yes. people do play. mostly peopel outside the u.s.

The best game on the 3DS that I've played and I import a good deal, most of them after E.X. Troopers. Shame that I never stopped to check the Lost Planet forums and whether we have an E.X. Troopers forum, really surprised since the game didn't seem to have an official announcement worth creating a forum. 

Wonder whether other games like the various unlocalised Ace Attorney games like AAI2 and Great Ace Attorney have a forum as well (no chance for Gaist Crusher but it would be nice just for discussion's sake).

On topic, I wish it had online for the 3DS version but I have been playing a new story run of the game recently and managed to beat two of the E.X. missions sometime ago without any AI supporting me which was a rush.