14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Capcom has announced that it is working with developer Spark Interactive to develop Lost Planet 3, which will be launched early during 2013 on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Windows-powered PC.
Lost Planet 3 will put the player in the well-insulated boots of Jim, who is an utility rig’s pilot that recently moved from Earth to EDN III, and it will mix traditional third-person foot battles with first-person shooter sequences that use the rig to battle Akrid creatures.
The game will include both a single-player experience that Capcom describes as being “compelling” and a number of multiplayer modes, both of them used to tell the player a new narrative about the Lost Planet universe.
The fact that Spark Interactive is developing Lost Planet 2 is a premiere for the franchise, which has been so far handled by Japanese developers, and it seems that Capcom is interested in creating a video game experience that appeals to Western audiences.
This is probably a reaction to the disappointing sales posted by Lost Planet 2, which has been developed internally by Capcom and has only managed to move a little over 1.5 million copies all over the world.
Spark Interactive will work closely with Capcom in order to make sure that the game stays true to the core of the series and the details are well integrated into the universe.
The studio has so far worked on titles like Turning Point: Fall of Liberty and Legendary, both interesting concepts that were affected by uneven execution.
Lost Planet 3 will also use the Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games, ditching the familiar MT Framework engine that Capcom has been using for its biggest titles.
The new engine and the new developer might mean a big shift in tone for the Lost Planet series, and the game might do well as long as it manages to seamlessly blend third- and first-person gameplay with the universe.