In a press release published on its website to mark the announcement of Onimusha: Way of the Sword and the unnamed Okami sequel, Capcom has stated that in addition to the two newly-announced games, the company is also looking to revive even more dormant franchises that haven’t been active in a while.

“In addition to regularly releasing major new titles each year, Capcom is focusing on re-activating dormant IPs that haven’t had a new title launch recently,” the press release reads. “The company is working to further enhance corporate value by leveraging its rich library of content, which includes reviving past IPs like the two titles announced above, in order to continuously produce highly efficient, high-quality titles.”

The list of Capcom properties that have been MIA for years but also continue to have large fanbases hoping for a revival is long. Earlier this year, Capcom sent out a survey asking players if they would be interested in revivals of a number of dormant properties, and alongside Onimusha and Okami, several other Capcom franchises were also mentioned in the survey, alongside the likes of Dino Crisis, Breath of Fire, Dead Rising, Lost Planet, and more. Read more on that through here.

Of course, earlier this year, we got Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, with more Dead Rising titles also once again potentially on the table, while Dragon’s Dogma 2 also launched this year, coming more than a decade after its predecessor. Clearly, then, Capcom is willing to bring more of its properties back from the dead, and hopefully, we’ll be seeing plenty more of that in the near future.

Falling into the latter category is a little franchise by the name of Lost Planet, which sought to combine third-person shooter action and Mecha brawls against the backdrop of a sci-fi dystopia. Over the course of less than a handful of entries and a handheld spin-off, the franchise faded into obscurity. This begs the question – what the hell actually happened to Lost Planet?

Lost Planet was a bit different from other action games by Capcom, one of those being that the game was exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, as opposed to most of its other titles which found a home on Sony’s PlayStation 3. The game is set against a futuristic dystopia, wherein the planet Earth has become uninhabitable due to factors such as pollution, wars, and global warming – and humanity is on the lookout for alien planets to colonize and potentially, inhabit. Upon stumbling on the alien planet, the expedition team comes face to face with an alien race by the name of Akrid – and you embark on a long and arduous journey to help in colonizing this hostile planet.

While the story setup isn’t anything to write home about, it formed a solid basis for an enjoyable and action-packed gameplay loop nevertheless. As protagonist Wayne, you have the ability to wield different kinds of weapons – from rifles to grenade launchers to miniguns – to defeat a multitude of enemy types. On top of that, you could also use a grappling hook to reach higher vantage points or hack a VS which is essentially a Mecha to wreak havoc upon your adversaries. You also have to keep tabs on your Thermal Energy at all times, as it will deplete constantly in the face of adverse weather conditions and you have to keep recharging it through the use of heat generators or killing enemies.

Apart from the fun single-player offerings, Lost Planet also offered a decent suite of multiplayer options as well – which mixed the game’s thermal energy management systems with standard game modes like CTF and free-for-all – resulting in an experience that was as addicting as it was fun.

Lost Planet released in December 2006 in Japan followed by January of 2007 worldwide, and critics and fans unanimously praised the game on account of its fun gameplay and engaging multiplayer mode, and it stands at a respectable rating of 79 on Metacritic. As mentioned before, Lost Planet was originally an Xbox 360 exclusive – but the game would soon be ported over to PC and PlayStation a few months later in the form of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition which added a few new bells and whistles to the game’s multiplayer offerings. Lost Planet also enjoyed a great commercial reception, selling over 2.8 million units in lifetime sales for both versions of the game.

Following the breakout success of the first game, the developer already began laying plans for a sequel. New ideas would be added into the mix, such as a fleshed-out co-op mechanic for the single-player campaign that would allow players to work together and share important resources like Thermal Energy as a team to overcome new threats. Apart from that, the game would also have a change of scenery from the first game, among a slew of other things. Lost Planet 2 finally released in 2010, although unlike its predecessor – the game was released on both Xbox 360 and PS3, which was followed by a PC release a couple months later.

While Lost Planet 2 had a few neat ideas that were an improvement over the original, the game was criticized on account of some of its bizarre game design choices, particularly with regards to the interface and encounters. All in all, Lost Planet 2 was met with a lukewarm critical reception – and the game stands at a rating of 68 on Metacritic, which was still respectable albeit lower than the first game. Over on the commercial front, the game sold 1.5 million copies in around a year – which was obviously lower than what the developer had projected.

The developer also produced a handheld spin-off for the franchise in the form of E.X. Troopers that released for the PS3 in 2013, which added new elements such as a melee fighting system and a jetpack among others. The game didn’t have a strong critical or commercial reception, and at least the latter of these problems can partly be attributed to the game being released in Japan only.

For the third mainline game in the franchise, development duties shifted to Spark Unlimited. This prequel would veer away from its predecessors as it incorporated some role-playing elements into the mix, such as side-quests and crafting equipment among others. In addition to this, the game would also add an element of survival horror into its gameplay – as the camera jutted really close to the protagonist’s shoulder and the mission environments felt claustrophobic.

Lost Planet 3 finally released in 2013 for all major platforms, but failed to really impress critics once again. The new direction for the series was criticized by players as it made for a repetitive gameplay experience that goes on for way longer than it needs to, and the gameplay mechanics didn’t boast much depth either. Between having the series’ lowest Metacritic score of 61 and the game being developed by an external studio not previously involved with the franchise, Lost Planet 3 flopped on a commercial level as well. Unsurprisingly, there’s little to no information available with regards to its sales figures.

With three commercial failures to weigh against one breakout success, the developer naturally put the series on indefinite hold after Lost Planet 3. Rumors of a franchise revival started doing the rounds as the developer had allegedly pitched a potential Lost Planet 4, but the management refused since the investment needed for the project would be too risky for a niche franchise. Jump to the current day, and it seems highly unlikely that Lost Planet would be resurrected once again – and that’s a shame because these games could end up being a lot of fun when they were firing on all cylinders.

As for what happened to the series, it’s rather obvious. Ever since the release of the first game, the sequels didn’t quite hit the mark in their gameplay and story departments – resulting in an underwhelming critical and commercial reception over and over again. As a result, the developer had to put an end to the series since the investment didn’t bear any fruit. All that said, we do really hope to see the franchise return to the mainstream once again – but we can only wish for now.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

DEUS EX

The Embracer Group will soon finalize the acquisition of the vast majority of Square Enix’s North American business, which will include the Deus Ex IP and the studio responsible for it as well. And while that acquisition is, of course, going to lead to a new Deus Ex game down the line, the Embracer Group has made it clear that it might develop remakes in its newly acquired franchises as well. And a remake of the original Deus Ex would, honestly, be perfect at this point in time. The game was absolutely legendary when it came out and remains an all-time classic to this day, but like any game from that period, it hasn’t aged particularly well. Remaking it from scratch with modern-day visuals, a large world to explore, and gameplay mechanics that are more in line with Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, would be an exciting prospect.

In an investor relations Q&A following its FY2021-22 financial results, the publisher was asked about plans to utilize its “dormant IP.” It replied, “We are currently putting together plans for our pipeline based on demand data from the market. Going forward, we will continue to take customers’ wishes into consideration while devising our title lineup.”

So while this isn’t a guarantee of long-awaited sequels finally coming to light, it seems that Capcom is at least evaluating the demand for the same. The company has a number of new IP in the works like Pragmata and ExoPrimal which are both slated to release in 2023.

In the short term, it’s looking to release Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak on June 30th for Nintendo Switch and PC, adding several new monsters along with a new region, Master Rank Quests, and new weapons and gear. Story DLC for Resident Evil Village is also in development though no release window has been given for the same. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Army of Two: The 40th Day

A sequel to an EA title selling less than 250,000 copies in its first month isn’t ideal, which is a shame because Army of Two: The 40^th Day was a genuinely fun game. It leaned even more into the original’s Michael Bay-style of explosive action, added new heavy enemies that further reinforced co-op tactics and even had morality-based decisions. Though not the most trail-blazing title, it was still a nice time-waster with friends.

Microsoft continues its never ending quest to have Xbox and Xbox 360 games be playable on the Xbox One via its backward compatibility initiative. Of late, we have begun to see new batches of backward compatible games be released from a single series or publisher. Today’s update is similar—it’s four new games, all from the same publisher, three from the same franchise.

The publisher in question is Capcom, while the games are Lost Planet, Lost Planet 2, Lost Planet 3, and Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. While the latter two Lost Planet games are nothing special, the original was one of the most unique action games available at the time, and one of the original “killer apps” for the Xbox 360 in its early years, so it’s good to have it be available on the Xbox One as well.

Code Veronica represents one of the more divisive Resident Evil games; nonetheless, it has its fans, who will, I am sure, be more than happy to play through it again.

You can see Microsofr exec Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb’s tweets making the announcements about these new games below.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1098629230814887937?s=21

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/1098629079505371136?s=21

Capcom’s third installment in the Lost Planet series, which began with a unique and innovative take on the third person shooter genre back in the early days of the Xbox 360, and then stumbled with its sophomore outing, Lost Planet 2, looks like it might be coming back into form with the third entry. The footage we’ve seen of it over the last few months has been promising, and now the latest trailer above shows us a game that looks to be channeling the spirit of the first game pretty well.

The trailer, which basically sets up the story and the premise of the game (and also shows a bit of in game footage) tells us about the war on the frozen planet that has been colonized by humans.

Lost Planet 3 is now available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for further coverage of the title, including our review.

Most of you probably don’t know this, but a while back, Capcom released a rather stylish looking (and well playing, by all accounts) game for the Playstation 3 and Nintendo 3DS (yes, that happened) set in the Lost Planet universe, called E.X. Troopers. Several fans awaited the release of the game in the west, but it never happened, and ultimately, Capcom went on the record saying a western release simply wasn’t planned.

However, it looks like they might be changing tracks now. In a chat with Siliconera, Capcom’s Andrew Szymanski talked about the game.

“Whether it’s E.X. Troopers or any other Japan-only games we do or even games we are considering doing, the best thing we can get is input,” Szymanski said. ““I don’t need an online petition. I just need people to go on the community sites, e-mail some of our community guys, and say these are the kinds of games we want to see.”

“Whether they are games released overseas that they want in other territories—again what made Strider possible was having that backup. James Vance and I can walk into a boardroom and say we want to make Strider, but they’re going to say, ‘Who cares about Strider anymore?’ These people care. You have got to be able to drop that big printout on that table.”

So guys, you know what to do. Get on it.

Lost Planet 2 has been given a T for Teen rating for, “Animated Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence”.

For the full document:

“This is a third-person shooter in which players lead a squad of “snow pirates” to seize control of a lost planet—one with lush tropical jungles and harsh, unforgiving deserts. Players use machine guns, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, and grenades to kill giant insect-like creatures called “Akrids.” Players can also pilot heavily armed mechanized suits (Vital Suits) to traverse the environment and inflict greater damage on enemies. The constant firefights are loud and frenetic; the enemy Akrids emit spurts of orange viscous fluid when hit. While male soldiers are typically clad in futuristic heavily armored suits, a selectable female soldier sometimes wears a piece of cloth hanging down the front and back portions of her body; this outfit tends to reveal her buttocks. Players are able to customize her with a bikini, draping chains, and a garter belt; in this outfit, the woman’s breasts will slightly jiggle—in slow motion—during combat. During an opening cutscene, a snow pirate opens the door of a helicopter and says, “It smells like sh*t!””

This has yet to be confirmed by Capcom.