March 13, 2008 - Lost Planet surprised many 360
gamers last January and become one of the more successful action titles
on the system for '07. To celebrate the 16-month anniversary of its
arrival on 360, Capcom is releasing Lost Planet: Colonies. This special
edition, priced at $29.95 for both Xbox 360 and PC, arrives on May 27.
Along with the original game, Colonies adds a considerable amount of
content in an attempt to make it more attractive for gamers who might
feel they've been there, killed that.

The single-player doesn't have any new levels, but adds several
different bonus modes. Score Attack gives points for kicking ass as you
stomp through the campaign; Trial Battle Mode has you facing off
against each Lost Planet boss in quick succession; Off Limit Mode turns
off the realism of space combat and goes wild with super-charged
weapons and a faster-moving character.


Colonies won't recognize your original Lost Planet save, so you will
need to play through again -- though why else would you buy the game if
you didn't want to give it another go? Colonies also has its own 1000
Gamerpoints to earn and its own multiplayer leaderboards, giving gamers
a fresh start towards dominating online.

The bulk of the additions come to online play. You'll get all of the
content previously only available in downloadable packs along with some
new surprises. Four new maps (Crossfire City, Area 921, Lost Arena and
Assault Space) are being added as are two female and two robot
multiplayer characters. Four new human weapons (hand gun, revolver,
flame thrower and hand cannon) join a quartet of new VS weapons (pile
bunker, VS rifle, rocket pod and laser lance). We'll say right now that
the flamethrower, which has limited range, looks cool (but doesn't set
the jungle ablaze).

The most intriguing of the eight new multiplayer modes is Akrid Hunter.
One or more playes are randomly chosen at the start of the match to
play as Akrid. There are three different Akrid types, each far more
powerful than any of the human characters. The timed matches are a
scoring competition in which the Akrid players lay total waste to the
human players and tally huge points.

Playing as an Akrid is kind of like being Godzilla for a day. They are
slow, plodding creatures with little mobility but incredible strength.
In fact, one strike on an unprotected human character is an instant
kill. Akrid's have some serious leaping abilities and several different
strikes -- almost all of which lead to lengthy animations that can't be
canceled if your target takes a step to the left. It's not easy to
strike humans, because they move quickly and can easily dodge attacks.
But all it takes is one lucky hit.

Humans will be tempted to hop into a VS for protection, but this can be
a disadvantage as you lose your mobility. Teamwork is key to taking
down Akrid -- and this is a lesson that is very difficult to learn.
When every man is for himself, it tends to be a slaughter. The Akrid
are very difficult to take down. So use one teammate as a decoy while
the other targets a high-powered weapon at its weakspot.


Monsters rule in Akrid Hunter.


Akrid
Hunter is a clever idea, but it does need some tweaking. Currently it's
a very unbalanced mode. In four matches, we never once saw the humans
come close to achieving victory. We also never saw an Akrid lose a
limb, which takes away some of the strategy employed in the
single-player game. If Capcom can get a bit more of an advantage for
human characters so that matches are at least competitive, then Akrid
Hunter could be a hit.

Online fracases can be played cross platform. Console gamers can
finally show their PC brethren who's boss. Capcom hasn't shown off this
functionality yet, so it's hard to say how well it might be implemented.

Though Lost Planet: Colonies isn't a sequel (oh, broken hearts) it's
still a fairly robust collection. For $30 it's worth raising an eyebrow
at -- whether you've played Lost Planet before or not.