This game is very atmospheric, but the gameplay doesn't match up with it's graphics unfortunately.
But there comes it's release, and bad news; this game will end before you know it. And that's if you put it on easy diffuculty, in which the single player campaign will only last for around 6 hours. But you always have the option to make Lost Planet a much more complicated game than you ever imagined. Take for example Extreme mode (diffuculty), you'll notice that your thermal energy gets depleted at about 4-5 times the rate as it does on easy or normal. Not only that, but the bosses can really make you cry if you set the game on extreme diffuculty.
The whole levels in the single player campaign themselves aren't that hard to get past, but the bosses can be a real pain in the ass if you don't know what you're doing. Bosses are one of the main strengths of Lost Planet, in which they're filled with challenge and diffuculty. Here's a tip to bring down most of the bosses: most of them will have yellow-orange parts on their bodies and that's their weak point. If you're to constantly open fire to their weak spots, they'll die much quicker. Most of the bosses tend to be Akrid, but when you reach toward the end of the game, you'll notice that bosses start becoming humans (or NEVEC soldiers).
The 3 types of enemies of this game are the Akrid, Crimson Snow Pirates, and NEVEC soldiers. The Akrid are bug and alien mixed creatures that you'll encounter throughout the game for most of the time. Meanwhile, you'll encounter Crimson Snow Pirates in a couple levels of the game, in which they're rival snow pirates that are against your side. Finally, NEVEC soldiers are soldiers that work for NEVEC, a company that plans to super-heat the planet, destroying all life along with it.
You're probably thinking that I'm talking about the single-player part of the game, aren't you? Well, guess what? I'll discuss the multiplayer part of the game now. The online can be very addicting, and it has a level system that goes up as you gain points from online matches over time. In online matches, the system goes like this: As you get more kills, you gain points. But if you get killed, you lost points. The points are setup from a battle gauge, in which the battle gauge is like your life meter in other words. You obviously don't want it to run down to 0, because if that happens, the whole match ends. Being somewhat of an advantage but yet a disadvantage at the same time, you don't have the option to quit an online match one your in it, and the only way you can "quit" is if you turn off your console or get disconnected. They're a variety of maps to play on (and they're very fun and complex to play on), and this includes Pirate Fortress, Lost Coast, Training Facility, Dilapidation, Crimson River, etc. Each time you win a match (meaning that you get the most points out of everyone in the match), you earn a medal, which gets added to your collection. If you place 2nd or below in a match, you'll get a notification saying that "You Lost" in the match, which means you don't receive a medal, but at least you still earn points that get added toward your online level. And one last thing to say about the online: another cool feature that's included is that one you reach a certain level, you'll earn a new design or character model for you to use in online battle, and this is one example (I just earned this one recently): reach level 45 to receive the NEVEC soldier character model.
If you were to make a smart choice, if you only want to play this game for the sake of the campaign, rent it first, but if you're after the online part, buy it. After all, this game is atmospheric, but the gameplay falls short of it's potential unfortunately.