Lost Planet 3 has mechs, but they aren’t war machines like in the original Lost Planet. Rigs are primarily construction vehicles, so they don’t even have guns. How are you going to defend yourself against giant Akrid like the Crab creature at the end of Lost Planet 3’s demo?
The answer is: with your drill arm. Jim jumps into his Rig and you fight the Crab Akrid up close and personal. Since you don’t have any weapons you have to block and counterattack by grabbing the Crab’s arm as it reaches forward. Then you can aim the drill arm and strike back. Keep drilling and you can cut the Crab Akrid’s arm off forcing the creature to attack with its other arm. Jim can retaliate with the same technique and finally drill through the Crab Akrid’s hard shell to finish it off.
Lost Planet 3 reminded me of Punchout where you have to block and wait for an opening before landing an uppercut. While the battle felt scripted, Capcom assured me that was just for the demo. Players will be able to defeat the Crab Akrid other ways like jumping out of the rig and shooting the Crab Akrid’s orange-glowing weak points.
On foot, most of the time Jim uses guns to attack, but if an Akrid grabs Jim he has to use his knife. Spark Unlimited created a tense mini-game where players have to struggle to push an attached Akrid off. First you have to mash a button, then you have to move a shaky reticule with one of the analog sticks to aim Jim’s knife thrust. If you miss, the Akrid strengthens its grip. Stab it and the Akrid takes damage, but you have to go through the sequence once (maybe twice more) and Spark Unlimited moves the cursor so you can’t button mash your way out of danger. The way the music crescendos during these scenes kind of give Lost Planet 3 a horror movie lite feel.
Lost Planet 3 is in development for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Published: Aug 3, 2012 05:57 pm