Co-op play seemed to be Capcom's raison d'etre during its Captivate event in Monte Carlo, with Spyborgs, Darkside Chronicles, and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite all allowing players to harmoniously work together in order to maim, kill, and butcher any entities that get in their way. But the jewel in Captivate's co-op crown this year was undoubtedly Lost Planet 2, which on initial impressions is doing a solid job of increasing the fidelity of its predecessor, while introducing a raft of new features.

Producer Jun Takeuchi says that he wants the sequel to Capcom's first foray into the new gen to feel more like a Call of Duty title this time around, which is one of the reasons the developer has opted to avoid centering its game around a single main character and narrative perspective.

Players will instead get to control individuals from a variety of different factions that inhabit the planet E.D.N III, which has been relieved of its climate’s icy grip since the first game. The story, which Capcom promises will better the brilliantly risible plot of Lost Planet, will shift between the various groups occupying E.D.N. who are engaged in a vicious resource war over the planet’s precious Thermal Energy.

Unlike Lost Planet players will get to fully customize their characters in Lost Planet 2, with Takeuchi making a point of showing us a cavalcade attire variations covering the head, legs, backpack, body, and feet of you character model. It all looked a bit Mad Max, but with an insectoid alien twist. Horned helmets, giant shields, and backpacks constructed out of Akrid shells were briefly flashed.

Weapons will also be customizable, as will victory poses and taunts (our favourite being the 'hard gay' inspired crotch-thrusting which caused Takeuchi to ruminate on the game’s age rating). Customised characters will be carried across the single player campaign, co-op, and multiplayer modes (all of which will make a return from the first game).

Also new to the series is a leveling system, which will see players rewarded with exp points based on good teamwork (more on that later), and various other factors surrounding how they play the game. Higher levels won’t make your character stronger, but will unlock different customisable parts, and different abilities, though Capcom wouldn’t be drawn specifically on what these abilities were.

Although Takeuchi said the “most important” part of Lost Planet 2 will be the ability to create a “completely unique” character, the most gratifying improvement we noticed was firmly in the graphical department. Lost Planet 2 is squaring up to be the most visually robust game Capcom has put out to date, admirably flexing the muscle of the publisher's revamped MT Framework engine (and sending out a strong message that Japan's tech shouldn't be written off just yet).

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