Xbox 360, Capcom, £39.99, www.capcom.com

By Richard Bell

THE fate of Mankind is looking decidedly doomed once again.

In Lost Planet, set amongst the frozen tundra of hostile world EDN III, humans have abandoned Earth and are struggling to survive in battles with the local life forms.

Using Vital Suits (fully tooled-up mechanical exoskeletons) to navigate the ice-covered environments, human Snow Pirates are having a tough time overcoming the indigenous Akrid for the precious T-ENG thermal energy they have inside them.

For one such Vital Suit pilot named Wayne, his demise seemed imminent until he was dug up from an icy grave and thawed out by a trio of Snow Pirates.

Only able to remember a few fragments of his past, unfortunately for him, one of them is the slaying of his father by an Akrid. And, as is the way in matters such as these, things are about to get a lot worse before they get better.

A mission-based, fast-paced, third-person shooter featuring combat, exploration and intrigue, players encounter valuable allies and dangerous enemies on Wayne’s search for the truth.

As Wayne you get to command hi-tech vehicles and weaponry to traverse treacherous landscapes and eliminate the hordes of enemies. At other times, you can switch from vehicles to on-foot gameplay as necessary.

When not in a Vital Suit, Wayne can dish out destruction with a machine gun, rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher, energy gun, plasma gun and five different types of grenade.

More damage is to be had from inside a Vital Suit, however, which can be fitted out with a Gatling gun, laser rifle, heavy-duty shotgun, grenade launcher and a homing laser.

While some missions have Wayne seeking the source of T-ENG readings and others are simply good ol’ fragfests, occasionally he’ll have to re-appropriate the resources of rival Snow Pirate clans while dodging the Akrid scourge.

Don’t worry if some missions look like they’ll have you stomping about for ages to acquire a target, as the Vital Suits have a nice trick up their mechanised sleeves — they can be transformed into speedy skidoos!

Taking full advantage of the console’s capabilities to make it one of the best-looking games on the 360, Lost Planet bristles with detail and uses advanced light sourcing to generate a great sense of realism.

Developed by the team responsible for Onimusha and Devil May Cry, there’s a gripping single-player campaign and online multi-player co-operative and versus battles.

VERDICT: You’d be crazy not to lose yourself in Lost Planet’s scorching action and super-cool looks.

Samsung, £289.95, www.samsungmobile.com

By Derek Uchman

There are pretty much two types of phone in this world — clamshell and candybar. That being the case, then the i320 fits into the latter, with it resembling a Dime bar more than anything. Amazingly thin at only 12mm, you can easily imagine it snapping if you sat down with it in your hip pocket.

But don’t be lulled into thinking the i320 is all style with no brains. Not only has Samsung managed to shoehorn the gubbins of a Windows Mobile smart phone into the case, but they’ve added a few extras of their own too, such as the slightly bonkers D-Day, which counts down to important anniversaries or appointments, such as birthdays.

But, of course, it’s Windows Mobile which is the main attraction. Link the i320 to your PC, and you’ll be able to synch all the usual Outlook data, such as email, to-dos and appointments.

Equally significant, the i320 supports push email. Just like the Blackberry, you can have your emails forwarded direct, without the need for a PC.

One sacrifice which was made due to the dinky case is the battery, which, if truth be told, is pants. If you use all the functions heavily, you’ll have to keep a close eye on the power meter, as it could run out of juice before the day is out.

More generous, though, is the 120MB of internal memory. That’s loads, but you can add to that by sticking in a microSD memory card, which (unfortunately) is under the battery cover.

Final mention should go to the keyboard which is of a design we’ve never encountered before. It’s not your standard mobile layout, nor is it QWERTY, but AZERTY! Not sure why that is, but it ain’t a problem to use — only a handful of buttons are different to a standard layout.

VERDICT: Very stylish and very powerful. Shame about the battery.

But what’s so special about it? Well, that all depends on which side of the Apple divide you align yourself. Head honcho Steve Jobs reckons it will revolutionise the mobile market, with its user-friendly interface, stunning looks and touch screen. Sceptics, however, say there are no new functions — it’s all style over content. Time will tell, but Apple certainly won’t have it easy, as the mobile phone market is already saturated.