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Lost: Via Domus Review (X360)

About.com Rating 3.5 Star Rating
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Lost: Via Domus Review (X360) Ubisoft
Lost: Via Domus is an interesting game that, unfortunately, just screams “rental” from the get go. It has nice presentation and a decent story, and we dig the adventure game elements, but Lost is crazy easy, very short, and a pretty poor purchase at the full $60 price tag since once you see the story and collect your 1000 achievement points, there isn’t anything to keep you coming back. It is absolutely worth playing through once, though. Find out more in our full review.
Quick Hits

  • Title: Lost: Via Domus
  • Platform:Xbox 360
  • Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
  • ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
  • Genre: Adventure
  • Pros: Decent graphics; great music; solid story; exploring the island is fun
  • Cons: Very easy; short; overpriced; doesn’t use real actors from the show
  • Achievements: Very easy 1000 points.

Features

Describing the story in too much detail would spoil the only hook that Lost: Via Domus has, so I won’t do that. What I can say is this. You play as a new character that wasn’t on the show. In this way, obviously, you can’t really do anything that affects the main characters too much, so while you do interact with them, they have their own agendas and you have yours. The game takes place through season 1 and 2 of the show, so you’ll see some familiar scenes and locations and so some familiar things, but the story you follow is entirely new. The story and what you get to do are easily the best parts of Via Domus, and it is very smartly laid out to give you the interaction with the other characters and the island that Lost fans have been desperate for, but you can’t mess anything up as far as the overall story goes. It gives you the complete Lost experience, with flashbacks, hallucinations, and everyone talking in riddles, without having a real impact on canon. Very smart.

Gameplay

Ubisoft
The gameplay is where Lost: Via Domus starts to get a little sticky. It is an action/adventure game with a ratio of about 95% adventure and 5% action. Personally, I would have rather it was 100% adventure and we could just skip the boring junk with the Others shooting at you and being chased by the black smoke. Sure, the first couple of times it is sort of a thrill, but after that they just kind of get in the way. And they don’t ever pose much of a threat, so it is all more annoying the cool anyway. You can get a gun, but you only really have to shoot about 4 bullets through the entire game.

The meat of the game is pretty standard adventure fare. You talk to other characters, collect items, do some trading; take pictures, and explore the island without too much to worry about. The island includes a nice big chunk of jungle to wander around in, the Black Rock, the beach, the caves, and a number of different important buildings from the show. There are also flashbacks where you have to take a picture of a specific scene, and then you are free to explore the flashback. The other main gameplay mechanic is electrical fuse box puzzles that you have to collect fuses for and then solve. Not too difficult once you understand the base concept and can do some quick math in your head.

And that is pretty much it. Simple and easy, but darn if it isn’t entertaining.

Graphics and Sound

Graphically, Lost: Via Domus is a pretty nice looking game. Some areas look nicer than others – the jungle and beach compared to interiors, for example – but all in all, the game looks good. The character models are pretty much spot on and the main characters are all instantly recognizable.

The sound is also pretty good. The music has been taken right from the show, and the handful of different themes that play as you explore are all great. The only letdown here is that most of the main characters are not voiced by their real life counterparts, and some of their replacement voice actors did a pretty poor job.

Bottom Line

Ubisoft
Lost: Via Domus, is kind of a hard game to rate. You don’t ever really get frustrated or lost or bothered by anything the game does poorly, but it just isn’t all that good either. It is simple and easy and the game only takes about 5-6 hours to play through. For fans of the show, though, it is absolutely compelling and it is a thrill to see and do many of the things we have seen on the show. Fans of the show will love it. Adventure game fans will like it. And anyone else that just wants a nice relaxing game with a good story will like it. It is absolutely worth playing, but I can’t recommend it for a purchase. Give it a rental.

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