Game #955: Lost Planet 3

  The only thing that's lost here is its identity.

 It seems that Capcom never really knew what to do with the Lost Planet franchise, because Lost Planet 3 is yet another complete overhaul of the series.... and it wouldn't be the last. More akin to the first one rather than the sequel, being a narrative-focused third-person shooter. A lot has changed, to the point that it's pretty much Lost Planet in name only... but is that really a bad thing?

 Lost Planet 1 was quirky, for lack of a better word. It looked like a generic third person shooter, but you had these weird mechanics, like having to fight for T-Energy as not to die due to the cold or having the roll mapped on L3. You also got a grappling hook and there were mechs, not to mention how heavy everything felt. I really liked it. Lost Planet 2 wanted to be the Monster Hunter of Lost Planet, so they threw the narrative out the window and now the game was based around short, goal-based stages which sometimes ended on fighting giant enemies. There was a plot, but it was super disjointed and had not real, proper, characters besides having factions fighting each other. And then came Lost Planet 3, which did with most of the quirkiness away, turning into a much more generic third-person shooter, with a very strong focus on its narrative as well as some Metroidvania elements.

 At least the story is decent. Predictable, a bit generic space soap-opera of men VS the environment VS an evil corporation, but it wasn't horrible. It helps that Jim Peyton, the protagonist, is super likeable. Unlike most gruff action heroes, or heck, even adventurous heroes such as Nathan Drake, Jim is just a guy that means well and wants to do his job to help his family... and anyone else that needs a hand, because he is simply a good person. His appearance is very pleasant too, he ain't supposed to be the most handsome or the toughest guy around. Some of the other secondary characters, like Gale, Mira, Braddock and Laroche grew on me too. So yeah, overall, I'd say the narrative was enjoyable even if it's nothing outstanding or ground breaking..

 Gameplay is where things have changed the most. T-Energy is no longer required to survive EDN-III, but instead, it's now a form of currency you can use to buy new weapons and/or upgrades for them. The grappling hook is still here... but it's now context sensitive, you can only use it on very specific places. While the game is story-driven, now there are sidequests, because you can tackle your objectives at your leisure. If you want to explore the planet, as far as your tools allow it, feel free to do it. If you want to go from main objective to main objective and avoid all the optional content... you can do so too.

 Rolling is no longer a Monster Hunter-like maneuver, it's been much more streamlined and tied to the X button. It's still a core part of the game and you'll need to dodge incoming attacks if you don't want to get hurt, but the timing is much more lenient. So while it's still a core element of the shooting... it feels quite different. You can also take cover behind certain objects now, as some of the alien life forms can shoot at you. Lastly, there are not VSs in the game, instead, since this is a prequel, you drive a RIG, its predecessor. VS and Rigs are, for all intents and purposes, mechs, but the Rig is much larger than the VS and built for exploration, so no guns. Not to say your RIG won't see any action, as now driving your mech is done in first person, and you'll be able to block incoming attacks, grab enemy limbs or punch them with its drill arm... or even drill into them if you get the opportunity. VSs were something that you sometimes got to drive in the original games, but the RIG is now a core part of the exploration element of the game, so you'll spend a lot of time on it. Thankfully, it's fun to use, and you get a few.... interesting tunes to listen to while you pilot it.

 Lastly, the combat itself is fine. You can carry up to two weapons with you as well as your infinite-ammo gun. There's a decent variety of Akrid, the enemy alien lifeforms, to fight, a few that can even shoot at you. If anything, maybe the weaponry was a bit boring? I tried a few other weapons, but I stuck with the Assault Rifle and Shotgun throughout most of the game because they worked well enough and the other weapons fell a bit gimmicky. 

 I think the worst part about the game is that there were a few 'Mash X not to die' QTEs that weren't much fun, even the final boss had a few of these.

 Lost Planet 3 didn't feel like Lost Planet, it really didn't.... but I still had a lot of fun with it. The narrative kept me invested on the characters and the gameplay was decent enough to keep me interested in what I was doing. It's not the most memorable or original third person shooter out there, but hey, I feel that the game does everything it set out to do pretty well.

 7.5