Overview:
-Estimated achievement difficulty: 6/10
-Offline: 37 [770]
-Online: 13 [230]
-Time required to 1000: 30-50+ hours for Campaign, 8-25+ hours for Multiplayer [depends if boost or legit]
-Minimum playthroughs required: 1
-Number of missable achievements: 1 ["Geneticist" - see note below]
-Glitched/unobtainable achievements: None
-Does difficulty affect achievements: Yes ["Extreme Conditions"]
-Extra Equipment Required: None
Introduction:
Lost Planet 3 is a third-person shooter that is set before the events of Lost Planet 1 and 2. You play as Jim Peyton who leaves his family on Earth to pursue work on E.D.N III as a freelancer for Nevec. I like to say this game was feeling like Dead Space and Dead Space 3 like Lost Planet. This is because this game is darker/gloomier, has a more suspense feel and “scariness” with the whole Akrid popping out randomly, and the eerie and creepy music. Dead Space 3 was more like Lost Planet because it looked more action based and added ‘snow’ as a big part of the game; both came out the same year. If you thought Isaac was an errand boy wait until you play as Jim. Not only is this game a prequel to the first Lost Planet, but it was developed by Spark Unlimited instead of Capcom (like a lot of Capcom’s recent sequel games). This game plays and looks completely different than the previous games. It has a westernized feel, but the concept is generally Lost Planet. Although it is not the Asian style we’ve come to know and love, this game has fresh gameplay and is still fun in its own way.
Step 1 - Campaign:
You’ll want to play on hard so you don’t have to beat the game twice. Don’t worry, hard difficulty isn’t too bad and shouldn’t pose too many problems. You’ll be getting all campaign achievements including: collectibles, upgrades, bestiary, and mission achievements in this playthrough. My guide will go over everything you’ll need to know and I’ll provide YouTube videos for extra help on collectibles. The collectibles are pretty well hidden and can be missed by even the most thorough of searchers, like myself, especially for Audio and Text Logs. So check those videos out. Also many of the collectibles you can’t even access/obtain until different parts of the game when certain tools/equipment are unlocked, so keeping track of everything can be a little overwhelming.
Here are the tools/equipment that you’ll need to get all collectibles
Player Upgrades:
- Grappling Hook - (Unlocked during ‘Escort the Pod’ Mission in ACT 1, unlocks early on in the game)
- Zip-Line Attachment - (Unlocks during ‘DNA Tagger’ Mission in Act 1)
- Magnetic Grappling Hook – (Unlocks during ‘Test the Grappling Hook’ Mission in ACT 2. This will be pretty far into the game. Right before leaving ‘The Camp Of The Forgotten’, you might have noticed red x’s on grappling points. These are spots that need the Magnetic Grappling Hook and after obtaining it, they will change to purple points)
- Albino Tarkaa Attractor – (Unlocks by talking to the Ethologist in ‘The Camp Of The Forgotten’, in ACT 2)
Rig Upgrades:
- Winch – (Unlocks/Bought at Gale’s shop for free during the ‘Upgrade Time’ Mission. The Winch shoots out a cable from your rig that’s attached to your claw. When prompted with the button (LB) it’ll attach to the wall/rock then you will zip-line to that point)
- Extended Winch – (Unlocks/Bought at Gale’s shop after completing ‘Get To The Source’ Mission in ACT 2, this will add 50% length to your Winch, which will open up previously inaccessible areas. I think there’s only two spots that use this, one on ‘Bishop’s Wake’ on the west side of the map in the open area, giving you specialized parts(s) and t-energy canister(s); the other spot is on ‘The Killing Fields’ on the far east side of the map. This area has a t-energy post, which should be your last one for the achievement)
Note: Please read the "Geneticist" achievement. Some bosses need to be tagged and you only have so many opportunities to do so (some you'll only have one chance to tag them, and if you miss it and don't reload save right away, then you'll have to restart your campaign and re-tag everything). Other achievements can be missed, but you can use the ‘Before the Storm’ save that is made for you towards the end of the game. This save can be used if you need to do other missed achievements, but not for "Geneticist". This game doesn’t have a manual save and saves usually when loading up areas (blue circle at bottom right of screen). It’ll make 2 save slots, one tilted ‘Latest’ and one ‘Previous’ and eventually ‘Before the Storm’ which won’t overwrite like the other two).
There’s a glitch that occurred during the ‘Access Base Armory’ Mission in Pickett’s Folly – Security Installation in ACT 2. The game wasn’t prompting the X button to repair the door to leave the installation. I tried everything and couldn’t get out of the area. Reloading my latest and previous save didn’t fix the problem. This was right after ‘Stay Alive’ Objective, during the ‘Repair the Entrance’ Objective. I’m not sure if this is a known glitch or I was just extremely unlucky, but I ended up restarting the entire game. I would suggest staying near the door when you’re fighting off the Wardeyes. This door is directly behind the turret that you come up with on a lift in the middle of the room. If the objective to ‘Repair the Entrance’ is active, but you can’t repair (the button prompt doesn’t appear) then reload the checkpoint or ‘Previous’ save if that doesn’t work. After repairing the door, then go ahead and search the armory/area and get collectibles, etc.
Step 2. Multiplayer:
The longest multiplayer achievement is "Sphere Complete" and this will require you to earn XP or Zenny (please see achievement for more details). Depending on how you do the multiplayer achievements it can take you anywhere from 8-25+ hours. If you’re boosting (with one other person) the achievements will probably take around 8 hours, but that will only be for one account. So the folks that have a dummy account, extra Xbox, and a second game would only really benefit from boosting. I personally did the multiplayer achievements legit and found the multiplayer to be pretty fun and competitive. It took me 13 hours to complete the multiplayer achievements (check your play time in lobby). Plenty of people still play this game (as of September 2014) so you can still get games if you play during the day and weekends. People were always joining and filling my matches (including 5 on 5 games), which would pose a problem for boosting because you would have randoms joining and ruining your session.
Unneeded DLC:
This is only if you are doing the multiplayer achievements legit and want more weapons that are slightly alternated, but provide a competitive edge. I found them to be cool and useful, and also more characters are available.
The marketplace currently has 7 DLC packs to purchase. Three of them are Multiplayer Map Packs: 1, 2 and 3 (all three include two maps and are completely unneeded). Then we have the Assault Pack, Punisher Pack, Freedom Fighter Pack and the Survival Pack. The Assault Pack comes with 3 close range multiplayer weapons and a vague “powerful single player rig upgrades”. The Punisher Pack comes with 3 long range multiplayer weapons and a vague “powerful single player rig upgrades”. The Freedom Fighter Pack comes with 5 multiplayer characters including: Gale (future), Grace, Braddock, Diaz and Hunk from Resident Evil. Then we have the Survival Pack which includes all content from the last three previously mentioned packs. This is the best deal for your money and you’ll get everything. Oh, and about the vague “powerful single player rig upgrades” that is included in all 4 packs; it's two upgrades for your rig in single player. One is the ‘Pressurized Claw’ which increases crushing power by 25% and the second is ‘Tungsten Carbide Drill’ which increases damage to Akrid weak spots (bosses) by 25%.
Conclusion:
Lost Planet 3 is no groundbreaking game, but it kept me entertained and coming back for more for both the single and multiplayer. Getting all of the achievements isn’t very hard or time consuming, especially if you know the dedication and commitment that the first two Lost Planets required. Overall the achievements are a pretty fun list to complete. Give this game a try and you might just enjoy it.
[XBA would like to thank swirlymanx for this Roadmap]