From Lost Planet: Extreme Condition There was no big game. Too far-fetched and artificial in order to stay in memory for a long time after passing, and too “Japanese” (the prototype of the protagonist was a famous Asian actor, and on secondary roles the pink-haired girls of anime-tunnel appeared) to become a full-fledged competitor GEARS of WAR , How they dreamed of this in Capcom. About $ 40 million were spent on the production of the game, the film is still in the plans, and by the standards of the first wave games for the Xbox 360 Lost Planet, it looked very good, which, however, did not prevent it from passing almost unnoticed by PC.
At first glance, Lost Planet 2 It does not differ at all from the first part of the first part – the same picture, the same cold (and in some places – the already completely thawed planet E.D.N. III), the same gigantic insects-acrides as enemies and proprietary walking bellows as the main means of transportation. Fortunately, this time Capcom prudently began to attack from another front. The number "2", as in the case of the developers made by the same team Resident Evil 5 , Here, it is justified not by new graphics and ideas, but by the opportunity to re -trim the same shoulder to the shoulder with a partner. Banal, but when three partners (instead of one in the Resident Evil 5), each of them sits inside a clanging fur equipped with two machine guns, and an unhurried zombie-explosion without jumps is replaced by mobile contractions with barely lining with acrides, this option for continuing the series looks very curious.
Hot snow
In general, the word "mobile" is ideal for describing the game process Lost Planet 2. Nowadays, when to count good action, unlike GEARS of WAR, you can on the fingers of one hand, the Lost Planet mechanics looks quite fresh and original. As in ancient, the production of the same Capcom, Arkade Bionic Commando (last year’s three -dimensional remake is better not to remember), the hero is armed with a climbing hook attached to his hand, Exclusive Casino allowing to move to a branch of any tree and fire already from there.
Enemies constantly change positions, there are no reinforced concrete shelters, so getting to a distant balcony and kill everyone from there very rarely. The main rule is to never stand still. Tikhokads here are usually killed from a sniper rifle, crushed by a large crowd or simply slapped by a chitin limb, shape and size similar to a car cracker.
But even better – to find a mechanized exoskeleton, which are found at almost any level, and, depicting a drunken bulldozer, to start trampling small enemies in the snow, and large ones – to shoot two multi -vital machine guns located on the sides. Some levels without walking machines can not be passed at all, but their use is still strictly limited-if they give us fur, then there is a long walk or battle with the boss, after which the exoskeleton will be taken again for some time.
And it’s a pity – after all, battles in armored boom have always been and remain the best part of both games. It feels like this, of course, not Mechwarrior (the scale is not the same), but close. Developers do a great job as a specific task as simulating a mechanism that does not exist in reality. Когда экзоскелет с характерным присвистом заводит двигатели, выпускает откуда-то клубы дыма и, скрипя металлическими суставами, встает на ноги, ему веришь. The feeling that you are managing a heavy, clumsy mowing, who does everything with a little delay, more than compensates for all the "foot" problems of the game.
Unfortunately, they are-the climbing hook for some reason does not work in a jump, as in Just Cause 2 , because of which you often have to aim for a long time at the right point, standing under fire. In addition, if you were pushed from some tower, you will not manage to catch in flight for the next one-the hero flies to the ground directly towards death.
Fortunately, you will not have to start the level again in this case – even if you go alone, Lost Planet 2 behaves exactly the same as when playing with living people. While three bots-partners shoot enemies without us, we can safely choose a point for respawn and return to the battle without loss of progress-this helps a lot against evil bosses with a long strip of health. True, the number of respowns is limited, so health needs to be kept normal-it still takes bright orange clots of thermal energy, which can be obtained from enemies, special generators or some landscape objects, simply destroying them.
Armor without ghosts
Fur – anime subspecies dedicated to combat robots. Lost Planet belongs to the so -called realistic fur, where the furs themselves, no matter how kindly the hosts treat them, not supernatural creatures, but just armored vehicles. That is why "Volron" or, say, "transformers" in today's conversation are inappropriate. We are talking about piloted robots.
Gandam (Mobile Suit Gundam, 1979)
The emergence of fashion on giant robots is associated with the post -war economic and technical upsurge in Japan, which provoked mania for all ultratechnological. Nominally “Gandam” not the first fur, but definitely the most significant and popular. Its name quickly became a household. “Gandam” is the brightest example of realistic fur: despite the motley design and ridiculous shields, robots are endowed with a mass of technical parameters that are taken into account in battles; exoskeletons overheat and fail.
Robotek (Robotek, 1985)
The series "Macross Hyperproductive Fortress" Channel 2×2 showed in American adaptation, known to us all as "Robote". Humanity fought with an alien race with the help of peculiar manned transformers who could fight both in the form of a humanoid robot and in the form of a fighter aircraft. Unlike “Transformers”, “Robotte” is designed for a more adult audience: the heroes there fell in love with each other, suffered and even died. In Russia, appropriate toys were very popular, in which their legs were sure to fall off when trying to put them into a plane state.
Eve ("Evangelion", 1995)
Robots here are precisely that gigantic and humanoid. Gigantic-because the heel can accidentally crush the tank, but human-like ones, not only because of the anthropomorphic form, but also on the principle of action. For the monster to move, it must be synchronized with the consciousness of the pilot. The subtlety is that there are no plugs and other USB ports in the back of the heroes. Moreover, sometimes they do not even need to get into the cabin to control the Eve. A peculiar telepathic connection is established between the pilots and robots. In addition to rapture by the forms and power of the furs, another Japanese fetish is played out in the Evangelion: only adolescents can manage Evas.
Tachikoma ("Ghost in armor: Solo Syndrome", 2002)
Find out the tachikom that she was included in the list of soulless robots, she would have a scandal. Apu-like light tanks of the 9th department are endowed with consciousness (in the detachment there are about a dozen). During the day they do their own business, and at night they “sleep” and synchronize personal experience, collecting it in a common consciousness. The owner “rewrked” one tachy with scarce organic oil, after which individuality woke up in it (curiosity and an indefatigable desire to play with little girls appeared). For example, the creators of the series work as an example of the series typical of the “ghost in the armor” of the topic of uniqueness and the same. But when the tachicoma is on the assignment, and the pilot sits in her “abdomen”, there is no time to think about high and it acts like an ordinary exoskeleton.
The most important boss
The most thermal energy is given, of course, for the bosses, which are traditionally represented here either by people chained in exoskeletons, or (which is much more interesting) ugly enormous acrides. When you first see the size and vitality of these crawling, waterfowl, underground or flying creatures, it becomes clear why there is a cooperative for four.
All vulnerable places on the body of the bosses are illuminated by orange, so you need to kill them in stages, shooting your legs, tentacles, eyes and everything else. It is very important that people played well -played with each other who can accelerate reprisals with joint action. Fortunately, the game has a split-scrin, so to distract the attention of the boss, sitting in a strong exoskeleton, while another player will push out his eyes, will succeed without a heart-rending cries into a microphone.
At the same time, the Lost Planet 2 formula is not exhausted by the words "The same plus cooperative". Since the first part, not only the size of the monsters has changed, the very place of the game has changed. In our preview-version, consisting of a single mission, the usual (and boring order) snow 10 minutes after the beginning was replaced by thick green jungle, as if sketched from Crysis. Since the action of the game takes place 10 years after the events of the first part, the planet managed to thaw well and turn into a branch of the island of Tortuga, flooded with all kinds of pirate groups, from time to time fighting among themselves and almost always – against hostile acrides, which only from global warming only walked over excess growth and mass.
Despite the fact that one mission is difficult to judge the plot, the change of accents is striking right away. Instead of amnesia and long conversations from the first part, the sequel almost immediately demonstrates the flight scene from the film “Apocalypse Today” (disinfecting hostile jungle with napalm is also present), and a little later it offers a sparzenegger to pump out thick green with a manual minigan.
Whom I see!
At the beginning of the year, Capcom announced that Marcus Phoenix and Dominic Santiago-two central characters of another iconic Microsoft Exchen, GEARS of War will be available in Lost Planet 2. Unfortunately, RS-Gigrokov, like PS3 owners, the brave fighters of the Delta detachment will bypass, acting as bonus “skins” only at the Xbox 360.
* * *
And this is very pleasing-still remaining a slightly awkward, but quite viable cross between Bionic Commando and Mechwarrior, the sequel is gradually groping for its rut. The first step was the departure from eternal snow and typically Japanese characters (you must agree, a strange combination), and the second – the displacement of accents from long and not carrying special meaning of the plot rollers in favor of the cooperative action for four. Game for all times from Lost Planet 2 is hardly possible to repeat the success of the Resident Evil 5 She is quite affordable.
We will wait? Lost Planet 2 finally turns face to Western player, sacrificing the plot for the sake of the cooperative. Well, bosses of this size alone and really not to overcome.
Percentage of readiness: 90%