It's also a massive change in direction,dumping Lost Planet 2's co-op focused and grind-heavy campaign for a story-driven adventure in colossal open hubs where you'll talk to NPCs, uncover side quests, upgrade your gear, and build your own bipedal mech Rig from custom parts you'll unlock over the course of the campaign. - - certain areas in the world have branching paths you can go explore and achieve missions, provided you have the right kit for it. Until Jim gets the grappling hook, for instance, he's not going to be able to get up to higher areas. It's very much a driven story and a narrative driven experience. You have the core story missions that are one after the other and they lead you though the story and then you've also got optional side missions we use to flesh out the experience.
