Lost: Via Domus Review (Xbox 360)

STAFF REVIEW of Lost: Via Domus

Thursday, March 6, 2008.
by Rick Wallace

Lost is a huge primetime TV fan favorite, and Ubisoft has decided to bring you its version of the show in Lost: Via Domus. Youll play as a photojournalist headed back to the US on Oceanic Flight 815. And as with the TV show, the flight mysteriously crashes onto a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. Youll interact with the real life main characters youve come to known on the show. As with the show, everyone has a hidden past including yourself, and its your goal to redeem yourself to gain passage off of the island. You come to realize early in the game that your troubled past also means that someone wants you dead, but who?

The overall feel of the game gives you the sense of watching a television show. At the start of each level, after the first level, youll get the Previously On Lost style of replay which shows you keys events of the storyline from the previous mission. While not overly important, it does add a little neat spin on things and makes you feel like you are watching and participating in a TV show. The graphics arent off the hook, so dont prepare to have visuals that will knock your socks off. Some of the areas, such as when exploring a cave can become quite dark, even when torches are lit and you at times can lose your way. The sounds are quite basic as well. No real ambience when traveling through the jungle that I would have expected such as exotic animal noises and such. Voice acting is done by the original actors of the show and seems to be well done but again, nothing over the top.

The story starts out with the plane crash of course. You somehow miraculously survive the crash, as other have, and now must find your way through the jungle to the crash site. You come to realize quickly that your character has lost his memory and you have no recollection of who you are Now your main objective becomes gaining your memory back through personal items, talking with other characters and taking pictures. The game uses a question and answer system to gain information and progress through the storyline. Youll collect items lying around the scenery in order to use for trading to acquire other items that you need. Youll also use these items to help with recalling your memory at points. The game makes use of a journal which youll use throughout the game. Its broken into 4 categories: Quest, My Memories, Help and Completed. Youll access the journal to view what you need to complete and what has already been completed.

There are several puzzle-style missions in order to achieve items and certain points of the story line. As stated earlier, you are a photojournalist with amnesia. At certain points in the game you will trigger a flashback. These flashbacks can be triggered by speaking with certain individuals or during certain events during the story. During these flashbacks, the screen will become blurred and youll be viewing a part of your past. Your goal is to take a snapshot of key elements in the flashback, which you can see in micro flashbacks prior to entering the memory. If you capture a successful snapshot, youll regain some key elements of your memory. There are also hidden items in the sequence for you to find and reveal even more things from your past.

The flashback sequence adds to the overall storyline and helps you regain your memory. Its not very difficult, and the entire flashback will replay from the beginning if you fail at capturing a successful snapshot. As stated, these sequences are not difficult and are more of a side mission to aid in revealing the whole picture of the story.

There are two puzzle-style missions found throughout the game. One mini game has you accessing computer files using simple logic. Its a fairly simple and straight forward process. The other has you restore electric panels to working order within the plane wreckage. These missions have you reconstruct a circuit line with different watt fuses. These fuses can be picked up throughout the game, so be sure to pick up any fuses as you run across them. Youll have to match up the total power of the circuit marked in colored ink on the board to the final red squares that change each time you put a fuse in. Three types of fuses each take a certain amount of power away from the overall circuit, so you will have to figure out the right combinations. Once you have figured out the puzzle, and restored the panel to working condition youll be able to proceed further into the story.

As you progress through the storyline, be sure to interact with anyone and everyone you can as each of these individuals will provide clues to you in conversation. You also want to be sure to explore areas thoroughly in order to find all items. There is some action in the form of shooting enemies once you have obtained a gun. You can only shoot certain enemies and items, and these will be marked clearly by crosshairs. Again, nothing really over the top here, its just something else to do within the game and will help you progress.

The game is pretty basic and straightforward when it comes to how you play it and what you need to do to accomplish your goals. Its hard to say if passionate Lost fans will find this game inviting as its got its own storyline with a few tie ins to the actual first two seasons of the show. As stated a few of the main characters that have been around the show since the beginning of the show are there to help you on your journey. Overall, the game does not really stand out as a fabulous must own title, but if you like puzzle solving quest based games then this one should be right up your alley.

Suggestions: A bit more action in the game would have done wonders than question and answer sessions, and puzzle based mini games. Give the ability to play as other characters within the story.

Overall: 6.8 / 10
Gameplay: 7.0 / 10
Visuals: 6.5 / 10
Sound: 7.0 / 10

Comments

Xbox Game Search

Latest News

Next Xbox gets "wired in" with official website

It looks like once the cat is out of the bag on the Next Xbox, we’ll have a whole new way to get info about everything straight from the horse’s mouth, as "Xbox Wire" is now live.

Xbox 360 Dash to get a Next Xbox "facelift" soon

It seems only natural that with the Next Xbox spearheading Microsoft’s plans to expand the Xbox brand beyond just one device, that the Xbox 360 would also share in many of the upgrades that are coming, cosmetically, at least. Read on to learn more.

(RUMOR) Is Rainbow 6 Patriots a "dead" project?

It would be a shocker if Rainbow 6 Patriots is cancelled, as it was rumored to be making a possible appearance at Microsoft’s upcoming reveal or at one of the E3 conferences, but when GameStop pulls a game from its database, it doesn’t look good.

GoW: Judgement "Lost Relics" DLC announced

The Locust aren’t done with you yet, soldier! Pick your Lancer back up, steel your nerves and prepare for the coming onslaught in June!

Minecraft available on disc June 25

Wondering what’s the big deal with this Minecraft thing, but you’re not one of those "always on" whippersnappers? No problem! Soon you can buy it at the store and play it offline with friends.

Next Xbox price reveal will likely be at E3

Well, come on kids, you didn’t expect Microsoft to play their entire hand just a couple of weeks before the "Super Bowl" of the games industry, did you? That would be silly.

(RUMOR) Microsoft Points may finally be going away

As we get closer and closer to Microsoft’s May 21st reveal, rumors that the Next Xbox may usher in a future without MS Points seem to be more credible than ever before.

See News Archives

Top Community Gamerscores

1. Symmetric-XBA - 129,293
2. hellonearth159 - 87,845
3. Variation-XBA - 81,605
4. Timmy Bauer - 58,335
5. Symmetrics Love-XBA - 47,993
6. Enamelized420-XBA - 41,520
7. Silent-XBA - 38,692
8. Ainokeatoo-XBA - 34,076
9. Roujin-XBA - 31,498
10. Yankeez - 30,859
11. Kamshaft-XBA - 29,839
12. thAshAdyOne - 26,885
13. Casper - 26,315
14. Soda Jones - 24,243
15. Tampad - 22,221
16. Highlite23 - 19,309
17. Whisper - 13,272
18. TAXCOLLECTER675 - 13,051
19. HaZarD SFD-XBA - 12,802
20. l Maximus l - 3,010
21. Shadow20002 - 2,880
22. LiLJoe608 - 2,475
23. Sam-XBA - 2,130
24. MixMasta - 175
25. Motoko -

Community Forum Activity

[FCBX] FaceBox Clan
Post by FearfulInk
2 Replies, 204 Views

Double XP weekend Black Ops II on Xbox 360
Post by LiLJoe608
0 Replies, 468 Views

3 Days to Go !
Post by Kamshaft-XBA
5 Replies, 1122 Views

Halo 4 Avatar T-shirt (Ladies)
Post by Silent-XBA
0 Replies, 367 Views

#XboxReveal
Post by Rajio
9 Replies, 1817 Views

[RARE]Xbox 360 XDK XNA EXPO MODEL
Post by itchy
2 Replies, 1942 Views

Magic the Gathering
Post by d-dub363
1 Replies, 467 Views

Clan Member Wanted...
Post by FearfulInk
3 Replies, 938 Views

Community Playdate
Post by tote gunzz
7 Replies, 2380 Views

Dirty Laser Lens
Post by thAshAdyOne
0 Replies, 448 Views

Just looking for some more friends
Post by Grravy420
7 Replies, 1003 Views

Comunity Playdate! Come play with Xboxaddict.com!
Post by Kamshaft-XBA
13 Replies, 1473 Views

Im looking for a bo2 clan
Post by Kubloc
2 Replies, 634 Views

Looking for a bo2 clan
Post by Kubloc
0 Replies, 775 Views

Black ops 2 zombies.
Post by XzMercyOG
3 Replies, 909 Views

Xbox Addict