Okay, imagine the bug splattering action of Starship Troopers, put that on a snowy battlefield, and then imagine it doesn't suck! Yeah, you heard me, I can't stand Starship Troopers, but I'm absolutely in love with Lost Planet.

Lost Planet is this third person shooter set on some cold, desolate, snow bogged world that reminds me of the Antarctica setting of The Thing (or Alaska or wherever that movie took place). Anyways, the point is that it is snowy and very amazing looking. I've never seen snow done quite like this before, because not only does it look like real snow, but it has weight like snow, so when your character has to trounce through the snow, your character moves as if he is really struggling to make his way through the snow.

There were two different levels I got to experience. One level was an outdoor run and gun experience, which involved shooting enemy soldiers and trying to evade this giant walking behemoth of a mech that killed me easily. So, not wanting to repeat the same mistake again, I fired up the next level, which gave me an even better understanding of the game.

As I walked about the level, I roamed from the cold outside and under this giant stone arch where spider aliens were coming from these large sacs. As I killed them I continued on foot to this parking structure where I crawled across a snow bank and into the warm inside. Once inside, combat was really claustrophobic as the space was tightly confined and enemies came at me from the left, right and straight up the middle. This whole walkthrough was very slow and methodical as I made sure I never got overwhelmed on one side.

The best part of the game were the explosions, which came in great quantity since there were so many exploding barrels around the place. Now, I know what you are saying, "Oh, exploding barrels, so original. That is the most clichéd thing in the book." Yeah, I thought the same thing, but when you see the effect of a barrel exploding and that billowing fire reach up to the ceiling and spread out, you can't help but be impressed. I've never seen an explosion quite like it before.

As I got back outside, I faced a new creature, which is this giant praying mantis type alien that looks like the one from Star Wars Episode II during the coliseum scene. Another creature was this roly poly armadillo type creature that rolled down the hill at me, missed me, and then rolled back. I never felt like the creatures were too much of a danger AI wise, but they were fun to fight against.

There are also vehicle/mech moments in which you can pilot these giant walking machines capable of popping even the biggest alien creature full of bullets. These mechs, though large, control flawlessly and work wonderfully, as it is easy to navigate around the environments and do large hover jumps. After you clear the area and get as far as you can, you have to do a bit of climbing with your hookshot, which is this cord that you can shoot out to latch onto things and pull yourself that way. After climbing I met my next enemy and one beautiful inner world.

These flying fish type creatures are flying through the air, darting at my head, and then I go into their inner sanctum. Inside is this massively open cavern with various stone bridges crisscrossing the landscape. At the center of all this is something that looks like some massive beehive with just tons and tons of these flying fish creatures. I literally just stood there and watched because I was so taken aback by the spectacle I just couldn't do anything else.

When I first heard about the game I thought, "Well, it could be good," but after playing it this thing has skyrocketed to be on my "must get" list, which is saying something regarding the quality of this endeavor.