Lost Planet 3 chisels it’s way out of the ice today

The third installment of Capcom’s Lost Planet hits stores today from developer Spark.

Lost Planet has had a pretty rocky time of it on the whole. The series, about a frozen wasteland of a planet that’s rich with resources, had a niche hit with its first installment and a less than stellar followup that nonetheless got high marks for its co-op multiplayer. Maybe that’s the reason that LP3 has hit retail with little to no fanfare this week.

Normally, you’d see at least a little bit of a lead-up to launch from a game published by Capcom, one of the biggest developers in the industry. This is one of Capcom’s franchise games too, not something that you’d think of as a one-and-done title that wouldn’t get much press\. I actually had the chance to (briefly) play Lost Planet 3 at the Microsoft Lounge as this past San Diego Comic Con and, while I didn’t really log enough time (I started playing only a few minutes before the lounge closed for the show) to comfortably pen a ‘hands on’ or preview of the game, it made a pretty good impression on me.

The action was fast and hard-hitting with some very pretty graphics. Even in the interior (and frost covered) cave that I was playing through, the game looked sharp and had a nice tense atmosphere. After LP2, I didn’t have the highest of hopes for LP3, but I was pleasantly surprised- at least, from my limited play through.

Who knows, Capcom might have another sleeper on its hands here. Lost Planet 3 hits stores today in North America for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.