Arriving amid a cacophony of hype, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is the latest game from famed creator Keiji Inafune, fresh off the recent success of Dead Rising. Like Dead Rising, Lost Planet offers up amazing visuals and frustrating gameplay, making this a title you'll either love or hate, depending on your expectations.

Ice Ice Baby

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Humankind flees a colony and attempts to set up shop on a barren ice planet called E.D.N. III, where it just so happens some nasty bugs named the Akrid don't take very kindly to visitors. Stop? The setup for the backstory is eerily reminiscent of hundreds of other games and shares more than a passing resemblance to the film version of Starship Troopers. In fact, it IS Starship Troopers, though this time set on an ice-cube and, thankfully, Denise Richards is nowhere to be seen.

You assume the role of a recent amnesiac named Wayne, who is discovered buried in the snow and remembers only his name and the fact that his father was killed on the planet by a creature called Green Eye, which isn't the most nefarious name I've ever heard, but I suppose it's better than Pink Eye. Putting two and two together as only a Japanese story can, Wayne decides the key to restoring his memory is, of course, to defeat Green Eye! Makes perfect sense to me. Story wise, matters only degenerate from there, descending into a miasma of illogical nonsense that, ultimately, finds you skipping the cut-scenes altogether.

I'm Shaken, But Not Stirred

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is a hybrid third/first-person shooter, depending upon your style. No matter how you wish to play, two things become crystal clear: awesome visuals, which is typical of Japanese design, and infuriating gameplay, also a hallmark of Japanese sensibility. Combined, you have a game that is glorious to behold in high-definition, and maddeningly frustrating to actually play.

There are tons of nice touches in the graphics department and the artists have performed their duties exceptionally well in bringing the world of E.D.N. III to life. At a time when most shooters are seemingly stuck in bland, brown palettes, Lost Planet goes the opposite direction and extols the virtues of white and blue. Whether you're trudging through knee-deep snow or running around the landscape in any number of mech's knows as Vital Suits, Lost Planet succeeds in making you feel like you're stuck in the Arctic.

There are several “wow” moments in Lost Planet, mainly when it comes time to battle a boss, of which there is no shortage. Scale is impressive, as is the attention to detail, and when you see your first ice-worm, a hulking monstrosity right out of the pages of Dune, you can't help but be impressed by the cinematic flourish in which it is all displayed.

But graphics do not a game make. Once the euphoria wears off, the annoying gameplay arrives and it's this aspect of Lost Planet that ended up losing me.