Lost Planet

With the launch of Lost Planet just days away, I figured I would share some (actually most) of my Lost Planet knowledge with you.

I start off with the basics (very basic – from video cables and setting up your TV), and move into more advanced stuff. Some of this stuff you probably already know, especially if you’ve been playing the demo non-stop like I know some of you have. But even if you consider yourself and expert at the game already, there’s bound to be something you haven’t seen or figured out yet. This is just Part 1. Look for Part 2 tomorrow and Part 3 on Wednesday.

Click to read full post.

[More:]

You got the hook-up?
To get the best and clearest picture, you gotta have the right cables. The basic video cable is Composite, which is a single yellow-color-coded cable that carries the complete video signal. This is at the bottom of the ladder. Next is S-video, which has the separate pins for the signal on the connectors. Upgrading from Composite to S-video should give you a better, clearer picture. Even better, much better in fact, are Component cables. You can tell Component cables because they consist of three separate video cables—green, which carries the black/white portion of the picture, plus red and blue, which carry the colors that are laid on top of the image. Component cables are the only “analog” cables that can deliver progressive video (the “p” in 480p, 720p, 1080p), and the only analog cables capable of carrying a hi-def signal.

There are a lot of standard-definition traditional “CRT” tube televisions that aren’t HD-compatible but still feature Component cable hookups for the best picture quality. If you use component cables on a non-HDTV, make sure your set will accept a progressive signal before switching from 480i to 480p. Otherwise you could damage your TV.

Beyond that you have VGA for the XBox 360, which lets you hook up the system to a PC monitor or an HDTV with VGA inputs. This will give you a much sharper, much clearer picture than even Component cables. And, if you have a 1080p display, currently it’s the only connection type that will carry a 1080p signal.

There are also DVI and HDMI connections, offering a pure digital signal path to your HDTV. DVI is a bit older and carries just video, and HDMI is newer and carries the audio portion of the signal as well. But currently the XBox 360 does not offer this as an option, so if you’re looking for the best picture quality and the clearest picture (for picking out heads bobbing on the other side of the map through the fog to snipe), VGA or component cables are the way to go. And being the anal videophile that I am, the upgrade to VGA is definitely worth it if you have an HDTV.

If you bought the premium Xbox 360 package, the cables bundled with the system include both a Composite (single yellow cable) and Component (3 video cables) hookup. The red and white cables are of course right (red) and left (white) stereo connections, with an optical cable output for sending Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound to your receiver.

Are you seeing the whole picture?
Although you have a flashlight in the game (R on the D-pad), there are a lot of times in the game, both online and offline, where it will get very, very dark. There’s even a multiplayer map where it goes from bright mid-day sunshine to the pitch black of night in a matter of seconds. So you want to make sure your TV’s settings aren’t going to give you a puddle of black when you should be able to see a guy running straight for you with a shottie.

Most TVs come in the default Dynamic, Vibrant, or whatever setting. This is known as “torch mode,” because the colors and settings are set way too high so the TV stands out at the electronics store and looks better than the other sets. But most of the time this is the worst picture you can have, and it may even cause your TV to wear out faster or burn in, depending on the kind of TV you have.

The easiest thing to do is to set your TV to its “movie” or “theater” mode. These presets are generally very good and close to what the settings should be. It may look strange or even bad at first, and it may take some time to get used to. But after a while you notice everything looks clean and natural, not neon-bright. This is much closer to what the picture was intended to look like.

If you need to adjust the settings on your own, the basic TV adjustments are Brightness and Contrast. Brightness is basically the black level setting. If this is too low, shadow detail disappears and blends into black. If it’s too high, you won’t get any black on the screen and shadow detail looks washed out. Contrast, on the other hand, actually controls the white level of the display. If this is too high you lose detail in the bright areas of the screen (like bright snow), colors become overblown, and could even cause banding where colors show up in bands rather than blending smoothly.

To do it on your own, it helps to have some sort of calibration disc. THX-certified DVDs often have setup options with a nice screen for setting your black level (Brightness control). If you want to get more advanced, you can buy or rent Avia (my favorite) or Digital Video Essentials. These disks also feature a host of test tones to calibrate your surround system.

Crap, someone just shotgunned me in the back of the head. Where did he come from? Oh, gross, what’s he doing to my corpse?
If any game was made for surround sound, this is it. Not only is playing in surround sound an awesome experience, it also gives you a slight advantage because you can hear the direction of each sound. So if someone is sneaking up or stuck a gum grenade to the wall behind you, you can hear where that sound is coming from. If you use TV speakers, all the sound comes from right in front of you.

A system doesn’t have to be expensive, although you definitely get what you pay for. You won’t get couch-shaking bass from a $200 HTiB, nor will you want to play music on it. But at least you get the experience of surround sound. Of course when you step up from the cheap HTiBs, you get into a whole new world of audio, and bass goes from one-note bass thumps to actual notes and definition. For the price of a decent HDTV and some research and effort on your part setting it up, you can easily have a sound system that rivals or even bests the auditory experience at the movie theater. Yes, my home theater has spoiled me, and I love how the bass pounds the room and shakes the couch with every explosion.

Mission Accomplished!
The story mode is a great training ground to really master the anchor and the dodge roll. Not to mention, playing the story mode will get you acclimated to all the various kinds of Vital Suits and the kinds of maneuvers (transforming, dashing, evading, melee attacks, smoke screens, jumping, double-jump, super jump, etc.) they are capable of.

Also, when you play single player, aiming assist is on by default. I suggest turning this off, if for no other reason because it will help you work on your aiming for when you go online.

Playing through the story mode is also a good chance to find the control scheme and aiming speed that feels right to you. There are 3 controller layout patterns. I use Pattern C myself. Also, I have switched from Accelerated aiming to Fixed, and used to have my speed at 7 but now keep it at 4 for improved aiming stability.

Knowing is half the battle
This is pretty obvious, but you should make yourself intimately familiar with all the weapons, how much damage they do, what their range is. Weapon balancing in Lost Planet isn’t “all weapons equally powerful, except for a few power weapons.” Rather, it’s a rock-paper-scissors balancing, where weapons are good against certain weapons, and not so good against others. Knowing which weapon to use and when, and knowing when to run away, will keep you alive. Remember, if you get killed, you lose points and the person that killed you gets even more points.

A few tidbits of knowledge about a few standard weapons:

The machine gun, default weapon for matches unless the host changes it, has a bit of a recoil. So as you continue to fire the aim will gradually go up. You’ll need to adjust a bit for this. But you can also use it to your advantage, as shots to the head do more damage. And if you play long enough, you’ll notice that the machine gun has a stun effect which will render your opponent momentarily vulnerable if you keep it up. Shots from the machine gun and certain other weapons will also cancel an opponent’s anchor shot.

One shotgun shot, if all bullets hit, is equal to about a half a clip on the machine gun. It can be a 1-hit kill at close-enough range, and can also knock an opponent on his back even if you’re not close enough for a 1-hit kill. So if someone’s coming at you with a shottie and you don’t have one, keep your distance.

Certain energy-based weapons are capable of knocking pilots out of Vital Suits, and one of the energy rifles even has a homing ability and will track people even if they try to roll out of the way.

There is an impressive array of gigantic Vital Suit weapons as well. You can pick these up off the ground or pluck them right off of Vital Suits or turrets. They are bigger and pack more punch, but the trade off is that you have to stop to fire or reload, and you can’t fire them while hanging on your anchor wire.

That’s it for Part 1. Check back tomorrow for Part 2, and watch for Part 3 coming Wednesday.

BTW, I’m also working on a Japanese lesson to help you communicate with the Japanese community that’s been on LP for the last month honing their skills. That should be coming in the next day or two. EDIT: Japanese lesson is now up – find it HERE.

EDIT: Added Hookup section on night of 1/9.
Part 2 is up.
Part 3 is up.

—Brian