LOST: Via Domus Review (5 out of 10)
March 6, 2008 ... Review by Chad
Lost is a fantastic series that just keeps getting better and better with each episode. Somewhere along the line, the idea of a Lost video game was brought up, and thus Lost: Via Domus was born. For the curious, Via Domus is Latin for “the way home”. If you don’t remember that now, you will after playing this game since Locke reminds you about 200 times.
The main character in the game is no one that appears in the show, but he’s a survivor of Oceanic flight 815 nevertheless, and unfortunately has a bit of amnesia. You spend the game trying to figure out who you are. If you think that sounds like a decent plot, I’ll simply say that Lost Odyssey is roughly centered around the same general idea, and it’s pulled off much better than in Lost: Via Domos.
The game itself doesn’t really push any boundaries. It’s about as average as average gets. I’m sure this goes without saying, but if you haven’t seen Lost before or have no interest in the show, there’s no reason to play the game. The characters don’t seem to be voiced by their actual character actors, save for a few. I could be wrong on this, but a few of the characters seemed dead-on. Then you’ll hear some others like Sawyer talk and you’ll wonder how in the hell someone recorded that and said “Yeah, I think that’s good enough to make the final cut of the game.” Rounding out the goods and bads of character design is an entirely alien-looking Desmond. If he didn’t sound so much like Desmond, I would have just assumed he was another new guy..
That being said however, there are a few parts about this game that I genuinely enjoyed. There are parts of the game where you have to pull some blackmail on some of the castaways. And as funny as it may sound, wheeling and dealing with the castaways (namely Charlie) is easier and more fun than I had expected. Make no mistake, I went into this game expecting a pile of garbage, but the game actually threw a few more gems my way. For
example, there are a couple of parts in the game where you are thrown headlong into a chase scene for various reasons. I won’t spoil anything, but for some reason these are really fun. But that has to immediately be brought down by the worst part of the game, the dynamite mission. You’ll hate it when you get to it, but at least it’s not very long.
One final thing that I really need to focus on, is that this game gives you a gun. However, you’ll probably only use said gun about five times throughout the entire game. Sure you can trade for extra ammo, but you’ll never need it.
To sum up this game, I’d have to say that if you fall into the following three categories, this is a must-rent. For the love of all that is holy , don’t actually buy the game though.
You’re a…
1. Die-hard Lost fan.
2. Achievement whore.
3. Guy that’s got five hours to kill.
If you fit into all three of these categories like I did, you’ll find this game surprisingly worth your time.
Achievement Information – The achievements in this game are extremely easy to get. I’d almost say they were hastily thrown in the game. But then again, for a short game with little to no replay value, I didn’t expect more.
Completion Time – 4 to 5 hours. And there’s not much reason to play the game again after that.
LOST: Via Domus At A Glance |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
5.0 |
The Good |
Make’s you feel like you’re in the show. Most of the voices are pretty spot-on. That lovable Lost music. Taking pictures is pretty cool. The ending is very true to Lost. |
The Bad |
It’s way too short to even consider buying. Doesn’t really expand the LOST Storyline. Your character’s model just looks a bit “off” The dynamite mission is suicide inducing. |
||
Average |
The Verdict |
The game itself doesn’t really push any boundaries. It’s about as average as average gets. |
|
1. Wil said this on March 7th, 2008 at 8:59 am (edit)
Wow Chad, I must say that I am impressed. This is a very well written and spot on review. I played a bit of this, never having seen Lost, and never actually wanting to. I was at a friends who is a Lost Die-hard and rented the game. I tried it for about 10 minutes and was thinking to my self, this is one of those $5 bargin games on the old N64. With that said, nice review and keep up the great work.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. lekan said this on March 14th, 2008 at 3:28 pm (edit)
i love it.could you pls let me play a free game
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. lekan said this on March 14th, 2008 at 3:28 pm (edit)
i love it.could you pls let me play a free game
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. letrodectus said this on March 26th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I just ordered the game, cant wait to play it 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------