There are some games that you buy no matter what, games that don't need excuses making up for them, games that you'll happily throw down a hefty wad of cash for. Then there are the 'maybe' games, the ones that you "um" and "ooh" and "ah" over, counting your money twice, reading the blurb on the back of the box over and over, looking for anything that will make the decision easier. For the past year and a half, Lost Planet has been one of those also-rans, a 2 for £30 favourite, never quite scaling the dizzy heights of console super stardom that it longed for. But now, with the release of a classic edition packed with extra content at a knockdown price, Capcom are aiming for one last shot at the big time with their snowbound shoot 'em up. The question is, will it be enough to finally make Lost Planet a no-brainer purchase?

The first thing you notice when Lost Planet boots up is just how old it looks. The textures are flat and uninspired, the character models a little too rigid and inexpressive. It hasn't aged well and, when compared to more recent titles, it looks decidedly decrepit. Even the visual flares - the explosions and smoke bursts - don't sit well, looking out of place, somehow detached from the world. It's clunky and cumbersome, stumbling into a next generation arena that's well populated with eye candy. Perhaps the worst of Lost Planet's aesthetic crimes is also one of its bravest moves: the main colour of its palette is white. And when I say main colour, I mean main colour. Half of the time I felt snowblind and the other half smoke and powdered snow obscured my vision so badly that I felt just regularly blind. To base a game so strongly on such a bright colour should be commended, especially in today's climate of dour, grey and brown shooters, but Capcom just haven't pulled it off, either visually or thematically. The sweeping white vistas of white whiteness get dull very quickly, with indoor missions soon becoming a retina-preserving blessing.

The sound is more than adequate, blasting out some truly atmospheric orchestral work that evokes the feel of an epic action movie. The gunshots, explosions and squelchy deaths are all captured well, though not as gruesomely as some of Lost Planet's bedfellows. The crunching of boots on snow does get a little annoying after playing the game for more than half an hour, but that's only to be expected, and I'd probably be complaining if the footsteps didn't make any sound.

The concept of a game in a frozen wilderness is an intriguing one, but more often than not the ideas that Lost Planet toys with in its earlier stages are sidelined or abandoned entirely. The Thermal Energy, orange goo that you 'need' to survive, is so plentiful, even on the highest difficulty setting, that collecting it means little more than getting a better score at the end of the level. The only way to die from a lack of heat is by standing still and waiting - for quite a while. It's a shame, because this mechanic should add an air of urgency to the proceedings; scrambling to grab a few more seconds of precious warmth before turning into an icicle would certainly set the pulse racing. As it is, the Thermal Energy is just another nondescript glowing pick up. The snow too plays little or no part in your adventure. Anyone who's ever tried walking through thick snow will know that it's not the easiest thing to do, but apparently, snow in space hinders movement not one iota. Any depth, type or thickness is traversed as easily as a concrete floor. For a game that boasts loudly in its title about extreme conditions, Lost Planet's conditions are about as extreme as a gentle stroll in the park.

You might think it's not shaping up well for Lost Planet - that this new release is just a waste of shelf space - and you wouldn't be far off the mark. It doesn't look great and it is clumsy, failing to deliver on its multitude of promises, but Lost Planet still manages to be incredible fun. The Akrid, the insectoid aliens that take the brunt of your bullets, look amazing, even if the graphics never quite match their design. The enemy types are distinctive and whilst the human opponents you face are a little dull, cutting down a swathe of evil bugs in a snowfield makes you feel like you're starring in a Starship Troopers Christmas Special. Add to this the fact that some of the weaponry on offer is truly immense and it's clear that Lost Planet is carrying on the Capcom tradition, started in Devil May Cry, of making you feel like the ultimate badass from the word go. Using your grappling hook to pull yourself towards one of the bugs, dropping a grenade and then diving out of the way is spectacular and exhilarating. True, it's massively simple: the aliens glow orange at their weakest parts, like a big 'shoot here' marker, and it's also massively clichéd (amnesia as a plot device should henceforth be banned from videogames forever) but the sheer joy of pumping giant space shotgun rounds into the glowing underbelly of a nefarious, rolling cockroach tank almost makes up for it. The only disappointment in the mayhem department comes courtesy of the giant robots, or Vital Suits, that you can jump in and out of during the game. They're painfully slow and the boost to your firepower isn't enough to compensate for being turned into a sitting duck. It's a problem that could have been easily solved in the year and a half since Lost Planet's original release, and whilst it's not a terminal malfunction, anything that stops you having fun long enough to look at the graphics is going to spell trouble.

The extra content in the single player game comes in the form of new ways to play through the levels. These take the form of a score attack mode, ranked worldwide via Xbox Live, a succession of boss battles and Unlimited Mode, which gives you more guns and speeds up your movement. They're nice enough diversions but they don't really add anything to the overall experience of the campaign. I don't think anyone would complain if they hadn't been included, and some of the more cynical amongst us may well just call them padding.

The multiplayer half of the game contains all the modes that you'd expect, variations on capture the flag, deathmatch and domination, as well as adding some more interesting aspects to the mix. In Fugitive the players are randomly assigned a role as either hunter or prey, with the fugitives being tasked with simply staying alive for the duration of the game. Akrid Hunter takes this model one step further and turns half of the players into the big bugs that they've been slaughtering in the single player campaign. Whilst these are far from new ideas, they certainly add a bit of spice, and I can't fault Capcom for including them. The lobby is functional if a little sparse and it can take a couple of minutes of searching to actually find a decent game. Once in, and once the violence begins, any problems are forgotten. The action is tight and close, frenetically paced and simple to pick up. The extra content is mainly focused on the multiplayer aspects, with new character models and a couple of extra modes thrown in for good measure. Lost Planet will never be vying with Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3 for the top spot on the Live rankings, but it plays well enough online to while away a good few hours.

Compared to the plethora of games that came after it, and indeed some that came before, Lost Planet: extreme Condition - Colonies Edition feels dated. But, at its bleak and frozen heart lies a rewarding experience. It may not have the innovations of Gears of War, the story of BioShock or the bad guy juggling hilarity of Devil May Cry 4, but as a pick up and play, throwaway blaster it does enough to keep you entertained and interested. Lost Planet may not have revolutionised videogames, but with the added content and its budget price tag, this is the best time to give it a try. It'll never reach that mythical 'must buy' status, but if you're looking for some fast paced, no frills fun then quit your 'oohing' and 'ahing' and cough up some dough. It's just about worth it.

Reviewed by Harry Slater for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).