Lost Planet 2

The salamander boss Capcom showed off during Lost Planet 2’s reveal was huge, so it was understandable that we were skeptical when producer Jun Takeuchi told us that it was one of the smaller bosses in the game. Months later, we saw video of a battle that looked like it lived up to those claims. As a train sped through a vast desert, a burrowing worm crashed through the dunes and attacked its passengers. Sure, it looked gigantic, but was it an actual boss fight or simply a cleverly presented cinematic moment? After getting our hands on a controller and taking on that very beast, we can say with confidence that it’s real, and it’s spectacular.

Our demo started off with the helicopter-like vehicle carrying our party of four getting shot down by some pirates. As we escaped the smoldering wreckage, we staggered into a dilapidated, seemingly abandoned town. Almost immediately, however, we noticed the presence of some terrifyingly accurate snipers. As we rushed ahead, ducking into various hovels and behind crates for cover, we were able to take out the foul pirates. Their AI was remarkable — instead of being able to find a cover spot and sticking to it, we found ourselves having to actively mount an attack to take them out.

Once the pirates were taken out, we were introduced to a pair of new eyeless Akrid that relied on sonic cues to find their prey. Their inability to see wasn’t quite the handicap that we were expecting. If we moved too quickly, they’d hear our approach and charge us, bleating out a horrifying scream. Standing still and taking potshots was a good strategy, though they’d stomp the ground every once in a while, stunning anyone foolish enough to get too close.

One of Lost Planet 2’s hooks is the flexibility that it’s giving players when approaching boss battles. That salamander boss can be attacked conventionally by blasting it apart from the outside. To make things a little more interesting, players can also hop into its gaping maw at key points, bringing the battle a little closer to home. The same was true for the blind Akrid duo. Rather than pulling back, blasting their orange bits and hoping for the best, more cautious players could also complete the objective by activating seven data posts scattered throughout the level, which would then raise a drawbridge and allow a marooned train to pass through.

However players manage to move past the battle, two things are for certain: that train is going to move into the desert, and it’s going to get chased by that big-ass worm.

The battle with Red Eye is one of the coolest things we’ve done in a game, and was a fantastic way to show how games can be played cooperatively. The idea is relatively simple; after working to the front of a moving train (and killing more pirates), Red Eye pops up out of the sand and has to be destroyed. He attacks from all sides, exposing a row of orange spots. If players shoot those spots enough, the thing dies. There are turrets, rocket launchers and other large weapons scattered around the train to make things a little easier. Of course, it being a worm roughly three times as large as the train players are fighting from, conventional tactics can take a long time. (All the while, player health gets whittled down from the beast’s lunges, symbiotic Akrid buddies and other attacks.)

Winning actually takes teamwork, and not the garden variety “Shoot him a lot, guys,” stuff we’re used to.

The front of the train is home to a gigantic cannon. We’ve seen weapons like it before. Operating it is much more involved than just pointing it at what you want to kill and pressing a trigger. First, it needs to be loaded. Scattered around the train are barrel-sized cartridges, which players need to lug over to the firing chamber. The chamber can hold up to three shots. After that, players can fire away. The cannon is slow to move though, making it tough to get off a shot with Red Eye’s constant burrowing. This is where teamwork comes in.

Other players can pump a pair of pistons situated on either side of the cannon, allowing the gunner to move the cannon faster in the associated direction. Teammates can also prime each shot, allowing the cannon’s blasts to do more damage than usual. Players who work together can even coordinate a crane to load the weapon with particularly strong ammo, which can tear huge holes into Red Eye’s sides.

It’s satisfying to use the cannon, but there’s a real sense of contribution even for players who are doing such seemingly lowly things as replenishing the gun’s ammo stocks. During the demo it was in our best interests to work together as a team – it’ll be interesting to see how the battle plays out in the wild, when people are at their most selfish. We expect that some will get their jollies by hogging the cannon or refusing to help reload it. That kind of stuff is inevitable online — fortunately there seem to be plenty of ways to beat bosses.

After a few tense minutes, Red Eye was finally defeated by taking a charged shot directly in its tooth-lined mouth. At that point, we got to see our survivors’ shock in a cinematic as the train barreled toward what used to be their home. As snow drifted down, they were horrified to realize that it had been buried in the massive drifts.

As long as the rest of the boss battles are as impressive or inventive as Red Eye, we’d be fine with slogging through the occasional snowfall.