Lost Planet: Extreme Condition delivers another strong visual offering on the 360. If you are one of the many 360 owners who downloaded the demo, you already know that the game looks great. However, between then and now Capcom has managed to up the ante and make it look even better.

Both the design of the Akrids and VS (Vital Suits) are great, as are the characters, who have a rag-tag, yet futuristic look to them. The snow-covered ruins that make up many of the game’s levels have a desolate, run-down feel. It is easy to get the sense that these were once functioning cities that fell prey to the ravages of time and war.

Polygons, textures and lighting aren’t what make Lost Planet look great. Yeah, it does all of those things incredibly well, but cinematic feel and sense of scale are what really make it shine. As you run through areas, it always feels like you are in a high-budget action film. Explosions are some of the best I’ve seen on the 360.

Music is, for the most part, not present unless something big is going on. Most of the time it is just you, a few Akrid cries and the snow under your boots. The absence of sound helps to set the feeling that you’re alone while the musical cues add a little more excitement to fights.

Story sequences are fully voiced, and for the most part the actors do a pretty good job. Some lines are over-delivered while others just don’t work, but when you stop to consider how much story doesn’t matter, it isn’t enough to get worked up over. One vocal element I loved was the VS’s on-board A.I., which would sound off when the VS was about to explode. It is not something you want to hear coming from your suit, but it is music to your ears when coming from an enemy VS.

Lost Planet is not a very innovative game. For the most part, the game is a straightforward shooter that doesn’t do too many things different from any other entry in the genre. What helps to set the game apart is the Thermal Energy Gauge. As you kill enemies, they’ll drop orbs of glowing thermal energy which are collected and stored. Thermal energy is used in a variety of ways; it supplies power to Vital Suits, powers some energy weapons and keeps you alive. The last one is, of course, the most important of its uses.

The Thermal Energy Gauge is tied into your life bar. Whenever you take hits, some of your energy is dumped into your life bar. Thermal energy is always trickling off, so there’s never a balance issue resulting in infinite life. Instead, you are forced to keep moving and fighting through levels rather than getting into standstill gunfights. You also need to keep your thermal levels up; otherwise you’ll freeze.

Weapon and VS (Vital Suit) variety also helps to keep action always moving forward. Weapons range from machine guns to missile launchers and are always in supply. Kill someone and you can snag their weapon. The trick is that you are only allowed to carry two weapons at a time, so there is a bit of strategy involved. It is possible to run around only using the machine gun, though you might find an energy rifle that can kill in one shot at the cost of some thermal energy.

Vital Suits add another dimension of play. Like weapons, there are a number of types available, from suits with chainsaws attached to their arms to suits that transform into tanks and snowmobiles. VS weapons are interchangeable, adding the same amount of strategy used while on foot. VS weapons can even be used while not piloting a VS, trading foot speed for firepower.

Whether on foot or in a VS, Lost Planet offers a lot of flexibility when dealing with enemies. You can simply shoot them, or use objects like exploding barrels, rocks and steel beams as weapons. Unfortunately, this same amount of flexibility isn’t offered during boss fights, which follow the standard, "Hit ‘em with everything you’ve got" formula.

Story isn’t Lost Planet’s strong suit. You play as Wayne, an amnesic solider who falls in with a group of pirates after a huge bug known only as "Green Eyes" kills his father. As expected, Wayne takes his father's death personally and decides to take on the whole hive in order to get revenge. He also has a few run-ins with snow pirates as well as a mysterious corporation known as Nevec, which has plans for the planet. Storytelling is very scattershot and tends to jump around with little explanation. But, it does its job at moving you between levels, so it is something.

Mutliplayer elements round out Lost Planet. Among the offered modes are Fugitive, where one player is marked as the prey while everyone else hunts them down, and Post Grab, where teams fight for control of posts scattered across the map. Team and solo Elimination modes are also around, though with an added twist. Capturing posts in Elimination matches activates your radar, allowing you to see where opponents are. This can really come in handy, especially in larger maps or those while lots of smoke and haze. Both ranked and unranked matches are available, though ranked ones tend to be more fun – especially with the scoring system that allows you to level your character and unlock new skins.

Three difficulty levels are available from the start – Easy, Normal and Hard – with a fourth, Extreme, unlockable after completing the game. Regardless of difficulty, levels aren’t that hard to complete. You may die a few more times on harder difficulty levels, but for the most part levels, like the story, seem to be vehicles to get you from one boss battle to the other.

Boss battles are some of Lost Planet’s most exhilarating, and frustrating, moments. With the exception of a few fights where you take on VS suits, bosses are giant and require a lot of firepower to take down. On top of that, most can only be damaged in certain spots, and require nothing short of luck and an ungodly number of replays to beat. Most of the problem lies with the number of "cheap" attacks some bosses possess, like a ice spray that covers the entire area and will damage you regardless of what you do to try and evade it. Others are made difficult simply because of their massive size, which doesn't agree with the camera.

Despite these tribulations, Lost Planet still manages to capture the something special that keeps you coming back for more punishment, even if just to hurl unheard insults and curses at the developers.

Lost Planet sticks to the same mechanics as any third-person shooter. The camera is locked behind your character at all times, though you can pull it in for an over-the-shoulder view. Moving the right stick moves the camera as well as your targeting reticule. The targeting reticule is contained in a small, invisible bounding box. Once it hits the edges of this box, it turns the camera. The system feels odd at first, but after a while you’ll come to appreciate the added freedom it allows. It is great to be able to quickly switch between targets without inadvertently moving the camera.

Another of Lost Planet’s unique mechanics is the grappling hook, which gives the game a sort of Bionic Commando vibe. Your grappling cord can latch on to nearly anything, at which point you can pull yourself up to a higher ledge or quickly move across a gap. The hook also acts as a safety net for when you might accidentally get too close to the edge of a ledge. If you fall off, the cord immediately launches to catch you. Some areas even have you lowering yourself down a hole with the cord as you take out enemies.

Even after playing Lost Planet, it is still a mystery as to what makes the game so compelling. Although it does add a few interesting mechanics, these aren’t necessarily elements that make a game – they simply add a new wrinkle. Still, Lost Planet is a challenging, fast-paced shooter that is worth your time.