If nothing else, Lost Planet 2 is a visually stunning game, especially for players that own video cards that support DirectX 11. The world of E.D.N. III sports environments that starts with frozen tundra (like the first game), then switches to jungle, and eventually moves on to arid deserts. Unfortunately, the story is practically irrelevant, so the effort that went into creating the amazing looking cut scenes seems somewhat wasted. There's no attachment to any of the characters, not even the main one, and it's difficult to get a sense of what's going on. The early half of the game feels disjointed, since it forces players to go through a series of very short missions without a clear idea what the ultimate goal is.
The real joy in playing Lost Planet 2 is in fighting the alien Akrid. Battling against a colossal boss is nothing less than epic. Players run around in armored mechs called VS's, or they can remove the guns from them to run around with super firepower. Then it's a matter of scaling the landscape in search of the best vantage point to blast from. The colors and graphics really pop, especially the orange areas highlighting the Akrid's weak points. However, these battles come with some very serious gameplay flaws, mostly tied to how the creatures rely heavily on knocking the characters around. A single hit takes away all but a small bit of health, and players lose control while watching their characters get back up. The animation is supposedly shorter than on the console release, which is small relief but still frustrating. Furthermore, knockbacks interrupt actions like healing and throwing grenades. Characters are also inexplicably hydrophobic and getting knocked into water will instantly kill them. Lastly, some boss creature abilities appear to have unlimited range. Players have a grappling hook to help them get around, but it can be a bit finicky about where it works and doesn't.

As stated earlier, this game doesn't have a great single player experience. This is mostly thanks to the barely competent friendly AI that usually wanders off to do nothing when they're not getting stuck on objects. Enemy AI don't fare much better. If you manage to stand a far enough distance away, they can be picked off with ease. The weak AI becomes more apparent when working cooperatively with other human players, especially given the accuracy the mouse provides.

Although the game is designed with focus on multiplayer in mind, it comes with its own share of drawbacks. There's no drop-in multiplayer and there aren't enough players around at any given time to fill up a spontaneous session. Moreover, friends can't join unless they've reached the same point in the game. Even if you do manage to get enough players to join, everyone draws from a shared pool of lives, which gets extremely frustrating when combined with how getting knocked into water kills players immediately. While there's a good selection of competitive modes, it's plagued by overpowered weaponry and annoyances like the slot machine style unlock system. You'll earn points through multiplayer and campaign sessions to unlock a weapon or special bonus attributes for your character if you're lucky, but points are more often wasted on things like emotes and "noms de guerre." That means instead of running around the game with a something that will actually impact gameplay, you could be stuck with inane add-ons like a new fist pump gesture or "Macho, macho man" hovering over your name. Simply put, even though Lost Planet 2 has all the features for a fantastic multiplayer game, it does all it can to drain all the fun from it.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter that Lost Planet 2 has amazing graphics, massive boss battles, and some great multiplayer features. All the design missteps add up and all but take away the joy of playing. Perhaps the game would be better served if it were available as a discounted multipack, so other friends could join in, but that wouldn't make up for the annoying gameplay. There's a decent action game buried under all the design flaws, but players have to dig deep to find it, and the reward isn't worth the effort.