In its best moments ‘Cost Lament: Special Mission - Agonies Rendition’ is a frantic and exciting balancing act, requiring split-second decisions and skilful resource management. Can I spare enough thermal energy to grab that out-of-the-way ammo? Do I have enough ammo to attack that nest, or would I save more thermal energy by trying to manoeuvre past it? Is it worth sacrificing some thermal energy to power that mech for greater firepower?

Combining this with the Score Attack mode which rewards you with points for killing enemies, picking up thermal energy, and shooting the semi-destructible environmental objects makes the game something slightly greater than the sum of its mediocre parts. Although the chaining together of combos never reaches that Zen-like gameplay flow that other score attack games can induce, it nevertheless elevates the mechanics of Lost Planet beyond a simple ‘run-and-gun’ title.

Hello Sailor!

Colonies has a huge online focus and is apparant when looking at the achievements list, which awards you only 5 GamerPoints for completing the single-player game. There are some new player models available in the online mode, but these have to be unlocked by levelling up online and only Lost Planet fanboys will care about this. The same can be said for the few new weapons that have been introduced; only someone who had played the original Lost Planet extensively would be excited by this prospect.

Probably the most significant extra feature that this re-hash offers is the chance to play as an Akrid, the monstrous alien creatures themselves. This is fun for five minutes until you realise that the Akrid controls are stodgy and that they’re ridiculously overpowered against normal human players. The new online modes are similarly throwaway, although yet again they will appeal to those who already adore Lost Planet.

After experiencing the unbalanced online multiplayer it comes as something of a surprise to see that Lost Planet has a surprisingly robust online community, that features abnormally high levels of female and Japanese players. It seems that although Capcom may not have done the best job in appealing to the typical Western Male Xbox 360 owner, they still have a dedicated fanbase in other demographics. Colonies also allows up to 16 players in a match, and PC and 360 gamers can play together, although only against people with the Colonies Edition.

Overall LPECCE is something of a contradiction. While its additional features are aimed at the hardcore lovers of tundran gaming, the fact that it is incompatible with the original Lost Planet is mystifying. Forcing players to start from scratch, with their only reward being some more achievements is an unnecessary irritation. That said, if you’ve never played Lost Planet before then this is the definitive version, and the budget price-point means that you wouldn’t regret your purchase too much.

Although Capcom have certainly tried their best to sweeten this deal, they haven’t really addressed any of the issues that Lost Planet originally faced. Ultimately Colonies may leave you feeling a little cold…