Gremlin finds himself on an unknown island, among the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. He starts to figure out who he is, experiences a series of disturbing flashbacks, explores the jungle, and works hard to answer a very tricky question -- is this an adventure game?

Lost: Via Domus

Thanks Becky and Gremlin.....Gremlin, it sounds better than I thought it would be. I wonder how you would feel anout it after you see the TV show. I'm curious to know if it would make you enjoy it more or if it would take away from your experience.

Ana

I was thinking about trying this game out, because I watch the show. It sounds like it might be good.

I am a long time fan of the series and I can't tell you what a nerdy pleasure kick I got by watching all the things, people and features that I so love in the series, faithfully portrayed in the game. It sure enhances the experience!

I agree with a lot of what Gremlin thought about the game. However I would like to comment on a few points:

- The tape deck saving icon which appears when a game is being automatically saved is clearly explained in the manual, so if you read the manual, you won't miss the significance of that.

- As for game graphics settings that are chosen before the game starts: if you choose default, the game will automatically choose the graphics which best suit your computer specifications so it's not up to the user to figure out whether high graphics can be used or not. Just choose the default option and it will take care of itself. I played the game quite smoothly with the default settings so it's pretty accurate.

-As for the loading screen between sections being slow, I did not experience that much. Mine took about 10-12 seconds. I assume it does depend on the speed of the computer, but I did not find it too long a waiting time.

-as for the game being a solid hybrid of adventure and action, that is of course a matter of opinion and perspective and how you perceive the game to be. However the comparison to Tomb Raider is rather weak. I played two or three Tomb Raider games and ALL I did was jumping over things, using my gun and exploring; that's one of the reason I stopped playing it. In Lost I jumped over things in only one section and shot two bullets from my gun, so it doesn't nearly have as much action as in Tomb Raider, let alone Half Life. However it has plenty of puzzles and exploration so in this regard and in my opinion it is much closer to an adventure game. That being said it does have action scenes and some are scary and exciting too, so it is an hybrid but in my opinion the weight leans much more towards the adventure side.

I have never watched the series but I am playing the game .It is nt as bad as I thought even if I keep dieing ,getting beat up .knocked on the head and attacked by that black thing oh yes and having needles stuck into me

All of the above are QUITE common in the tv series haha

I think this game is also out for Playstation 3. Is it similar in game play? I might try it out on that platform.

thracia

The game is the same on all platforms. The commands are very straightforward and easy so you can also easily play it on a PC. The PC game is also almost 50% cheaper than the PS3 or Xbox version.

Thanks Gremlin for an engaging read, as always

Mea culpa. I rarely read much of a game manual (much like most of the gaming world) unless I get seriously confused by the controls.


Even if the game chooses default settings for you, you may find (and this is entirely dependent upon your specific hardware & software configuration) that the game gets it wrong. It did for my computer. This comes under one of those 'subjective' categories. But, YMMV.


The frequency of loading screens was more the issue, but the time spent sitting around did get annoying at some stages. Again, this is somewhat subjective, and hardware dependent.


I've played all the Tomb Raider games from end to end. It wasn't meant to be a like-with-like comparison, just a looking for an familiar archetype that has a similar point of view. Same for Half Life - except I was looking for an archetype that doesn't have a similar point of view. I apologise if it sounded like I was making out that Lost was the same kind of game as Tomb Raider.

On further consideration, I think Lost Via Domus is definitely an adventure game, but with a strong (and not optional) action component.

Thanks for all the feedback so far.

Gremlin

Hi Gremlin,

about the graphics, I think this game requires more than the minimum requirements for everything to run smoothly, probably because of the action scenes which traditionally put more stress on the graphic card and CPU than most adventure games do. I agree with your assessment of the game and I think the amout of action and the difficulty of action in this game also strongly depends on the dexterity and familiarity of the gamer with such components, so it's really good you advise about the action scenes being compulsory. However I hope this does not deter people from playing it as I still think the story is pretty strong.



I have a habit of reading the manual while the game is installing so I am pretty used to that! hehe However I am aware a lot of gamers do not read manuals until they are in deep waters

Nice review Gremlin.

I played this game on the XBox 360 with my son and I probably would have had a much harder time with the action sequences if not for him. I felt the adventure elements were limited and repetitive, and frankly if not for the characters that I know and love from the series, I would have been totally bored.

Also it is a very short game.

Dyl'smom

Thanks Becky and Gremlin! I was curious about this one as well, having just rented the DVDs of the show.

Yes it is. I think it lasted less than 12 hours even counting the early difficulties I had because of some faulty RAM in my PC - I didn't mention this in the review as it is no reflection on the game, just my hardware.

However, for someone less familiar with action gaming than I would probably find the game considerably longer.

Gremlin

I certainly agree that the fuse puzzles were repetitive, however the IQ puzzles were fun and did you like the flashbacks and the taking pictures part? I thought it was neat. I think the strongest appeal to me was definitely the story, which kept me going and the faithful reproduction of the Lost ambience and characters.

Hi jedi,

Yes, I did like the flashbacks since they tended to move the story along, but the IQ tests and the photo-taking also got too repetitive for me.

The ending was fun, keeping in line with the Lost series-- in other words: more questions than answers!

Dyl'smom

Is this a action or a adventure game. I see you can download it from ubisoft for $29.99. Is it worth the money? Seems like a lot.
Thanks
Richard

Thanks Becky, & Gremlin for an interesting review. I'm an ardent fan of the series & just waiting for the 3rd to turn up on DVD to watch episode after episode at my leisure without the interruptions of adverts that seem to occur every 10 minutes!
I like to keep interests seperate so have reservations about buying the game but will probably give in sooner or later - it does seem appealing!

You can check out the trailers for the game on its official webpage at this address:

http://lostgame.us.ubi.com/

The game is an adventure / action game. I think the trailer may give you a good idea on what the game is about, so you can decide whether it is something for you

Thanks jedi will check it out.
Richard

The story was great and compelling (except for the end, which was muddied and confusing).

The game used to tell the story, however, was fairly lousy.

Hey whimsical, I am sorry you did not like the ending. I thought it was the best part of the story: a very Lost-like ending! I guess it was not your type of game. I really liked it! It's good we all have different tastes or they would only sell one type of adventure games

Sounds like a very interesting game, Gremlin. Your review was quite informative

inferno

Great review Gremlin ..Is a pure adventure or have a little of action?

Phoebe: it has a few action scenes, so it is a blend of adventure and a bit of action. You can also check out my review of the game if you need further info.