Solo-players beware! Its nothing like predecessor!

User Rating: 3.5 | Lost Planet 2 PC
If you plan to play this game co-op or online with friends, please skip this review! It only describe solo campaign gameplay and its all based on it including final score. Your MP experience may be completely different.

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I cannot believe it got this much. Have played and quite liked original LP which already had many design flaws so I don't think am not tolerable enough. If you plan to play with friends then it may be fine but if you're alone and expect same quality from SP as before, just forget it.

First, even as solo you will play with several friendly AI companions. They are as dumb as it get. Honestly very first(and now so old) Call of Duty had "perfect" friendly AI when you compare to this. Most of the time they either do nothing or just try some cheap ineffective scripted "fighting" to fool you they do something. But wait till you get to the parts in game where you actually need them...

Second, forget about good SP adventure-like experience. Game is simply DESIGNED for MP, each mission is just a briefing > run through level to the end > wait few seconds for count-down to 0 to exit level(no kidding) - aka total MP experience. Sure, there are nice animations and cutscenes occasionally but its gameplay that gives you absolute detach from nice, solo adventure because of these MP elements.

Third, story is really BS - cool animations or not. Besides, jungle replaced ice(for most parts) and I think game lost its magic because that. We already have better action games with jungles: FarCry or Crysis to name few. I love games with snowy areas and it made LP unique.

Fourth, because game is designed around MP you will for example play levels where you need to activate several "objects" at different places + protect them at once while enduring multiple ever-so-respawning bots... I mean "enemies". You read correct, this is SP campaign. And forget any help from your friendly AI's right away.

Fifth, game is designed around chapters and missions. Mission can be as short as 5-min or as long as 20+min. Each chapter have several these missions. Game won't save between missions at all meaning if you got killed(and have no more energy for respawn on checkpoint) somewhere near the end of chapter(after several missions already completed) say, during boss fight: repeat all.
Running and gunning become very unsatisfying quickly because human enemies take +- magazine before they die and Akrid's use 99% of time same pattern over and over(shoot at red spots on their body's) so it doesn't even matter how big or small they are, its usually all the same.

Next, during levels every now and then you pass around "beacon" that function as health replenisher and most important: checkpoint. It doesn't activate just by passing around, you have to button-mash for SEVERAL seconds! Don't we love it? Of course if you get hit you lose focus and have to repeat.

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So in the end, LP2 is not really SP adventure as we know it, its just badly designed bland MP shooter with SP possibility. But forget such exquisite SP experience in MP oriented game as in say, Battlefield series or Borderlands. There is no satisfaction to shoot enemies especially humans which are nothing more than constantly respawning bots.
Graphics? Good but level design is often too linear and sometimes really narrow corridor-like.
First LP was better. It may had few flaws I noted here too but it also had rather good, new and fresh story, was interesting adventure on alien ice-world on its own and most important: TRUE single-player campaign. But this it nothing but a weak MP>SP-converted experience of cheap gameplay and bot's spamfest with as strong detach from real adventure as it get. It does have cool big bosses taking over 3/4 of screen, or even cool adrenaline pumping cutscenes. Production values are not low. However, in the end it all comes to one: gameplay. Don't say I didn't warn you.