Lost: Via Domus

"For the fans"

If you have never seen Lost before, you should probably click the back button. The reason why? Because only fans of the series will fully appreciate this title, and understand what is going on. Ubi Soft have created a game solely intended for hardcore fans, and offers little leeway for those attempting to get into the series.

The game follows the story of a photographer who wakes up on the island of Lost after surviving a plane crash. From the moment go, references to the show kick in with you following a mysterious figure from your past before encountering Kate, which initiates your first flashback. The flashback sequences mainly consist of you putting your camera in the right angle and focus just right to get a shot. The game is very unforgiving and will make you get it exactly right, and it becomes rather frustrating that by the third time you have to do this, you find yourself hammering the pad in a desperate attempt to try and get it right.

Like the show, you will encounter mysterious surrounding your character, but doesn't really solve any of the shows mysteries, which is obvious really. If anything, by the time the credits roll, you will have even more questions about the mythology of Lost than ever.

A lot of the game has you exploring and navigating through the jungle. The Smoke Monster has many appearences, and has to be given credit for the only frights given in the game. Venturing into the jungle with the chilling monster theme present is very atmospheric, you never know where the monster is and you find yourself running for dear life. The problem is that you have to hide in trees from the monster, and when you exit you find yourself very disorientated, making you find your previous marker whilst avoiding another pending attack. Then theres the cave bits where you have to find your way through dark caves, holding a light whilst avoiding the darkness. It starts off frightening when the whispers from the shown start, but becomes very frustrating when you have been killed for the seventh time because you simply can't see a thing.

Most of your favourite characters are present, including Jack, Locke and Kate. Characters such as Claire, Sawyer, Jin and Eko are reduced to cameo roles, whilst several such as Rose, Boone, Ana Lucia and Walt are totally missing from the game, which is shocking considering their importance.

The main core of Lost Via Domus is its puzzles. You have to deal with horrible fuse puzzles to power electronics. They do not start off easy either, and you will rely on pure guess work before getting fed up and searching the Internet for solutions. These, at least in my opinion ruin the game as there is too much logic needed, and all you really want to do is get on with it and soolve the shows mysteries. However, should these puzzles not be present, the game would be at least an hour shorter than it would be.

Which brings me to lifespan. It is a very short game. A rental is more recommended than paying full price, even for the more die hard fan as the game can easily be completed within five hours. There ae a few scenes you may want to try again, such as the chase scenes or a flashback that appears interesting. Archievements are easily to get, and you can easily claim all thousand points, or near enough that total on your first play through.

Graphics are wonderfully done. At times, characters may appear cartoony, but most of the time they are photo realistic and you will honour the great care the designers have applied. Hurley has his sweat patches, Locke has his lines on his face and Michael has some of the best hair seen on the console. The outside enviroments are also done perfectly. Whilst the Dharma stations look rather bland and boring, the jungle is so vast, and you will stop to admire the scenary when you appear at one of the game's few cliff tops. The animations are hit and miss though. Whilst the smoke monster moves brilliantly, and the dynamite explosions look great, other characters such as Jack walk with very little expression and seem to have very set animations, which is a shame when you realise just how organic and free the smoke monster is. You can expect a lot of your favourite music scores to be remixed in the game. They all fit in very well with the scene.

So would you actually like Lost Via Domus? The answer to fans of the show, maybe. I personally enjoyed it but it is not a game for me to keep. I recommend it to all fans and hardcore gamers alike, as it has some very good (and poor) gameplay mechanics, and is worth at least a look.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/24/08

Game Release: Lost (EU, 02/29/08)