Capcom Digital Day 08: Hands-on with Lost Planet: Colonies

Capcom had set up the new Akrid Hunter multiplayer mode for everyone to try out. In Akrid Hunter, a couple of the players will play as the Akrid bugs while the rest of the players are the humans. The game plays like a regular deathmatch mode except it takes forever to take down an Akrid. Things are made a lot harder by the fact that the Akrids can take the human characters out in one swipe of their claws. Once an Akrid is taken out though, you will be rewarded with a ton of points. Whichever side has the most points by the end of the match wins.

I played a couple of rounds of this new multiplayer mode and found it extremely fun. It's a bitch to take down an Akrid so you really need to coordinate with everyone on your team here. I thought it would be a good idea to play a one-on-one vs. match in this game type later on against Azereki but soon regretted that decision. I ended up as the human character while I fought against Azereki who was the Akrid. The trick for this gametype is to have someone distract the Akrid while the rest of the team hits its weak points. Doing this mode one-on-one isn't possible to win as a human. 

We only played one of the new multiplayer modes but there are several more debuting in Colonies. Other new multiplayer modes include:

• VS Annihilator: Players destroy each other's VS units while defending their own VS.
• CounterGrab: Teams with the longest data post activation time wins.
• Point Snatcher: Collect as much thermal energy from your opponents before the end of the match.
• Akrid Egg Battle: Steal Akrid eggs from the enemy team and safely bring it back to your base (like CTF).
• Egg Bandit: Like Akrid Egg Battle except you get points by holding onto the egg as long as possible.

With the new online multiplayer modes come four new multiplayer maps. The four new maps are Crossfire City (set in a city), Area 921 (set in a industrial compound), Lost Arena (stadium similar to the Coliseum) and Assault Space. Assault Space looks to be the most interesting map here, as the match will take place in space. Fighting will take place in Zero Gravity and I can't wait to see what this will feel like. Colonies, by the way, will also include all of the DLC maps that were released for the original Lost Planet on top of all the original multiplayer maps.

The biggest buzz for Lost Planet: Colonies multiplayer is the fact that Xbox 360 and PC players will now be able to play against each other. Other new additions include five new playable characters, two of which are female and two that are robots. Four new weapons for humans and four new VS weapons have been added as well. For the humans:

• Hand Gun: a simple, yet weak gun.
• Flame Launcher: Shoots out fire that requires thermal energy.
• Revolver: One-shot kill weapon.
• Hand Cannon: It's a rocket launcher in a handgun!

For the VS:

• Pile Bunker: A drill like weapon that pumps out a giant spike.
• VS Rifle: A rifle with long range.
• Rocket Pod: Shoots off a bunch of rockets.
• Laser Lance: It's a lance made out of a laser.

On top of all this, you can now switch between first person mode or go over-the-shoulder Resident Evil 4 style view now. This is something more games need to offer as an option. Granted, I can't see myself playing this game in FPS mode at all, but having that option is still nice.

Three new modes for the single player campaign have also been introduced in Colonies. In Score Attack, you will earn points by how and what you destroy. In Trial Battle Mode, you fight against every boss back-to-back. Finally, in Off Limit Mode, you are God. Basically, all of your weapons are extremely powerful, you have unlimited ammo and you move a lot faster. 

I'm really looking forward to this game. I've been meaning to pick up Lost Planet again for awhile now as I never beat it when it came out originally so this is just looks like a fantastic deal. Lost planet: Colonies will be out May 27th on the Xbox 360 and PC and will retail for $29.95.