Capcom's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition drops today for Xbox 360, bringing its third-person alien-cappin' happy fun time to y'all.

The game's engine really shines in multi-player mode, when the smoke effects besmirch the battlefield and giant robots lurch out through the murk.

It's a genre game, and a genre game worth your time. You're not there for the storyline -- you're there for the effects, the aesthetics, and the atmosphere. Lost Planet does these things rather well.

The balancing and weight of combat are more deliberate than the average first/third-person shooter, forcing a slower flow of carnage. And with the grappling hook play mechanic, there's quite a bit of creativity that can be realized by a crafty gamer. Within a shooter game, that's a grand addition.

It ain't life-changin', but it's a solid title, and new franchise(!) for Capcom.

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Jun Takeuchi, a producer of the game, will be doing a signing in San Francisco today from 5 to 8 at EB Games, 151 Powell. Wear layers so you won't be complaining about what passes for "cold" here in San Francisco.

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A repeat of our hands-on preview from the Lost Planet December playthrough is after the jump.