Lost Planet 3 Preview

At the base, Jim’s acquainted with a cast of characters also working for the same company. There’s actually been a lot of work in trying to provide real character depth and motivation here, which is a clear necessity when measured up with the previous game that had absolutely no qualms about confusing the player as to who anyone was, where they were or what they were doing. Here, people talk and act like people, conveying part of who they are as they push the narrative forward.


It’s a small touch, and maybe it’s not even something that the developers have put much active thought into, but the amount of T-Energy (Lost Planet’s form of currency) that Jim’s raised in his stint helping make the planet more inhabitable is often visible when out walking around and at all times displayed in the cockpit of his armoured Rig(a bipedal precursor to Lost Planet’s signature VS-Mechs and a tool that Jim uses to perform scouting expeditions that take him far outside the base). It’s a great character nod that he’d be continually wanting to look at what he’s already managed to save up - the proverbial picture of the wife and kids tucked into the dashboard. Intentional of not, that’s great characterisation through mechanics and a clever way to say a lot about someone without being overly explicit. This money doesn’t just act as a points-tally, this is currency that you’ll spend to buy new gear and upgrade what you’ve already gotten.

Though there is a multiplayer mode, it didn't strike us as something to get too excited about. It consists of mode-based team-objective challenges of the sort we've seen countless times before. We firmly predict it’ll only be a matter of months before the multiplayer audience fades away. It’s not offensive or unplayable, it just doesn’t justify itself above more focused options, at least from what we've seen.


The take-away from this glimpse was the knowledge that Capcom has clearly learned from criticisms of the previous games and tried its best to address them. As such, we're verging on optimistic about this latest instalment, and certainly look forward to seeing just exactly how it turns out.