In Campaign Mode your created snow pirate joins up with three others to fight off a variety of enemies, from rival pirates to giant Akrid, across the planet. Your teammates can either be controlled by the game's Artificial Intelligence or by other players via PlayStation Network, for a more social co-operative experience.
Each chapter has its own unique mission designed to test your co-operative skills, usually involving the capture of Data Posts, which also serve as checkpoints, or taking out an enormous Akrid. Sometimes, you and your teammates will need to stick together to fend off a group of enemies or capture a Data Post; in other chapters you all need to split up in order to capture individual Data Posts at the same time.
Scattered across the map you'll find weapons large and small, from shotguns to enormous mini-guns that you rip from the arms of the robotic Vital Suits. As in the original Lost Planet, you can pilot these mechanised war machines and unleash their powerful arsenal. This time around, there are even more Vital Suits, some of which require two or more players working together to operate.