Some time ago I rented out Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for my 360 and played it for about three hours before I took it back to the shop and went off to do something else. Just recently I bought myself a PS3 to see what all the fuss was about and the very first game to go into its drive was Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, sent to me by the powers that be at the Internode offices. They were aware of the fact it was my first game on the console, so I wonder now if they were trying to make me feel I'd wasted my money on something redundant.

You see, I was genuinely excited when I first booted up the system but have to confess I didn't realise that many games actually have to install themselves, something I thought only PC games needed to do. So, 10 empty minutes later I was starting to lose that warm feeling that comes with doing something for the first time. Then my TV started resizing its resolution back to Stone Age settings and at this point I started becoming concerned. Ten more minutes later, after manually resetting the TV resolution, in sheer frustration I grabbed the console box and looked at the small print. A resolution of 720. What? Why port a bloody Xbox 360 game if you're not going to make it really shiny? What's the point?

So the relationship between Lost Planet: Extreme Condition and myself has been frosty at best (sorry).

The story is basically this: Humans have made a balls of Earth and journeyed out to the stars to find themselves a new home. They find a planet that's about as unhospitable as you can imagine (think Hoth from Star Wars, geeks like me). They set about getting themselves comfortable but end up getting kicked repeatedly in the head by an alien race called the Akrid. So off they run back to space, only to realise that the horrible alien species have something in their intestines (or somewhere near there) that's basically a power supply. So like the humans they are, they go back and do what humans do best: kick the seven shades of Hades out of the locals and make themselves at home.

You play as Wayne Holden, whose father is killed in the opening screens and you've lost most of your memory because of the Akrid. What unfolds is a tale where you search for your past and generally take on all manner of alien foes, from small to huge, to rediscover who you are and what your relationship with the alien race is. A warmth meter that indicates when you're close to freezing determines your longevity but even jumping into one of the mechs, a Vital Suit, doesn't stop it dropping continually. Surely the things have a heater? Apparently not.

At the heart of the game there are some good features, like 16 player multiplayer, downloadable maps and so forth. The concept is reasonable and the action can be fun. However, the PS3 version doesn't deliver considering both the PC and 360 versions look better. And this is a serious problem considering the other versions relied on good looks to keep you involved. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition has a constant fuzziness that takes all the polish out of it and really, gamers deserve better. You can ignore it sometimes, like while outdoors in a blizzard, but when you're trying to locate snipers in the distance as they ping your health away you just can't ignore the awful presentation. Yes, it's cheaper that most games ($79.95 at time of writing, according to a quick online check) but that only shows that the developers knew that they would be slated for it if it hit the shelves at full price.

The action is pretty well balanced and the range of weaponry is impressive. Aside from the usual suspects, you can enter and pilot Vital Suits that turn some of the outdoor areas into true battle scenes from a movie. Move indoors and there is plenty of variety in the maps and again, design of foes is well done.

The actual structure of the game is aligned to an old formula too, with some weapons (like the guns from the Vital Suits) being so large and bulky, but still useable to Wayne while on foot, that it harks back to a wave of Japanese titles that took the term 'action hero' to whole new levels. The jigsaw is complete with end of level boss fights to make your head spin as you stare up at a creature which is roughly 250 feet tall.

But, for me, this is part of the problem. I like my shooters as much as the next guy but the over-the-top weapons and pace of game play didn't get me immersed in the story. I struggled to give a damn whether Wayne or his mates lived or died and rolled my eyes when he picked up a gatling cannon or a rocket launcher from a Vital Suit that should have weighed more than a tonne. It was neither a comical shooter nor a serious game and that lack of direction threw me.

The control system also leaves a lot to be desired, and again, it has fared worse than the original incarnations of the game. There's a ridiculous 90 degree turn button that's completely useless as I've never found myself needing to spin blindly into fire in any game, and although there can be some fun with the grappling hook getting you to the upper levels in a map, it's hardly enough to cover the sluggish controls.

Then there's the slowdown. When the game decided it needed to hog a whole five gigabytes of space on my paltry 40GB hard drive, I was under the impression it would ensure a smooth experience. Not at all. There are times when the framerate drops down to about 50 percent of what it should be, and when the screen is littered with enemies, it becomes nothing short of a joke.

So, overall, I was more than underwhelmed with the title (or is that less than?), but not because of the system, but because of the presentation. I am fully aware that graphics aren't everything, but when it's the only thing you could rely on, ruining it is gaming hari-kari.

I could make some comment like 'get it on the 360 if you can' but I don't want to run the risk of being slaughtered by PS3 fanboi's because the console deserves better. I've now played two other titles for review on the PS3 and have really enjoyed them both, and the PS3 is a great machine. I just have to wonder what point there was in releasing a mediocre game in a worse state on the PS3. Extreme Condition? Worse condition. Far, far worse.