Lost Planet 3

Part three of the Lost Planet series is good, but a bit disappointing as well. The story's interesting and the characters surprisingly engaging, as they wander around an atmospheric world that's definitely worth exploring. The action, however, is quite repetitive and the pacing's more than a little awkward. Audiovisually, the game is mediocre at best. Lost Planet 3 could (and should) have been a lot better.

We believed in Lost Planet 3. Capcom wanted to come back to the origins of the series, focusing on solo mode and had some good arguments to get us absorbed again by the planet EDN-III's atmosphere. Everything is here: a nice character, efficient gameplay, and interesting content. But nothing really makes Lost Planet 3 a really big game. Graphics aren't that impressive, really commonplace and the game lacks of rhythm and epic moments. Nowhere near the first episode.

Solid like a block of ice, and just as unremarkable, Lost Planet 3 is an enjoyable adventure that cobbles together ideas from elsewhere, but doesn’t dig its way beyond the basics.

Technical errors and slow inputs drag the game's best moments down with them. The slow controls really become a problem when you are fighting more nimble enemies in a small, confined space. Sci-fi fans will get a kick out of Lost Planet. Everybody else will pick it up from the bargain bin. [September p.60]

Lost Planet 3 is unfortunately a game that does not try to push the genre. It's a sturdy third person shooter with a touch of first person that comes across a little too familiar and dated.

The truly bewildering conundrum of Lost Planet 3 is that it could have easily been so much more. Aside from the borrowed gameplay mechanics, the story is solid and well acted, Visuals are above average, sound is mostly well done, and the switch between first-person mech and third-person keeps gameplay fairly fresh.

If not for level design that’s full of frustrating inconsistencies, it might even have been good enough to fully recommend.

After the last installment of the saga, Lost Planet 3 makes up in terms of story line, with a very well constructed plot that will redeem it in the eyes of the fans. Nonetheless, the interactive aspects of the game are still lacking, preventing this game from reaching higher quality levels.

Lost Planet 3's mere existence? It's a mystery. [Issue#140, p.102]

Spark Unlimited tried something different with Lost Planet 3, but failed to create an immersing world where the player truly cares about the story, and on top of that, the game suffers from many technical issues.

The game can be highly frustrating, annoying and borderline upsetting, but the brilliantly told story and intense atmosphere keep you going. Jim Peyton is one of the best defined protagonists in a video game, and his story deserves to be experienced.

Brilliant ideas, but the game feels old. Worth a weekend rental but that’s it. [October 2013, p76]

It often feels as though Capcom wanted to emulate other, more successful third person shooters, namely Dead Space. It may have succeeded in that pursuit, though the genre continues to expand and surprise, the goalposts constantly moving.

It starts very promising but after only a few hours you’ll get monotonous action with framerate issues and sometimes poor visuals. From time to time you can feel the games’ strengths, but they are soon overwhelmed by run-of-the mill design.

Functional and at times enjoyable, but in a derivative way that rarely stands out.

I purposely put off buying upgrades sometimes simply because I couldn’t stand dealing with the smorgasbord of load screens, elevators, and slow-opening gates just to get things done.

With a few eyes on Alien, The Thing or EA's Dead Space, Capcom make use one more time of an external western developer to carry a project. Spark Unlimited brings us back to where we shouldn't have left, to the frozen landscapes of that lost planet in a prequel where mechas are not carrying guns. Simple, straightforward entertainment, drive a gunless mecha and explore lost space ships in this TPS with touches of survival horror is fun, but there's nothing in this game we have seen a few times before on bigger titles of the genre.

Lost Planet 3 has lost the appeal of the original chapter and fails to compete with other TPSs such as Gears of War and Dead Space. The Campaign is boring and it lacks interesting elements.

There's an engaging narrative here focused on an everyman just trying to do the best job he can, but everything surrounding it is just so disappointing, from the truly awful Akrid to the limp guns and the unbalanced and irritating multiplayer. [Issue#236, p.78]

As a prequel, Lost Planet 3 fulfills the purpose in narrative terms, but it is an experience so predictable and unattractive in terms of design.

Full of potential and desperate to push away from its own mediocrity, Lost Planet 3 could have burst onto home consoles in a fountain of glowing orange. As it stands and regardless of what might have been, there’s not enough reason for a jaunt in the frozen wastes.