Lost: Via Domus (Xbox 360) Review

We first heard that they were making a Lost game probably about 3 years ago now, and since then it has been delayed and pushed back until it was finally released back in late February 2008. Everyone was expecting a good title because of the developers, Ubisoft, who do have a name for making great games. A game which rides completely on the back of a TV series which hit phenomenal success meant that I had strong reservations about this title. Would it be like all other movie and series tie-ins? As in rubbish or would this title really bring something new.

The story for Lost: Via Domus basically follows, to the detail, the first two series of the Television version, so if you are looking for something new you will be sadly disappointed. Ubisoft have added to their credit a new character which you play thought the story, he’s called Elliott Maslow and he has lost his memory from the plane crash. The story is about you finding your memory’s again with all the actual Lost story on the side. Most of the story is pretty simple and straight forward, go and talk him, take a photograph of that, but sometimes it will make you do a memory flashback, these are possibly the most annoying thing ever on a video game. It will show your a cut up photo on the screen and all you have to do is take the photo again, it sounds simple enough but don’t be fooled. It becomes so difficult because the zoom and the focus have to be perfect otherwise you have to start the flashback again. To be honest, I had to use a guide the entire way through these flashbacks and most the story.

The visuals are one of the most redeeming factors about the game, it is clear some hard work went into the Lost island creation and environment. The environments are detailed and visually stunning but you’re just not able to reach them, around each area there are invisible walls. The game will not let you stray from the path much, these invisible walls are everywhere and they do have a very negative effect on the entire feel of the game. Character animations are good and you will be able to recognize the faces from the TV series. For people who have never watched the series before you may find this game incredibly hard at points because it will ask you to find characters and the game will not show you what they look like.

I found the gameplay quite lacking to be honest, most sequences are prescripted and you end up feeling like I didn’t actually do anything. In most cases you go from point A to point B and at the end watch a cut-scene. Shooting and other movements feel very slow and sluggish, for an Ubisoft title it is very disappointing unlike most others from the publisher. Lots of the gameplay involves you using a camera to take photos of things to gain your memories back and to for fill tasks for the story, it soon becomes incredibly tedious. One of the most frustrating things about the entire game are the fuse board tasks where it will require you to make them work again using different fuses. I found this to be complete lottery; most of it doesn’t even make sense and just leaves me frustrated.

The voice acting on the game is possible the worst on any game I have ever played. I have not felt embarrassed before for a game and it was a shocking experience. The movement of mouth and the voice doesn’t even match up most of the time. That I can stand for some degree, it is annoying when he is saying something serious about the game and just talks in a normal voice. Did the actors not understand what they were saying because it is obvious that it didn’t fit in? The game does have some good sound effects and music to its credit, some of the music really does set the tone for some scenes. It includes lots of the music from the TV series, including when ‘Lost’ slides onto the screen at the beginning of each chapter like at the start of each TV episode.

The lasting appeal of this game is near nothing, the only reason I can see for replaying this game is to get the achievements. The story can be completed in 5 hours and offers no incentive to replay. It has some collectables which come in the form of taking certain photos, impossible to know unless you use a guide. It has no Xbox live at all, I understand that it might be hard to have multiplayer but I do think leaderboards are not out of the question. I think that is more lack of effort on their part or a hurry to release.

Overall this game is not worth a purchase unless you are a hardcore Lost fan. It has many issues and very few good points. Even after 5 hours of gameplay I was glad for it to end, much more of that voice acting would have pushed me over the limit.

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