Great environment, gameplay, and just a lot of fun.
Lost Planet takes place on another planet called EDN 3. The planet is a frozen wasteland inhabited by insect-like creatures called Akrid. As the story begins, you find out that the humans have been trying to populate the planet for quite some time, but have been losing badly in their fight against the Akrid. Most of the humans flee the planet forcing those who remain to very much fend for themselves. These remaining colonists become what the game calls "Snow Pirates." Some time passes and the humans invent weapons that are capable of fighting the Akrid and so the re-colonization starts. This new weapon is the "Vital Suit" (more or less a mech). All of this information is covered in the first cutscene of the game. From there, you are introduced to your character, Wayne, and are dropped right in the thick of a battle between humans and giant Akrid. Long story short, you barely get out with your life and are found frozen in your Vital Suit (VS) by snow pirates. They nurse you back to health so that you may begin avenging your lost family and friends from the previous battle. Much of the plot happenings are covered in long cutscenes, that in my opinion are beautifully rendered. They explain a lot, the characters show a lot of emotion, and the voice acting isn't bad. The basic summary of the plot here, without giving too much away, is that as you fight for revenge, you find out that an evil company called NEVEC is trying to eradicate the planet of ALL life, human and Akrid, so they can begin terraforming the planet into a tropical paradise. You have a mysterious past with NEVEC that you slowly uncover, which ends up explaining why you have . . . certain special abilities and technologies attached to your body.
The gameplay of Lost Planet is simple and a lot of fun. The game is meant to played from the third person perspective, but can be played from a modified FPS (you don't see your gun). The game really should be played from the third person perspective because then you can see all of Wayne's great animations of running, rolling, jumping, stumbling, etc. While playing as Wayne on foot, you are quite agile and able to take care of a number of enemies (which is good, because they come from everywhere). Quite often during the game you are given the opportunity to get into various VS's found throughout the world. There are several different VS's and each has it's advantages. While you are no longer as difficult of a target to hit while in a VS, you can dish out a heck of a lot more damage. The VS are armed to the teeth with different weaponry, and you are able to jump and sometimes fly. Wayne's health in the game is two-fold. You have a standard health bar, and you have something called thermal energy. The thermal energy is constantly diminishing and must be replaced by blowing up thermal tanks, killing Akrid, or humans who are using thermal energy (all of them). If you get shot, hit, etc. your health goes down, but the thermal energy you carry very quickly raises your health back up to full, but your thermal energy is used much more quickly. It's an interesting balance of health and "shields," and the fact that the thermal energy is always going down gives the game a bit more a frantic feel.
The weapons in the game are well done because they take a note from what Halo started. You can only carry two weapons at a time, and there are only about six or seven different weapons that Wayne can choose from. This is a good way to handle weaponry because you are given the freedom to choose which weapons are most effective in a certain situation, but you are also limited by the number of weapons available and in how many you can carry. The VS's work on the same model. Anything from a gattling gun to a rocket launcher can be put on a VS, but you can only have two weapons at time.
Lost Planet's graphics and sound are top notch as well. While you may not noticed the graphics all that much, they are good. You won't notice them that much because there is not a lot of variation in the color pallet. Everything is white, because it's an ice planet, but all of the characters look good close up and the Akrid are sufficiently detailed as well. There are no framerate issues that I came across either. I would say Lost Planet has some of the best looking explosions too. Whether you are shooting explosive barrels or an enemy VS, the explosion is always big, powerful looking, and loud. Speaking of sound, Lost Planet is a great sounding game. You definitely want to play this game with a subwoofer because the power of explosions and walking VS's is carried well through the sound in the game.
Gamespot gave Lost Planet an 8.1, which is a good score, but not high enough. With as much as the game gives you and the variety of ways it does this, the game is a must play. It's fast paced, it's varied, it's unique in premise and environment, and the plot is decent. Definitely give Lost Planet a try.