I dig into the game for one night, and write up a First Impressions mini review.
• Step 3: Within a week of the First Impressions post, I finish it with a followup full review post. (this post!)
  
• Step 4: Readers leave meaningful comments on the review to qualify to win.
  
• Step 5: I announce a random winner, and everyone that loses gets mad but thinks up new games for me to review

What game will I be reviewing for next week? The most suggested game last week was WarioWare for Nintendo Wii, so that's what I'm planning on buying tonight. But if enough people change my mind with the comments on this post then that's fine. I want TheLastBoss reviews to be for the TLB readers, not just the generic crap you see everywhere else on the Internet. So feel free to ask for anything. I covered all of the basics and backstory last week in the Lost Planet First Impressions story, so if you're new to the game then check that out first. Here's the full review for the game, feel free to leave your own opinions:

 

GAMEPLAY: 8.6/10
First of all - this is a third person shooter game, NOT an FPS, so keep that in mind. In the past, third person shooter games were ones I almost always got annoyed with because of controls, but one of the best things about Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions is how it approaches this. Not only does being able to see yourself next to the gigantic akrid enemies give you an extra amount of fear when fighting through the game, but it also does several things right with its game controls. As mentioned in the First Impressions preview, the aiming system shows your ammo amount next to the targeting reticule, which is one of the most convenient interface setups a shooting game can have. At first your aim speed is depressingly slow, but you can change that in the options or use the L and R bumpers to quickly turn 90 degrees left or right. Auto aim helps with picking out the highly camouflaged Snow Pirates from across an abandoned town, but when you want to just hit the fucking barrels to blow them all up with the game's beautiful explosions, auto aim can be a hindrance.

The guns are set up great early on, with just the right amount of ammo included, and just enough drop spots along the way. Using thermal energy as a theme to tie in the whole game worked just as well as Capcom had hoped - find an enemy, shoot its colorful thermal area weakspot, and recycle the goo for health. It's explainable and dependable throughout the entire game making the immersion factor increase, but once the game starts introducing more mechs things start to become less solid. One of my big pet peeves is when games don't use what they have well enough - Lost Planet has half a dozen mechs that are enjoyable to play, but hard to differentiate between. Upgrading their left and right sides is easy as hell, but it's not until the very ending that a single mech stands out from the rest besides something as simple as being able to jump higher than another model. One mech machine in particular lets you race like a boat through the snow for a short period of time, but the game doesn't offer a single downhill race mission. So in that aspect, Lost Planet has set some standards but failed to raise any bars.

There's eleven missions total from start to finish, and each will take about an hour to complete, so the game is a little on the short side. Multiplayer offers about eight different areas to play in, each with several rooms where 1/4 to 1/16 match setups await. As soon as 3 or 4 hop in one room others will give up and join the cool kids. Playing with a dozen other people is pretty fun, but not something I would resort to weekend after weekend. The amazing, yet mostly useless grenades do nothing much for the eleven missions, but in multiplayer they can be hilarious. As I crouched at an energy station for a health boost I received three different sticky grenade impacts on all sides of my body like time-delayed explosive comedic pies.

 

PLOT PROGRESSION: 5.5/10
Story is by far the worst part of this game. Your dad dies, you want revenge, and three people are willing to help, but backstabbing may or may not follow. Each mission is the three people making you do all the hard work so they can pop up in the end of each area and tell you where to go next. Eventually this becomes annoying so the game introduces some new faces and sets up the villains of the game. So. Damn. Simple. Voice acting is plentiful and superb, but where's the drama and contrasting story arcs? One of your partners is as simple as a tech geek to explain equipment, and another is as simple as a pair of tits who wears bikini bottoms on the outside of her snow suit. I was hoping they'd both get involved with a level or two beyond just cutscenes, but it never happened. When you get to the end there's a few underwhelming plot surprises that are all over shadowed by the fact that the last mech is fucking awesome, but with little use.

While gameplay was balanced throughout the missions, difficulty wasn't as organized. I played through the game on normal and things were mostly unchallenging until the bosses. None of them were hard enough to make me go insane, but some felt unfair. The "greeneye" that killed your father comes into the picture half way through the game and now blows ice (I thought they were thermal enemies?...) out of his back. Try to jet pack out of harm's way and you're probably fucked. Not just once, nor twice, but for three rounds of explosions obstructing your view of anything on screen. Having the player being able to get up quicker would have helped a lot, and having bosses be a little less repetitive would have also made things much more enjoyable. But to be fair, it's mostly forgivable, almost every single boss is fun as hell to both look at and fight.

AUDIO/GRAPHICS: 7.5/10
We are officially in the next generation of gaming, so from here on out my reviews will have high expectations from games that should have impressive graphics. The character textures all look great, but there really aren't that many of them to look at, usually they're all huddled in some boring room. Levels vary vastly from a LOT of snow to gorgeous subterranean areas. At one point the amount of snow got aggravating, but then the game thrusts you into lava filled area that was pretty amazing. One of the biggest graphics gripes is how freakin' small the text is in the menus - quit forcing widescreen HDTVs on us, jeez! Another thing I demand to see more of in next-gen games is destructible environments - lots of them. Thankfully Lost Planet does offer several areas throughout each level that can be destroyed by you for more health, or by enemies as you hide behind brittle walls. It's not rare that you'll see thirtyish flying akrids and a few more dozen aliens around you on land approaching, all while you're exploding barrels and huge mini bosses are popping out of the ground - yet the game only lagged once for me, and that was probably only due to crappy coding for one boss fight. The enemies all look great, and the scorpions that come later in the game have some really fun animations. The music isn't terrible, but nothing is really worth mentioning. Boss battles bring some cool sound effects and the voice acting is good.

 

EXPECTATIONS: 8.25/10
Some games don't set out to revolutionize the world, and that's okay. Just because Mario Party looks like crap doesn't mean it's not as enjoyable as Halo 2 to some people. So I always want to try to judge how well a game lived up to its expectations. Lost Planet has been considerably hyped, and for good reason. If I made a power point presentation of the game I could easily showcase single impressive aspects of this game one after the other, but it's in between the jaw drops that this game doesn't come through as much as it should. Some will be quick to talk shit about this game, but they are the same people who defend Shadow of the Colossus from harsh critics. The difference between the two games that both offer huge ass creatures to kill is that Shadow of the Colossus never said it would be anything more than an artistic battle against over a dozen large titans in a desolate world. Lost Planet kinda did by throwing mechs and a more involved story into it. If the plot was more enjoyable and the game lasted longer with more diverse levels, this game could have easily have been a 360 owner bragging right against PS3 jerks, but it really isn't.

WORTH RENTING? Absolutely, every 360 gamer should definitely check out the visuals and heightened gameplay moments this game offers.

WORTH BUYING? Not for all 360 owners, but for most. Had I reviewed the game on just the first half alone the score would be much higher, but even with plenty of Xbox 360 achievements (including 2 bonus bosses along the way) and each level including around five hidden generic coins you can collect, the game still wraps up way too quickly. When a slow gamer like me beats it in two long nights of gameplay, I can see some people being disappointed.

WORTH AN AWARD? Nope. Some scenes are exactly what next generation gaming is all about, but there's simply not enough amazing battles and boss scenes to make this game rise from "pretty cool" to "SAHWEEEEET!"

FINAL SCORE: 8.3

 

The story in Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions is very much like an anti-Signs setup. Instead of M. Night Shyamalan aliens that are allergic to water and traveling to Earth, it's humans fleeing Earth to an inhabitable frozen planet. To make things worse for mankind, there just so happens to be gigantic akrids (aliens) around every corner, so we decide to leave with guns blazing as we make an exit. But wait! We killed one! And sure enough, inside of each akrid is a gooey substance that is coincidentally the exact thermal energy needed to make the planet inhabitable. Genocide ensues. But not before the humans temporarily leave to get some more guns, and inadvertently leave behind hundreds, if not thousands, of humans to become frozen akrid food. When we finally return with more arsenal to take over the arctic world we find out the humans left behind are still alive, and still pissed at us. So we call them Snow Pirates and shoot them before they get a chance to shoot us. Typical human machismo.

So who are you? You're Wayne, a guy with enough know-how to work the Vital Suit (VS) mechs. The game starts with you at what is most likely the last boss (I love saying that), but everything goes wrong and your dad is killed in the process right before you black out. You wake up to 3 characters who are more than happy to help you seek revenge on the giant "Green Eye" akrid that killed your father, but one of the three obviously isn't the nice guy he pretends to be. I won't spoil any of the story, but you can tell you're blindly following a linear plot that leads to betrayal.

The gameplay cleverly justifies the slaughter of the akrids without awkward coins or orbs, since every dead alien equals more thermal energy (T-ENG) that you can pick up to keep warm. As you run around your T-ENG slowly decreases, with different actions like jumping costing even more energy. We're not talking about the dangerous outer space scenes from Doom 3 where you have only seconds to live, but it keeps you from wasting time. As long as you're still awake and killing things you should be fine. Which, yes, does get boring very fast, but just as you start to sigh, Lost Planet introduces plenty more akrid species of varying sizes and difficulty, as well as a Zelda-like hookshot that you can use to pull yourself up walls like Spiderman. It surprisingly fits the setting well and solves every maneuvering problem you'll run into.

One of the most subtle, but most successful parts of the game, is its targeting reticule setup. Instead of wasting more interface space in the corners of the screen, there's an arc of dashes around your aiming icon that lets you know exactly how much ammo you have left. No more retreats accompanied by quick glances to ammo info, you never have to take your eyes off the battles. And this is especially a good thing early on because the game can offer some bright and beautiful subterranean environments that you wouldn't expect to see. Although, at four completed missions into the game, I have to admit I'm mostly seeing JUST snow and metal. Rushing airborne rivers of orange stingray akrids is always exciting, but Lost Planet will need to continually introduce new aliens into the levels to keep things interesting.

The music isn't anything great so far, but when you reach skyscraper sized phallic worm akrids with spectacular textures, there's not much more you need to be immersed - Lost Planet really strives to prove what's possible in this new-generation of gaming. But when the akrids are absent you can start to notice a lack of music, so it fluctuates. However, the explosions and smoke effects in Lost Planet are drastically unique. They look a bit unrealistic to me, but are artistic enough to make them more enjoyable than smoke grenades in the recent Call of Duty games. It's not rare that you've got a mech chasing you, three dozen flying aliens circling you above, three more aliens rolling around you like Zelda dodongos, and explosive barrels detonating in all directions. It has yet to get old too, Lost Planet can be fucking awesome when you're not stuck in the middle of a desolate tundra.

I'm playing the game on normal difficulty and so far I've only been challenged by the fourth mission boss. Much like Shadow of the Colossus, Lost Planet dishes out immense enemies for you to deal with, but when the flying colossus comes equipped with a never ending supply of missiles, it can be a bitch to kill. If you let it get the best of your first mech, and you use up all the missiles, then the other spare mechs won't last long against it on just Gatling gun bullets alone. So far I've seen several mech upgrades ranging from jumping/hovering enhancements to laser beam attachments and a few new grenades to choose from. Everything I've seen so far has been enjoyable, but the game still has a long way to go and has already used a lot of assets, so I hope it can keep it up at the very least.

RECAP:

Intrigue: Basically none. The game is all snow and no story. Just big ass monsters. Good enough for most people though.

Impressive: Exciting combat and exceptional textures for both characters and akrid enemies. Simple and effective interfaces.

Imperfections: One impressive environment, but most are terribly bland. Explosions should probably do more damage, and I want more reasons to use the different types of grenades. Also, you run way too slow, and text is way too small for mission objective screens.

Check back on the weekend for the full Lost Planet review.

Today Capcom is holding a pre-launch media event in San Francisco, where they have 25 passes to give away to people (aged 21 and over) and their guests. The event has 16 Xbox 360s with the almost finished version of Lost Planet running networked on them. Attendees will get a chance to play all 8 multiplayer maps that will ship in the final game, including all four gameplay modes (Elimination, Team Elimination, Post Grab, and Fugitive). If you live in the area and are interested then check out their official site for more details. And if you're not interested then check out the video above and reconsider not being interested. The snow physics looked surprisingly awesome, plus the huge monster in the end was impressive.

Capcom has been putting in extra effort into the game and recently announced the following features have already been fixed, so that you won't have to worry about an immediate patch download shortly after its release:

• Private slots can be set by host
• Invite friends to a match
• Number of players in a room will be displayed next to name of the room
• Players will not be kicked all the way out to the main menu if they try to join a full game
• New button allows players to refresh the match list without going out to the main menu and selecting Quick Match again
• Players will now go to a post-game lobby at the end of a match, not kicked back to the main menu
• The ability to replay a match with the same group without leaving the post-game lobby
• Cycling maps on replayed matches when map selection is set to Random
• Text size on the team selection screen will be greatly increased when using non-HD resolutions.
• When manual team selection is set to ON, players will have 20 seconds to form teams.
• The time limit on each match will be maxed out at 60 minutes, instead of the current unlimited time.
• A player's custom match criteria will now be saved.

 

Did anyone partake in America's day after Thanksgiving 'Black Friday' shopping madness? I ran up to Best Buy to grab a bunch of DVDs for $5 bucks a piece, and to further confirm that Best Buy is receiving more shipments of Wii this Sunday.

Well Microsoft wants people to enjoy their own Lost Planet deals, which they're calling White Friday. The Lost Planet multiplayer demo is now up online for free in all Xbox Live regions. The Lost Planet Picture Pack 1 is 60 points and includes gamer pictures of Solider, Luka, Rick, Yuri, Gale and Basil, with Picture Pack 2 costing 60 points as well, and including gamer pictures of VS Types: GTT-01, GTF-11, GTB-22 and Akrid Types: Chryatis, Trilid and Dongo. And the Lost Planet “Snow Pack” theme costs 150 points and gives you a new theme for your dashboard.

While some of the EGM page flippers discovered this recently, Capcom has just confirmed that the anticipated Lost Planet demo will be out November 23, but also mentioned some new details. On November 24, or "White Friday" as Capcom is now calling it,the pre-orders for Lost Planet will include a special version of the demo that include a bonus multiplayer map. Also, starting on November 17, Capcom is going to start inserting trailers for Lost Planet in movie theaters nationwide, so when you go to see if Casino Royale is a piece of shit, or an improvement for the Bond series, expect some robot and alien mumbo jumbo as the lights dim.