Lost Planet

Okay, so you’ve already read Part 1 and Part 2 of my multiplayer tips. Here’s Part 3, with the higher-level techniques and know-how that will give you the upper hand when you take the battle online (a lot of this also applies to the single-player mode, too). Who knows, some of this may even help you get all the Achievements quicker and give you a better chance at winning the giveaway contest.

Later today I’ll also be putting up my Multiplayer FAQ, along with a crash course in Japanese for when you get online with all those Japanese players (and there are a lot of them!)

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We should hang out sometime!
Another advanced technique is grappling onto a ledge, or even better, the bottom of something, and hanging there to ambush your opponents. Nobody expects to see people hanging in the shadows under ledges, so they won’t be looking for people there, making it very easy to get the drop on them. You can shoot human weapons—but not the VS weapons which take 2 hands to fire—plus drop grenades while hanging. You can use the left thumbstick to go up and down the wire to get a better shot or to dodge incoming fire. Just press the X Button to let go and drop down.

People have also figured out how to do some really crazy stuff with the anchor wire, which could probably be done anywhere in the game you have a ledge.

Pow! Pow! IN YO FACE!!!
The anchor shot lets you anchor onto a Vital Suit and hold the right trigger to fire at point blank before back-flipping away. With a machine gun you can unload a full clip, and with a shotgun you can get one shot (which is equal to the damage of half a clip on the machine gun). Other weapons work as well, although I don’t suggest using the rocket launcher for this, unless you are about to die and want to try to take the VS out with you. Anchor shots also work with certain grenades and the left trigger. So don’t be afraid to get in close to a VSes and get all up in their grills.

The anchor shot also works in single player on Akrid, and it’s pretty fun taking them out this way. Equipped with a shottie, you can even get 1-hit kills on certain Akrid with this maneuver. Definitely much more impressive if your bud, or better yet, your woman (or main man, for those female readers out there), is sitting on the couch next to you watching you play and you want to show off your mad skillz. Just be careful not to get knocked on your ***, because that would just be embarrassing.

Radar, never leave home without it
If you see a data post, claim it! Activating one gives you 500 points, and you need to have at least one activated to have a radar. The radar shows the location of other players as small red dots, people in Vital Suits as large red dots. Plus data posts are shown numbered on the radar, making it easier to coordinate with your teammates. You can steal opponents’ data posts, and if it’s their last one, they will lose their radar. It’s a two-way street, so you can just as easily find your data posts stolen and suddenly running around with no radar.

Also, on some of the larger maps, you’ll notice that even though you have a data post secured, you can enter enemy territory and not see anything on the radar. This works like in the single-player mode, where the data posts are good for a certain range and outside that range you need another data post to get radar in that area.

Remember, multiple people can work together to activate data posts. With 2 people it goes twice as fast, and three times as fast with three people. Of course you’re also sitting ducks, so sometimes it’s safer to have a teammate cover you.

There are also a couple of advanced things about data posts that are very cool. While you’re working your thumb trying to get the data post up as quickly as possible, you can still move the camera around to keep an eye out for enemies coming for you. Data posts also act as shields, so when you go for one, position yourself so that the data post is between you and where an opponent could come or fire at you from. In other words, don’t walk through the doorway and go straight for the data post, leaving your back exposed to anyone who runs by the doorway. Go around to the back side so the data post blocks you and so you have a good view of the doorway.

Gum and disk grenades also stick to data posts, so you can use this to your advantage to take out anyone at a post or nearby.

You can tell if a post is yours or not by its color. In non-team matches, your data posts will have red lights, and if they’re not yours they will be purple. In team games, the color of the light corresponds to the team that activated it.

Here, pull my (trigger) finger
When you are piloting a VS and have dual weapons, pressing the reload button will reload both of your weapons. However you can reload independently by pulling the trigger again after it runs out of ammo. This way you don’t always have to reload both weapons at once. Control Patterns B and C also put reload onto the left and right bumper buttons for individual reload buttons.

Just roll with the punches
If you’re knocked down, you’re invincible until you completely stand up. But the person that knocked you down might still be waiting to finish you off. So as you are getting up, hold the left thumbstick in some direction and tap the A Button to try to immediately roll out of the way. You’re much harder to hit when you’re rolling. Rolling can also possibly save your skin if you have a big VS on your tail, or are running low on life and need to get away so you can toss a grenade before you bite the dust snow.

Dude, where’s my Gatling gun?
Since you can pluck most VS weapons right off of VSes, it’s a good way to pick up a nice heavy-duty weapon. If a VS only has one weapon and you grab it, the next person that comes along and hops will find himself in an un-armed VS.

Let’s just keep this between you and me
Data posts are indestructible, and Vital Suits don’t take damage unless someone is piloting them. So use them as cover, especially if you have a giant VS chasing you down. Data posts aren’t very big, but they will still block a good amount of shots coming at you if you’re activating one.

David and Goliath
Vital Suits may seem like they take forever to take down, but they have weak points just like the Akrid. Akrid spill orange goo when you get their weak points for massive damage, and similarly the Vital Suits will spark and smoke when you hit their weak points.

Basically they’re most vulnerable at their joints knees, elbows, etc., although certain non-standard VSes will have other weak points you’ll just have to look for.

Vital Suits are also large and clunky, so if you’re good enough it’s entirely possible to dodge roll and anchor-cancel and escape from a fiery death, or even take one down on your own. If you stay close enough to the their feet, you can roll around and get in shots right at the knees and the person piloting the VS won’t even be able to see you or target you long enough to get a decent shot off.

Anchoring into an anchor shot on a VS joint is a pretty high-level skill and can let you do some massive damage to its weak point. Ahem. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Hehe.

Over my dead body!
Some may consider this cheap, but someone suggested that if you only have a little bit of life left and you are going to die anyway, kill yourself with a grenade. That way you only lose points and your opponents don’t gain any at all. So you have to weigh taking yourself and starting out with full health, versus how many people you think you can manage to take down with your remaining weapons and grenades.

But if you’re low on health and there’s a VS nearby, you can buy yourself some time by hopping in it. Of course you have to have some Thermal Energy left in order to even get in. But you’ll last a little longer and maybe take out a few more people before you go, or at least back up your teammates.

Buried treasure
Want that nice VS buried under the snow but don’t want to get shot while you’re digging it out? Use a grenade to instantly melt the snow!

Don’t get caught with your pants down
Whenever I play shooters, I’m constantly reloading. Even if I’ve only used a few rounds from a 40-round clip, out of habit I just hit the reload button. The same goes for Lost Planet. But it’s definitely important because you never know who is going to pop up on the other side of the hill or just around the corner, and you don’t want to enter a firefight with a half-empty clip and have to reload while the other guy is still pelting you.

You can see how full or empty your clip is right there in the middle of the screen, so whenever there’s no one around, reload so you’re always prepared.

If you’re carrying a VS weapon, watch out where you reload, because you can’t move till the reload finishes and you’ll be a sitting duck. With standard weapons, you can dodge roll after you get part-way through your reload, when the magazine is just loading into the body of the firearm. You can even reload during while in the air after jumping at the end of an anchor grab (this is also a good time to spin the camera around and make sure there’s no one around – and if someone is, you can even get off a few shots before you land).

When you’re piloting a Vital Suit, you can reload the left/right weapons independently by using the trigger buttons instead of the reload button as well. Of course if you use control pattern B or C instead of A, your bumper buttons become left/right reload when piloting a VS.

Learn how to look around corners
The camera, controlled with the right thumbstick, is very versatile and will let you do lots of cool things, including seeing around corner. If you aim your on-screen character just right and move the camera just right, you can see around corners before exposing yourself, and look over edges to the area below without having to stick your head out.

Remember, there are three aiming modes available, with varying speeds for the camera movement. Default is Accelerated, which lets the aiming reticule move around a bit in the middle of the screen before actually panning the camera. Camera movement is accelerated, so it starts off slow and gets faster after a moment. If you cycle through the available speeds, depending on which way you went yyou’ll either come to Fixed, which fixes your target at the center of the screen, or Cruise, which is like Accelerated except it moves at a constant speed. Find the one that works best for you.

There you have it! If you can retain all that, you’ll be a Lost Planet pro in no time at all. So go win that exclusive Lost Planet swag!

—Brian