This past weekend I and a few other Xbox MVPs got a chance to sit down with Capcom and their upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition.  It was one heck of an event that took place in Redmond at the Microsoft campus.  We got a chance to play the game and a few of us even had the opportunity to do an interview with the team.  Be sure to listen in on that after you read the hands on report.

Listen to the Capcom Lost Planet Exclusive Interview

Brief story on the game:

Human snow pirates navigate Vital Suits (VS) through hostile ice-covered environments in Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, fighting against the indigenous Akrid creatures for the precious thermal energy they need to survive. For one such pilot named Wayne, death almost seemed imminent until he was fortunately rescued.

Event recap:

I wanted to pass the word around to you guys to head out and pre-order this game RIGHT NOW.  We had a chance to play a lot of multiplayer and tons of single player as well.  The game has received an incredible upgrade since many of you last saw it (E3 demo)  There aren’t many games on the market that actually manage to make you ‘feel’ like you’re a part of the game but this one does.  As I was playing through additional levels of the single campaign, I actually felt like I was on some freezing planet…visually it was that good.  The particle effects, environment etc…amazing!  You all remember the explosions being so well done in the demo I’m sure…well multiply those by 100.  They’re even better now.  The grappling device has also changed.  You can now extend it longer and they’ve added the ability to lower/raise yourself from the ledges that you attach to.  You can shoot or throw grenades while you’re extended from a ledge.  The grappling device also allows for some pretty nifty combat when attached to the Akrid.  Depending on where you shoot it, you’ll pull yourself to the creature and perform a cool move.

Capcom gave us four acts to play through during the event (single player) and 2 multiplayer maps…one of which you all will be downloading November 23 in the Xbox Live Marketplace when the demo hits and the other an exclusive map for those of you who pre-order the Collector’s Edition.  Each act took quite a while to finish, so I expect a pretty decent campaign in terms of length.  The level design was much bigger than that of the E3 demo.  The VS (Vital Suits) were much better in control, Wayne (central character) was much better in control….in fact we were all excited to hear that Capcom had implemented a new ‘melee attack’ now.  Those of you who cried out for melee after the E3 demo…it is now in the game.  The one thing that just blew my mind off were the battles that you’ll be in with this game.  They are huge!  I can’t give any details or specifics about some of what you’ll face, but just be prepared to run for your life often!  Those who were there saw me literally ducking from the screen.

One thing that I loved was that when you encrounter the Akrid, you can’t simply run from them.  You can easily find yourself surrounded by Akrid if you’re not careful because they’ll come after you.  Lots of Akrid + Snow Pirates equal death usually.

After some single player action, we headed into a conference room with 10 flat panel monitors…8 for multiplayer and 2 for single.  The map that will be available on the Marketplace was up first.  We had some frantic action with that map!  There were a host of new  grenades in the game as well as new weapons.  The Vital Suits (VS) were in multiplayer as well.  We got some single player deathmatch first before moving to some team deathmatch (4 vs 4).  The other map (exclusive for pre-orders) was incredible.  I can’t go into detail about it but it was perfect.  It was a mixture of underground passageways and high terrain buildings that players will have multiple strategies to dominate.  The action was so intense that Tony Hynes, from Gamerscoreblog, started dishing out awards for the best trash talker.  I scored a win during one round of trash talking!  (but I wasn’t the ultimate winner of that event lol)  One other Xbox MVP scored the new Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel for a bit of “extreme” trash talking. (you had to be there to hear how funny it was)

One thing to note about the game.  Multiplayer is 16 players…so that means 8 vs 8 on Xbox Live.  I wanted to point that out just in case you all were looking too closely into the 4 vs 4 they had set up at the event.  When the game releases, it will be 16 players.  Speaking of release, you’ll be playing Lost Planet: Extreme Condition on January 12, 2007! 

Get ready.  That’s all I can say.  This game is yet another solid Xbox 360 exclusive.  Capcom delivers for Xbox 360 owners again.  Many thanks to the Capcom team for inviting us out!  And thanks to Microsoft for providing the venue.