November 1, 2006 - Bionic Commando meets Panzer Dragoon on a snow covered planet. That's how I like to describe this game whenever anybody asks for a quick rundown. Certain persons making Lost Planet may not like it when we make reference to Bionic Commando to help describe their game. But this is a Capcom game and you do have a grappling hook, so some things are unavoidable. So where does the Panzer Dragoon reference come from? It's definitely not from the run and gun gameplay of Lost Planet. Rather it comes from the beautiful design of the alien Akrid. The gameplay in Lost Planet is action packed and furious, but it's the stunning "boss" Akrid design that causes the most heads to turn around in the IGN office. Capcom recently sent us a preview build of Lost Planet, enabling us to play the first four missions and get up close and personal with a few of the massive Akrid we'd only previously seen on trailers.

Lost Planet begins on Mission 00 which takes place during an Akrid attack and puts Wayne, the main character, alongside his father Gale. You begin in a crew of soldiers and fight some of the common Akrid while making your way outside. After activating the first outpost, the first massive Akrid makes an appearance. Known only as "Green Eye," this Akrid is so big that it takes down buildings as it lumbers down the street toward you. As the first playable sequence in the game, this ranks up there amongst the best for getting you excited about a game. Green Eye is so big that your small platoon rapidly makes a beeline down the street to get away from it. We tried to fight it, but quickly realized that was a losing proposition as it squished us like a bug. When faced with something this big in Lost Planet, running and searching for a VS (Vital Suit, a mechanized human-piloted weapon) is definitely a good idea. The chase sequence is reminiscent of Halo 2, especially as you make your way up a staircase and onto a bridge, although it manages to do a better job of creating tension. Once you find a VS, the fight begins. Not all goes well during the fight and Wayne ends up seeing his father crushed by Green Eye, thus setting up the motivation for Wayne's desire to wipe the Akrid off of the planet during the rest of the game.

The battle with Green Eye highlights a nice bit about Lost Planet that hasn't been discussed much. As you know by now if you've been following this game, you have a constantly depleting supply of thermal energy. The cold planet causes you to slowly freeze to death so you'll have to seek out thermal energy to replenish your meter while fighting off the Akrid. The thermal energy will also refill your health bar when you take damage, though it will take a chunk out of the energy meter as a penalty. The neat part is that, although your thermal energy is always going down, it doesn't always deplete at the same rate. Green Eye shoots ice out in front of him as an attack that causes your thermal energy to drain rapidly. Colder environments will also make your energy dwindle more quickly. Some may balk at the idea of having to collect energy all the time to stay alive, but in our time with the game thus far we've found that freezing to death rarely occurs. When it does, it's usually because you've taken so much damage that your thermal energy has been wasted keeping your health meter up. Plus, you can always find little tanks around that have stored thermal energy ripe for the taking. Additionally, locating outposts will restore huge amounts of thermal energy when activated.

The first two missions feature regions from the demo released during E3 of this year, though some changes have been made. The first mission doesn't waste much time starting. After a short bit of tutorial instruction, you're off. The fighting is furious. The Akrid are the only enemy you see as you fight your way through an icy valley and into a cave that is the source of thermal energy you're supposed to be investigating. Inside are swarms of the flying trilid Akrid. These guys are so thick in the sky that if you don't take out their sources, you'll quickly be overrun and pecked to death as they dive bomb you. There's a good amount to explore in the tunnel, but the ultimate goal is found by crossing an icy bridge. Inside the last room you find a couple of VS's and a nasty Akrid boss. This guy resembles a scorpion without a tail and has an attack similar to the Dongo Akrid that roll up into balls and then try to mow you down.

The second mission has you fighting another set of enemies, the Crimson Pirates. Yes, they're called the Crimson Pirates and they're actual space pirates. And yes, you attack their base. God loves great videogame names. Before you can get there though, you'll have to fight through tons of Akrid, of course. When you get to the Crimson Pirates, you find them fighting the Akrid themselves, though they'll quickly turn on you if they notice your presence. The AI on the pirates is fairly good considering how many enemies there are on screen at any given moment. They'll take cover, or run for new cover if you destroy theirs. We saw groups trying to flank us and others wielding rocket launchers hanging back where its safe as they fire rounds at you. Mission two is a long one, by far the longest of the four. When you've finally fought your way through seemingly endless numbers of pirates, the end comes in a battle against more pirates, some of which are manning VS's. The boss VS here is extremely mobile and packs a nasty rocket launcher. The other VS's and pirates on the ground do a good job of annoying you while this boss does the real damage.