Incoming 2013: Lost Planet 3

What we know: Lost Planet 3 is a third-person shooter that takes players back to E.D.N. III in order to experience a story that takes place before the events seen in the other two titles in the franchise.

The game will mix on-foot action sequences, where protagonist Jim Peyton can explore the various environments and battle smaller Akrid enemies, with sections where gamers control an impressive rig, dealing with the most powerful monsters and creating paths to new areas.

Heat will be less important in the new game than in previous installments, used as a currency so that the player could upgrade his rig and items and open up new areas of the planet and more side quests.

Lost Planet 3 will be launched on the PC, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 at some point during the first quarter of this year.

Why it matters: Lost Planet 3 is one of the weirdest launches of this year because it’s linked to a franchise that was never too successful for Capcom and is abandoning much of what made it a medium-sized hit in the first place.

The game will be yet another attempt by a Japanese publisher to work with a Western developer, Spark Unlimited in this case, in order to create an action-oriented experience that appeals to gamers in North America and Europe.

Its failure might mean that the company abandons the genre altogether and turns to its core competency, the fighting game genre, in order to rebound.

Lost Planet 3 is also one of a limited number of games that aims to make the environment a major influence on the game and its success might sour other followers to integrate the concept.

The full Incoming 2013 series of articles can be read on Softpedia right here.