The game is played through a third person over-the-shoulder view. Players are allowed to switch between and third-person at any moment. Players either travel on foot or ride various types of called Vital Suits (VSs). VSs carry heavy equipment such as equipment and . They can pick up equipment lying on the ground and fire multiple equipment at once. On foot, players are able to use a to pull themselves up to normally hard-to-reach places, or to hook onto a VS and hijack it. Driving VSs and using certain equipment requires thermal energy. Also, the planet's cold temperature causes the characters' thermal energy level to continually decrease. Players can replenish their thermal energy level by defeating enemies or activating data posts. Data posts also allow players to use their navigational radars to see incoming enemies. Each of the 11 levels is accompanied by a , which can be either a VS or a large Akrid.
- Online multiplayer versus also requires players to monitor their thermal energy level, but here, reaching zero does not cause death.
- Instead, the characters cannot use VSs or fire the equipment which require thermal energy.
- Online multiplayer versus consists of four modes, called Elimination, Team Elimination, Post Grab, and Fugitive
- Players score points by killing other players and activating posts, and they lose points for being killed or committing suicide. Post grab is a mode where players on opposite teams compete to capture as many posts as possible before the set time runs out
- Team Elimination is a 16-player team competition, and Elimination is a 16-player free-for-all mode. Finally, Fugitive is a game mode where one person is marked as a fugitive, and the other players try to take away all the fugitive's points before time runs out