- Timeless classic with addictive action gameplay
- Stunning visuals and challenging boss battles
- Innovative grappling hook and diverse weaponry
- Severe technical and launch issues
- Clunky, frustrating gameplay with weak story
- Dead multiplayer and online features
Emotions
Players expressed satisfaction primarily due to the game's solid technical performance, including good graphics, smooth gameplay, and successful operation on modern systems. The engaging story, satisfying combat, and overall fun single-player experience also contributed significantly to positive feelings, often highlighting the game's lasting appeal and value for its price.
Frustration stemmed overwhelmingly from persistent technical issues, particularly those related to Games for Windows Live (GFWL), which frequently prevented the game from launching or caused crashes. Players also reported frustration with clunky controls, poor optimization, and difficulty with certain game mechanics or boss fights, leading to a poor user experience.
Disappointment arose from the game's unplayability due to GFWL issues and the subsequent loss of online multiplayer functionality, which significantly impacted replay value. Players also felt let down by the game's aging graphics, clunky controls, and a perceived decline in quality or linearity in later sections, often failing to meet initial expectations.
Excitement was generated by the game's intense and unique combat, particularly the mech action and grappling hook mechanics, which provided a frenetic and challenging experience. The desire for a resurgence in player count for the fun and addictive multiplayer also contributed to this emotion, highlighting the game's overall quality and unique features.
Admiration was expressed for the game's overall quality, often labeling it an 'underrated gem' due to its creative gameplay, stunning visuals, and fantastic soundtrack. Players particularly praised the unique gameplay, balanced challenge, and the inclusion of mechs, considering it a classic and the best in its series.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 66% · Negative 34%. Score: 34 / 100
Positives:
- Many players praise the game for its timeless appeal, noting that it has aged exceptionally well and remains enjoyable even years after its release. It's often considered a classic and an underrated gem, especially within the Capcom library, offering a unique and memorable experience.
- The game offers a highly engaging and addictive experience, characterized by constant action, fast-paced gameplay, and challenging encounters. Both single-player and multiplayer modes provide significant replay value and keep players thoroughly entertained.
- The game is consistently praised for its stunning visuals, especially considering its release era, and its atmospheric sound design. The graphics, environmental details, and musical score effectively create a unique and immersive world.
- The game features a well-balanced difficulty curve and diverse, challenging boss battles that require strategic thinking. These boss encounters are a highlight, providing satisfying tests of skill throughout the campaign.
- The grappling hook mechanic is a highly praised feature, offering unique traversal and combat strategies. It adds a layer of verticality and dynamic engagement, making encounters with enemies more exciting.
Negatives:
- Many players report that the game is extremely difficult to launch and play on modern systems due to its age and reliance on defunct services like Games for Windows Live (GFWL). This leads to frequent crashes, unplayable states, and a need for extensive manual workarounds, making the game inaccessible for many. The removal of GFWL also broke online features and corrupted save files for some.
- The core gameplay mechanics, including controls, movement, shooting, and mech combat, are frequently described as clunky, inconsistent, and frustrating. Specific issues include poor camera angles, unbalanced difficulty spikes (especially the final boss), and uninspired enemy AI, which detract significantly from the overall experience.
- The game's narrative is widely criticized for being generic, clichéd, and uninteresting, with a confusing plot and uncaptivating characters. Cutscenes and story transitions often fail to provide clarity, further diminishing player engagement with the plot.
- The multiplayer component is effectively dead, largely due to the issues with Games for Windows Live and subsequent updates that removed online functionality. This renders key selling points of editions like 'Colonies Edition' moot, as their online-centric content is no longer accessible.
Gameplay:
- The game features a multiplayer mode with various options, including co-op and unique modes. While some players report it being inactive, others find it functional with cross-play and dynamic battles, especially with the grappling hook.
- A core highlight of the game is the diverse 'mech' (VS) system, featuring various types with unique abilities like transformation, jumping, or specialized weapons. These mechs are central to combat against giant enemies and other robots, giving the game a Monster Hunter-like feel.
- The game's difficulty and pace increase gradually, especially in later stages and on higher difficulties. It features challenging boss battles and requires players to master weapon and mech usage skills, with 11 missions each culminating in a boss fight.
- A unique survival mechanic requires players to constantly collect 'T-ENG' (thermal energy) from defeated enemies and objects. This energy is crucial for regenerating health and preventing freezing in the game's harsh, icy environment, emphasizing constant movement.
- The game is set on the icy, colonized planet E.D.N. III, where humanity faces the primary threat of extreme cold and hostile alien insect-like creatures called Akrid. An evil corporation, NEVEC, is also involved in the planet's colonization efforts.
Performance:
- Many players reported issues with Games for Windows Live (GFWL) preventing the game from launching or functioning correctly. However, several users found workarounds, such as installing the latest GFWL version or using specific DLL files, to resolve these problems. The general sentiment is that GFWL is an unnecessary and problematic DRM.
- Despite the age of the game and the GFWL issues, the game generally runs well on Windows 10. This indicates good compatibility with modern operating systems once initial hurdles are overcome.
- The game demonstrates good performance even on older graphics hardware, such as the GF9600GT. This suggests that the game is not graphically demanding and can be enjoyed on a wide range of systems.
Recommendations:
- Many players express frustration with the 'Colonies Edition' due to technical issues, particularly related to Games for Windows Live (GFWL), and recommend avoiding it or opting for the 'Extreme Condition' version instead. Some also feel it's not worth the trouble for its specific features.
- Despite technical issues, many players highly recommend the game for its core gameplay, interesting universe, and genre appeal. It's praised as a solid arcade shooter, especially for fans of mechs and third-person shooters.
- A significant number of reviews highlight critical issues with Games for Windows Live (GFWL) preventing the game from running properly. Players urge Steam and Capcom to resolve these compatibility problems or stop selling broken games.
- Some players express a desire for the game to be fixed and for more people to play it, encouraging others not to be deterred by negative reviews.
- Players offer specific advice for optimizing the gameplay experience, such as using a controller for better control or disabling aim assist when playing with a keyboard and mouse.
Miscellaneous:
- Many players report significant issues getting the game to run on modern Windows versions, primarily due to its reliance on the defunct Games for Windows Live (GFWL) DRM. Community-made patches and specific installation steps are often required to bypass GFWL and make the game playable. This is a critical barrier to entry for new players.
- Players compare the game to other titles like Bionic Commando, Starship Troopers, and Dead Space, highlighting its unique blend of sci-fi action, mechs, and challenging environments. There's also discussion about its place within the Lost Planet series and its distinct Japanese development style.
- The game is widely regarded as a classic and holds significant nostalgic value for many players who experienced it in their youth. Despite its age, its unique qualities make it stand out.
- Players express a desire for more people to play the game, especially for multiplayer, and suggest that developer support (like a remake or sequel) would be beneficial. The current high price on the gray market is a barrier to entry.
- The online multiplayer functionality has been removed or is severely broken due to poor updates, and while there are methods to downgrade the game to a previous version, they are often complex and undesirable for players.
