I took an early lunch to play the Lost Plant 2 demo that released today on the Xbox 360.The demo supports both playing solo as well as four player co-op over Xbox Live. You can setup the co-op room with 0 to 3 private slots for your friends and then fill in the remainder of the spots with people on Xbox Live if you want.

The entire demo consists of one huge boss fight in a large, but enclosed, valley area. The enemy is a giant six legged lizard with a spiked tail. You can take out the legs to slow it down or jump on its back to take out the large energy filled spikes on its back. Also, if you time it right you can get inside the lizard beast and shoot it from the inside. Assuming you can survive the ordeal it will shoot you out the back end.

There is a wide variety of weapons and grenades in the game to choose from. One thing I found really helpful is that the guns list next to them if they are a heavy weapon (plasma cannon, rocket launcher, or hand cannon) or a close range weapon (flamethrower). This came in handy as I was learning all the different weapons. I lost count of how many grenades there were but it was at least 5 or 6 different kinds. Additionally, there are also at least three different types of VS suits around the map you can climb into to attack it with. These mech suits have a gattling gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, and rocket pod that you can find and attach to them to fight with. Most of the VS suits have the ability to fly for short bursts using jets on their backs.

The boss lizard is pretty tough to take out. After taking out all of its legs you head inside it to take out the equivalent of the heart. There are some smaller enemies in there to slow you down and if you take too long it will grows its legs back. Also, while inside the beast you’re fighting the current of its digestive track. I learned the hard way to be extra careful with grenades while on the inside. It is a very confided space that makes it hard to throw them far enough not to hurt yourself too.

The one thing I found a little frustrating about the demo was the tips. They have tips and instructions scattered around the level that you can walk up and read. This can be hard to do with a giant lizard trying to stomp on you. I died more than once trying to read one of them.

The graphics and music in the demo were really sweet. I found the battle to be quite challenging but not to the point of frustration. In fact, I played through the demo 3 times before even getting to the point of taking the legs out and being able to go inside the lizard. It definitely helps to be playing cooperatively so that you can focus your fire on one or two of the legs at a time. Plus, you can get one person up on the back while another grabs a large VS and the remaining two provide coordinated fire. I was looking forward to Lost Planet 2 before playing the demo and it does not disappoint. I’m now really looking forward to its release.