Formidable opposition
There are dozens of weapons to pick up lying around the caves, snowy plains and inside environments and the great thing about it is that you can also equip some of the heavy weaponry whilst you are on foot. This comes in extremely handy if your mechanical suit is about to explode. You'll get a warning message to eject and then you can pick up the gattling gun or rocket launcher from the vehicle and fire away.
Despite the numerous weapons on offer we still ran out of bullets on both our primary and secondary weapons on numerous occasions and often found ourselves in a moment of panic as we scanned the area frantically for some much needed ammo.
Throughout the game you'll need to assess the environment, not only for extra weapons that may be buried under the snow, but also to work out where you need to head to next. Data posts can be found in certain locations and once activated will enable you to access a map via the menu, but the small and sketchy map on offer doesn't really help at all in pointing you to the next location. After exterminating dozens of snow pirates on the way to the fortress we spent a good 10 minutes scratching our heads, wondering where we were supposed to go next. Wayne has a grappling hook which we hadn't used up until that point, so it made sense that we should try work our way up to the top of one of the buildings in this mission in order to gain a clear view across the landscape. From this point onwards the grappling hook is used to access otherwise unreachable areas, and after using it to latch onto ledges, we soon reached the building's roof where we were greeted with our first major introduction to the strength of the snow pirates.
Click for larger imageFor the most part, snow pirates make for formidable opposition as they fire rockets, machine guns, jump in mechs and do everything in their power to stop you progressing. Although the AI of these pirates isn't particularly clever, they tend to run out in front of you rather than duck behind objects, they are extremely tough when in groups and have an unlimited supply of ammo. When battling against enemies in VS Suits the AI is far more impressive as they dodge your bullets and have an uncanny knack of hitting you with extreme precision. Despite these frantic battles we didn't experience any slowdown - and believe us, it gets very hectic.
Click for larger imageOne of the most exciting features of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is the thermal energy countdown timer, which runs alongside the traditional health bar and counts down to your potential death. Thermal energy keeps you alive by providing you with a certain amount of heat, but as you travel from the snow covered ruins across the open wastelands or over the frozen mountains you'll constantly be keeping one eye on the timer and one eye on the action as you search for thermal spores to replenish the timer. Think if you will, for a moment, about a large, hairy spider that you may have spotted one day whilst sitting at home watching your favourite TV show. The spider is perched high on the wall and because you're afraid of spiders you'll have one eye constantly checking its position just in case it starts to climb down the wall and onto the carpet. At the same time you�ll still be watching the TV, but the spider's movements are never too far from your thoughts. As the spider slowly climbs down the wall you start to feel a growing sense of panic, until doomsday finally arrives when he drops on the floor and comes scuttling towards you. Well, the thermal energy timer creates the same paranoid intense feeling that a harmless spider sitting on your living room wall, slowly descending, will have on anyone who is slightly arachnophobic, only on this planet youï'll die when the countdown timer hits zero (we don't think you can die from a common household creepy-crawly).