Lost: Via Domus (2008 Video Game) User Reviews

clever, creative and fun

[davies-13 · 7/10 · 27 March 2008]

usually, games that are spin offs from a TV series are terrible, but this one is a good game.

i don't know why people are upset with this game, to be honest after reading some reviews i thought that many people expected way too much from it! the graphics to start off with are awesome (but given the consoles its on, what would you expect) and the gameplay is very good but it does need improvement, i find it hard to believe that the gameplay gets so many complaints, i know its not great but its nowhere near as bad as its made out to be! as far as the voice overs go, quite frankly i thought that they were the real actors from the show and I'm not joking about that! people say that the voice overs are terrible........huh?! the storyline is pretty simple but its also interesting, basically you play a never-before-seen passenger from the oceanic flight 815 that has amnesia brought on by the crash, and you have to work to remember your name, and what has brought you to the island. not an amazing storyline but a good one none the less! i find it creative that you can interact in flashbacks as i was expecting them to be just videos.

also there have been complaints about the amount of key lost characters in the game? all the main ones are in there (jack, kate, sayid, hurley etc.). in another review i saw a request for shannon or boone to be in there? what importance do they have for this games storyline? come to think of it what importance did they have to the show??? i didn't expect much of this game for one reason...its a TV show spin off game! these games are usually useless but i think this one deserves much more credit than its been given! all in all a good game!

Everything you love about Lost and everything you hate about video games.

[done_holding_back · 4/10 · 19 May 2009]

If you are a Lost fan, there will be something undeniably exhilarating about being able to walk around the familiar parts of the island from the first few seasons, and to interact with the characters you've grown to love and hate. That's about all this game has to offer. In this story you play a new, non-canon survivor of the front section of the plane who has been stricken with amnesia, and you must piece together your past via a series of flashbacks reminiscent of the television show.

What is different is that the flashbacks here are interactive. In each flashback you must unlock key details of the plot via a clumsy attempt to draw you into the game. You must point your camera at the right person or object and take a picture. For an (unnecessary) extra challenge, you have to be careful to focus the camera just right before snapping the shot. Once you are successful, the rest of the flashback is unlocked for you to interact with. With clockwork reliability, every flashback will have 3 items that you can interact with, each giving you back a bit of your past. The first time it's clumsy but intriguing; by the third it will have lost its flavor and become nothing more than a chore.

The present (on the island) is where the rest of the game play takes place, and where it's the most painful. Lost: Via Domus plays like a quarter-hungry arcade game, where the developers looked for any excuse (non-sensical as they occasionally are) to kill your character and give you the delightful "You have died" screen. Depending on where you die, you may be able to jump right back in to where you were, or you may be kicked back several puzzles. This is exacerbated by the fact that each "episode" begins with a "Last time on Lost..." segment that shows you what you just did 5 minutes ago. If you die near the beginning of an episode, you will quickly get tired of seeing this recap. All in all, the challenges on the island (including the controls that only a developer could love) are tedious, monotonous, and overly difficult. It appears not to have been designed to be "fun" but rather to turn 20 minutes of content into 5 or so hours of drudgery.

The handful of actors from the show who provided voice acting for the game earned this game a point, but only barely since all of their characters (Claire, Desmond, and yes -- even Ben) are just token characters thrown in for fans. Their role in the game is forgettable, insubstantial, and they could all have been easily written out of the plot (yes -- even Ben).

Finally, there is the main story arc that reveals all of your favorite pro- and antagonists to be utterly unlikeable. Due to your inability to remember your name and past, you appear to be the only survivor required by Jack to prove your loyalty. To uncover your past you need an item that Locke has. Instead of giving it to you outright, Locke sends you on a (tedious, overly difficult) soul-searching mission through a cave (fraught with challenges that have no anchor to the TV show). He does this ostensibly to prove to you that your past is not important, which he later contradicts for no apparent reason. During your lengthy journey to recover your past, you are frequently reminded how Jack and Sayid are growing more suspicious of you by Losties who have little interest in helping you solve your problem that could have been solved in a day or two with some cooperation.

Ultimately, in your endeavor to uncover your history and redeem yourself to the amazing duo (Jack and Sayid), you discover that -- whoops -- you actually are a bit of a jerk, and possibly the most unlikeable character in the game.

If this weren't a Lost game, I would just barely give this a 2.

As an avid LOST fan....

[Razzie33 · 9/10 · 18 July 2008]

I have found the game to be quite enjoyable. The details in making the the scenery like the show is great. The fuselage on the beach was just like the show! (Also I loved how if you don't complete your task the plane blew up!) The hatch was just like being in it as well. I also like how in the game you are a new, unique character to the game but most of the main characters are still there. It may be a "short" game board and mission-wise in comparison to other video games out there but it is still good. I am a casual gamer and didn't really find it to be too short at all - I played in hour bursts. It has been a great filler in the time I am waiting for LOST to come back to TV during the summer...........

Lost Via Boredom

[repo_jake-1 · 1/10 · 17 March 2008]

Well to sum this game in a word - BAD! I shouldn't have been expecting much with a game based on a TV series - but had anyone from the series been involved this may have been OK!

I was hoping for a more GTA feel set through the current 4 series' and maybe even an additional medium of telling more story ala Matrix Game! But no - instead of walking anywhere u want, maybe borrowing Hurleys VW, go hunting, find stuff, join or fight the others and so much more they could of done, they failed.

You play an amnesiac passenger of Oceanic Flight 815, - no one seen yet from the show. You slowly learn your ID etc in a very short and pointless story. You interact with a select few of the survivors, with some of the worst voice acting ever! Locke annoys you loads, Jack is just a hate monger, Sayid is spot on, Sawyer is a cliché redneck who is annoying. Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Mr Echo are nowhere and the surviving 40 + from the show become a surviver amount of 8 people!

Graphics: 9/10 To be fair to the game - the graphics are good. The characters look the business, the Island is very well rendered. This looks spot on.

Sounds & Music: 4 Though the music is crisp - it uses the same repetitive piano theme all the way through, which is the same as the show, it becomes very annoying. The Lost Theme - fails to make it in. The audio of voice acting is bad - it is so clearly not the main cast. Though Desmond, Ben and Sun do make it in - they are so underused and in it for mear seconds its hardly worth mentioning!

Game Play: 2 The controls are horrible and very jumpy. There is a constant delay between commands. The game style is broken into 8 'Episodes' which is the same thing over and over - Flashback which involves a photo, quick puzzle, find something or run from it, then end of episode. Its boring. The constant 'Previously on Lost' bits are annoying, you can die so easily and have to re watch the cut scenes which you cannot skip!

Replay Value: 0 Once you work your way through this, and finally complete it - with its horrible and pointless end sequence, there is nothing to go back for. No different ways to do the game, the extras are so small and rubbish you will almost guarantee to pick everything up first time - ie it tells you what to photograph! Once finished- which with dedicated play will last you a day! There are complicated puzzles involving setting the right amount of volts to a juncture. Its easy at first because it gives you an indication of the amount of volts. Later it doesn't and with the shear number of bolts to use - its a nightmare. Its not tough but annoying - cos it could be anything!!

Summary This game sucks! Don't buy it or play it. If it used any other game type it would of been a decent game - but no it went with the Men in Black style and sucks!!

Some strengths

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 8/10 · 4 March 2018]

You wake up, confused. you don't know where you are. Or what's going on. You're having trouble remembering. Something nearby is on fire. You're seeing things. People are screaming for help. But enough about the morning after the last time you went drinking. All that happens in this, too.

Not only are you one of the survivors of the crash of oceanic 815. But, because, like its "parent", this is a soap opera, you have amnesia. a lot of bad has been said about that idea. Personally, I find it clever, and honestly, entirely necessary. This, of course, has flashbacks. As expected, they inform who you are, relate to what's going on in present-day, and, they let you do a little detective work. And here, you're actually recalling this as you see it. On TV, that isn't the case. They're for the viewer. This was the only way to properly incorporate that. in each of them, you first have to snap a pic. it has to be exactly right. Framing, focus, zoom. You're given hints. It sounds a lot more difficult than it is. Once you have the shot, you can move freely. Well. Perhaps that word implies too much. This is linear as they come. You gradually realise what you were doing before you got on the plane. And you have to hurry. because someone you don't know is trying to kill you. Huh. Maybe you were paparazzi. The camera is definitely familiar. the still one, I mean. The TPP one can be a real pain. Especially when you tilt up or down. To whoever decided it should immediately go back when you let go? I see your trolling, and I can't help but be impressed. As everyone else... who gets a line... in this franchise, you're given a fresh start on the island. You gradually realise who you were. name and personality. And the question is, will you embrace that, and keep going in that direction? Or reject it? By which I mean, what will the writing decide. You get few choices in this.

As with other licensed games, the effort put into recreating what we saw in its source is one of the main draws. I'd say this gets it right two thirds of the time. I can't say a single negative thing about the locations, the general audio, the music(of course by Michael Giacchino) they're spot on. So let's move on to what I can call out. While the overall graphics are fine, when it comes to the characters, it's very hit and miss. Same for the voices. I do understand that the original cast may have been busy. You don't get to go to many places you don't already know. On the other hand, you get to go to almost every really cool place that you've seen. Of course, you don't necessarily get to do anything interesting there. and certainly too much of this is just you reenacting what you've seen others do. There's not enough tension in this. Rarely are you facing a time limit, when really, they could(and in this, should) be everywhere. Some things that are meant to be challenging are mere nuisances. Keeping a lightsource going as you are going through caves is just about lighting it again after it goes out. And putting it out before going under waterfalls. Navigating the jungle is just about going from one point to another. You can get lost because everything looks the same, and you have no compass. Well, you can drop a trail of "breadcrumbs". Unfortunately, sometimes, many times, too often, you have to find your way while being shot at(by The Others... and one tooltip actually said to fire back at them! Which I presume was removed at some point. And they kind of forgot that it would be annoying without that), or chased by The Black Smoke. Fortunately, if you hide in the easily recognisable Banyan trees, it will forget about you. You will automatically go into those if you go near them. This can't be toggled. That gets irritating.

A lot of this is essentially a walking simulator. There are almost no " chase" segments. They are among the more memorable portions. I do wish that it told you the first time, while paused, how to jump, how to dive. Given that it's the only times you can do either. It is fun. And yes, one of the reasons you're hurrying is, in fact, the Man In Black. There are branches, logs, rocks and the like to hop over. Duck under fallen trees. You can always tell when you should be avoiding touching something. Timing it all right does take a little getting used to. Turning is awkward. Sometimes you have to balance on a beam over a lethal drop. You can seldom use the gun. So don't bother gathering a lot of ammo for it. I kid you not, there is one part where you pick up two whole clips, use a single bullet, and then they take it all away from you! That segues nicely into the trading system. It's underused, and decent. You aren't given actual prices, so you have to figure out yourself how much you want to let go for what you're trying to get. You aren't told what you will(only what you might) need. The episodic nature paces this well. You get "previously on Lost" at the start of all but the first, then a cutscene placing you chronologically and geographically in the show, and giving an idea of what you will deal with this time. If you photograph iconic landmarks and the like, you can unlock extras in the menu. You will often be told when these are. Oh, Spoony? Fire up the fuse box counter.

There is a lot of disturbing content, some violence(albeit little gore and blood), and a little moderate to strong language in this. I recommend this to any fan of the series. 8/10