Lost: Via Domus

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Release Date: February 26, 2008
Developers: Ubisoft Montreal
Publishers: Ubisoft
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Genre: Action-adventure
Players: Single-player
Rating (ESRB): T (Teen)

Synopsis

4-8-15-16-23-42

If these numbers mean nothing to you, then little if anything in Ubisoft's Lost: Via Domus will make a damned bit of sense. Based on ABC's popular drama, the videogame version of Lost does nothing to embrace people who've never seen the show. Via Domus gives fans a view of first two seasons of the show through the eyes of a brand new character, Elliott. A previously unseen survivor of crashed Oceanic flight 815, Elliott finds himself suffering from amnesia -- and suffering through a weak adventure game to boot.

Lost: Via Domus is broken into seven chapters that play out like missing episodes of the TV series. Each chapter begins with "previously on Lost" clips, a hook followed by the classic Lost floating logo intro, and ends with a cliffhanger. It's a smart set-up and does indeed give the feeling of a Lost episode. The authenticity ends the first time you run into a character from the show. Ubisoft only managed to secure a few Lost actors to do VO -- and most have small roles in the game. The lead characters from Lost -- Sawyer, Locke, Kate and Jack -- are all voiced by sound-a-likes. The Locke "sound-a-like" plays him as an old timey prospector and Sawyer may actually have been voiced by Huckleberry Hound. For a licensed game, the lack of star power is a major drawback.

But you're a Lost fan, right? So of course you will soldier on. You can perhaps convince yourself that one of the Island's mysterious powers is making people sound like they came out of a cartoon.

Via Domus is wisely set up as an adventure game. This makes perfect sense for a property like Lost, where exploration is more common than action. In each episode you'll talk to characters from the show, trudge through the jungle and live through one of Elliott's flashbacks.

Story:

In the story you are one of the survivors of the plane crash Oceanic 815 named Elliot. You start out in the jungle and you can't remember anything about before the crash so you set out to find out who you are. You slowly meet most of the characters from the show and learn about yourself through them and your computer and camera. The game is separated into 7 chapters and each chapter you have a flashback (like in the show) and you have to take a picture based on a torn up one you look at. The story is designed for Lost fans, it will be very confusing if you have not seen the show before playing the game. I really enjoyed the story and the end made me smile because it was just like lost where you think you have come to a conclusion but really your just opening a door to tons of more questions that make you think a lot. The story does a good job of sticking to the Lost Television show story as well even though you are a entirely new character not in the show.


Gameplay:

The Gameplay can get really frustrating at times so I suggest having a walk-through/guide available. The game is in 3rd person and you basically run around through the jungles, beaches, Dharma Iniative stations and caves. There is alot of puzzles in the game where you collect and put together power nodes to open, turn on or turn off something. Going through caves is the worst part of the game, You always have to have a light on you so you can see or else the darkness will kill you. If you only have your lighter it will constantly burn you causing you to put it out and be in the dark. Bats come out of no where and put out your lights, there is random crevices and waterfalls to look out for too. Running away from the smoke monster can also be a pain if your not quick to react to jumping and sliding over/under things.

Graphics:

The graphics were good and bad. Good being the scenery. It was nice to just look at sometimes and it was cool to walk around the shows enviorment and see the jungle and sites from the show. On the other hand the other people in the show looked terrible and they didn't even sound like the actors from the show they sounded like cartoon characters.

Controls:

The controls could be better, They were ok. I wish they would of made it easier to get around the areas of the game instead of constantly running into invisible walls, "straying from the path" or running into objects that have invisible force shields. The weapon menu was fairly easy to pull up. Shooting guns was a pain the first couple times because of how slow you pull up the gun and the aiming system was not the best. Running away from the smoke monster controls were pretty bad because you constantly had to run while pressing y to jump over something or a to slide, it got boring fast and could be a pain if you didnt get your timing right.

Intresting Facts:

There was a lot of cool easter eggs that let you learn more about stuff from the show you might not know like if you run out of the map in one area and stand above this certain part of grass you get to go to a hidden Dharma Iniative station, also clicking numbers around camp that make up the numbers 4-8-15-16-23-42 gives you the option to go to a station.

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Overall Rating: 7/10 (Gameplay, Controls and Graphics could be alot better. Story is great besides the fact that if you have not seen lost it will be extremely confusing for you.)