![]() ![]() If you weren’t pushing polygons in 2000 then your game was either ignored as a retro throwback or considered bizarre and quirky ( Fantavision, anyone?). Since the Sega CD release, there had been the PlayStation, which popularized 3D, while its successor, the PS2, had made it utterly de rigueur. They stood out visually and were legitimately novel and exciting – maybe you could even say they were edgy. ![]() One of the sad problems is that the first two games in the series rode the crest of technology and what was possible, showcasing 3D and polygons when they were new, or otherwise rare on home consoles. The Lost Planet in contrast goes to the opposite end of this spectrum, featuring almost nothing to make it stand out. Regardless of whether you love it or hate it though, Radiant Silvergun was a vertical shoot-em-up unlike any other at the time, and which to this day hasn’t been replicated. In fact, Radiant Silvergun was so different, so wildly unconventional compared to genre stalwarts, that some players dislike it tremendously. It was also brutally difficult, some say impossible, if you didn’t play it the right way the home console port allowed you to improve weapon strength through regular use, RPG-style, for easier play. It took the genre in bold new directions, with seven weapons accessible from the start and a scoring system which encouraged you to let some enemies live. Treasure had already proven themselves with Radiant Silvergun, a vertical shoot-em-upfor arcades and Sega’s Saturn, which to this day commands high prices and an inflated sense of worth from gaming’s cognoscenti. ![]() It’s not that The Lost Planet is a bad game, it’s just painfully average given the pedigree of everyone involved. Unfortunately one word sums it up: mediocre. Featuring the involvement of series creator Takeshi Miyaji, co-developed by shoot-em-up veterans Treasure, and published by Working Designs in the US, it had the potential to be one of the greatest shoot-em-ups of all time. Wikipedia again peddles its own brand of stupidity by saying this is a remake of the earlier games, when it is quite blatantly and obviously a full blown sequel – in absolute certainty this should be acknowledged. And it took another seven years from that for the release of the PS2 sequel, the third in the series. It took seven years from the release of the first Silpheed to the release of the second, on Sega CD. ![]()
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