For a game with a year already under its belt, Lost Planet still ranks up there as one of the best looking Xbox 360 games. The arctic environments are stellar, and the game has some truly awesome alien creature designs. The only stumbling block comes in the form of environmental repetition - you'll be trekking through a lot of snowfields, industrial complexes, and caverns. An added fault is these environments don't communicate the right direction very well - the game relies on data posts (which you activate) to point you in the right direction. From a sound standpoint, the game doesn't fare as well. The score has a very epic feel and sets a proper tone. It's too bad the game has a lot of melodramatic cutscenes voiced quite badly. Instead of having a B-movie, campy quality, they come off as anime-inspired throwaways, and most players will be racing to skip through them.

Completing the single-player campaign should take players about eight hours, which feels like just the right amount of time. The length isn't the problem - rather, it's the splintering of gameplay. The first half of the game is more on-foot combat, and has you blasting away Akrid, while the later half plays out like a Gundam anime with constant mech-versus-mech showdowns. To encourage you to go back to the single-player, the game ships with modes like Trial Battle (where you fight bosses), and Time Attack features a combo-based scoring system.

The real draw of Lost Planet is its bevy of multiplayer options. Clocking in at over 10 multiplayer modes, these should help players quickly forget about the less-than-stellar last half of the single-player campaign. Some notable new additions are Akrid Battle and Egg Bandit. The former puts one player in control of a giant Akrid, and it's up the rest of the players to take down the big nasty. The latter is similar to a skull mode - players vie for control of an alien egg, and whoever holds onto it the longest comes out on top.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition crams a lot of new content into the frame of a respectable game. The discounted price doesn't hurt either - 30 bucks gets you a more action-packed version of last year's entry. However, there's probably not enough compelling new content to convince previous players to throw more money at Capcom's wallet, but anyone who missed the title the first time around should give it a worthwhile look.

By Jason Lauritzen
CCC Freelance Writer