Customer Reviews

Lost: Via Domus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Well, I won't give out any spoilers, but I will say that this game was definitely pushed through for gullible LOST fans (and I'm one of them) to snatch it up for top dollar.

The voiceover acting is good in some points, terrible in others. Lots of characters are here, but there are some glaring omissions like Boone, Shannon, Rousseau, and Mr. Eko. For some inexplicable reason, the LOST theme music is intact for the first chapter but is subtly changed for all subsequent chapters. Why change it? It makes no sense.

The movement in this game will be either a slow walk or jogging - the character moves like a mannequin with overstarched underwear.

Sure, the facial animations are nice, but the synching of the lips is completely off - there's no excuse to skimp here, because we saw facial animations and lip synching done to perfection in Heavenly Sword.

Play time in this game consists mainly of jogging, wandering around, shooting, taking pictures, jumping, sliding under trees like Pete Townsend, and figuring out fuse puzzles. (Yep, you read that right, FUSE PUZZLES.)

This game is very quick - with only seven levels, most gamers will probably finish it in 3 days, which is hardly worth its high price tag.

It would have been wiser for the game developers to wait and release this game 6 to 8 months down the road and give it more quality. Some of the unlockable extras are nice, but there could have been so much more to enjoy with more effort.


Die hard LOST fans and people looking to become LOST fans will be totally confused at why a show that receives such high ratings led to the production of such an inferior game.

Save your money, folks...this one isn't worth it.

It was a great entertaining game but frustrating at times- why the heck can't you jump over anything? It was fun seeing everyone from Lost and interacting with them but it came off as lame sometimes. My biggest complaint is that I breezed through this game in about 2-3 days- and that was not playing non-stop either! There is a reoccurring game where you have to "match the fuses" which is fun at first but quickly got old for me. The graphics were nice but nothing spectacular but over all I would say save your money. I would say rent it if you can- its nice to play if you are a lost fan, but not worth the $60 price tag and all the hype.

First of all, if you're not a die-hard Lost fan, don't even consider picking this up. The game has terrible game play, overly frustrating (yet entirely boring) puzzles and even worse voice acting. This is for the true Lost fanatic only.

For the true Lost fanatic, some of the game's shortcomings can be overlooked in favor of the story. You are a survivor of Oceanic flight 815 who has amnesia. Through your flashbacks, you will discover your past and weave a fairly engaging story that actually does provide some hints on the future of the series (at least, the future of the series as of the time this was released shortly into season 4). It is possible that the ending of the game may shed some light into season 6, but as of this writing (shortly before the season 6 premiere), that is impossible to say. Suffice it to say, the story is solid and was worth the purchase for me as a hardcore fan.

It was also pretty cool to have the ability to walk around the island. Mind you, the entire island is not presented, so you're limited in where you can go and it's not always entirely show accurate, but the major points of interest that were shown on the show up to season 3 are there.

Now for the downside; the game really is annoying to play. You find yourself constantly falling into needless death traps (especially in the caves), and ALWAYS needing to solve fuse box puzzles. Were someone unfamiliar to the show to play this game, they would definitely come away thinking that Lost is a show about people on an island who fix fuse boxes. The fuse box puzzle idea was interesting at first, but after several of them, it got VERY annoying. Couldn't they have come up with other puzzles for the game? The means by which you activate your flashbacks is also overly annoying and the voice acting is terrible (some of the actors do provide their voices, but the main cast do not, and the people they got to replace them don't sound a thing like the characters at all).

The Xbox 360 version seems to have Achievements for when you take pictures of certain items in the game, but the PS3 version does not. However, it would appear as though the game was just ported over to each platform from the same source, so all of the hints and the character's nagging to get you to take the pictures are still in the game, even though they serve no purpose on the PS3.

I was able to pick this title up from a marketplace seller for under $10, so the experience (about 8 hours to play for me) was great considering the low price. However, if I had to pay anything over $10, I very likely would have felt very ripped off... I feel terribly sorry for those who paid the full $60 upon its original release.

So far me and the wife have only played a small part of this game, but already i think i have an idea as to what kind of game it is.

You play an otherwise as yet, unknown character from the show, who suffers from amnesia. Your quest is to find out who you are and to help other survivors.

Graphics: Nice graphics, you have some great cut sequences and shadows work well, but are a little blocky. Plants move as you walk past them which adds to the realism of the game. B+

Sound: Almost exactly that of the show, with the bizarre change of the actual lost sound at the beginning when the Logo focus's in from the black slate, that is slightly changed, why? B+

Play: Above average recreation of a TV show to a game, one thing which i think seriously detracts is the lack of people on the beach, there are literally just the main characters from the show and no one else even then its just jack, sawyer, kate, hurley, claire and sometimes lock. To me that takes away from the community spirit. Otherwise its a pretty straight forward go here, take this there, solve puzzle move on type of game. There are some interesting elements that you have to overcome to gain back your memory though. Another downside is the pathing, you are very restricted as to where you can go in this game, which is a great shame, as more open play would have made this game great. But to restrict you to paths and to a small part of the beach is plain lazy on the part of the game makers. B-

Replayability: This is a tough one at this stage, but so far, if things remain the same, perhaps playing it once more just because it is lost is possible but otherwise C-

Overall, I'd give this game a B- or 70%, i'd love to give it more and perhaps once completed i'll revise this review, that i would love to do.

Can i recommend this game? I can to lost fans, but if you are not already interested in the world of lost, i think this game may actually make you less inclined to watch the show.

When this game first game out I was excited to get it, but hesitant, knowing that TV/Movie based games disappoint 90% of the time. The bad reviews here made me decide not to purchase. After a while the standard full msrp price (sixty) was cut in half to thirty. These days its cut in half again, going for around fifteen. The reviews seem to be rated fairly based on the price.

For sixty, this is a 2 star game.
For thirty, this is a 3 star game.
For fifteen, this is a 4 star game.

A few characters are voiced by the real actors. Many others are not. For a show with the attention to detail of Lost, that is terrible. Comparing the game mechanics to GTA, Resident Evil or Uncharted makes it look terrible. The combat is very limited and only occurs a couple of times. Being spoiled with the freedom provided in a GTA game, its terribly obvious how boxed in you are in Lost. The areas you play in are beautifully rendered and very interesting to explore, but when you hit the edge of a space even a small log is a solid force field.

Reviewing this purely as a video game its not so good. However, if you are the type that:
* Bought the seasons on DVD, if not blu-ray
* Listen to the official Lost podcast, if not 3rd party podcasts
* Wanted the show to move slower and cover the story in more detail

Then this is a game you'll enjoy. Its only 5-7 hours of play time, but fun while it lasts. Damon and Carlton assisted with the game design and stated that everything is true to the story. You get to explore areas of the game in detail which was great. Especially nice is the chance to explore the Swan hatch from season two and see exactly how everything is laid out. The game also gives a better sense for where some island spots are located relative to one another. The story was pretty good, and does give the sense of watching a few extra episodes.

Ideally, the game would have had:
* combat like Uncharted, as the show had plenty of that with the others
* much more freedom to explore the island GTA style
* more episodes (levels)
* Downloadable content to extend the game as seasons of the show passed.

Not what it could have been, but I'm very glad I picked it up at current prices and played it.

Let me start by saying that this version of 'Lost' is virtually identical to its 360 counterpart. The only difference is that the PS3 version installs part of the game on the console's hard drive to make the (rather obnoxious) loading times a little more palatable. Other then that the two games are exactly the same. If you already own one version, there's no reason at all to double-dip.

Being a modest fan of the show, I was looking forward to checking 'Lost' out at some point. Recently my local library actually started to lend out a small selection of 360 games; so when I saw that 'Via Domus' was among the games I grabbed it for myself. Now that I've finished it, I can say that although the game isn't offensively bad, I'm really glad this isn't one that I paid for.

As for the good, the rendering of the island itself is really quite good and the jungle certainly has the right, lush, tropical, look and feel to it. It still travels sort of linear though. If you travel too far off track, you'll just be bounced back on the correct path. I think it would have been more fun if it was a little more open so you could just carve your own paths with a machete and map out the island on your own.

The music for the game uses the score to the TV show, so the sound to the game is completely authentic and terrific. The voice acting, on the other hand, is god-awful. Virtually nobody from the A-list cast showed up and nobody sounds like themselves. John Locke's voice in particular, I didn't think was even close. It's strange too, because I remember several interviews with Matthew Fox doing press for the game. I just assumed his voice was included, but it isn't.

The game includes a bartering system to gain objects; you'll trade papayas and coconuts for a torch or a lantern, for example. Unfortunately, outside of a couple of torches and one gun (which, I kid you not, you shoot no more then three times ... only one of which is a person) you don't really need anything. The whole trading system turns out to be kind of a farce.

The story is OK and mildly interesting, even if the ending had me scratching my head, but it is REALLY short. I finished the game 100% in what couldn't have been more then 5 hours of play. I was hoping that, to some extent, 'Lost' would use games like 'Drakes: Uncharted' or 'Tomb Raider' as a template for it's game play but instead the game play itself FEELS like an episode of the TV show and its not very interactive. This has the game commit the mortal sin of just being dull.

Simply put, there's just no meat here to sink your teeth into and with very little else going in the right direction, there's not much at all working for the game to justify a purchase. If you were a die-hard fan of the show and, somehow, fall into a copy of 'Lost' I can't honestly say it's not worth, at least, checking out. That said; however, if you have to plunk down so much as a nickel to play this, skip it. It's just not worth it. I'd have been really disgusted with myself if I paid anything to play this.

This game was all I was expecting it was amazing. Some people are complaining it was slow and boring. Not the case. This game is more or less six episodes of LOST. They were written by the writers of the show, and are as suspenseful and exiting as an episode on TV. The graphics are pretty good, but the storyline is where it gains the five stars. The ending alone will blow you away and leave you begging for more. It's amazing cruising around the island exploring the hydra, the pearl and my favorite the swan among many others. There are great secrets and props that true LOST fans will love. These locations are represented in amazing authenticity. Even Calvin's blood is on the ceiling of the swan. This game gives you everything you expect from a normal episode. Bad game, but a hell of an episode. If your a LOST fan you should pick up a copy to try and eleviate some LOST withdrawl until it comes back in January. Highly Recommended.

This game is fun but it is short and severely limited at what you can do. It is not as interactive as I would like it to be. You'll go to the beach and there will be 1 or 2 people there chilling. I would rather rent this game then have bought it but for 7 bucks it wasn't too bad.

Lost: Via Domus is a very disappointing game. I'm a very big fan of the Lost TV Show. I've watched every episode more than once. I've bought books about the show. I've checked out websites to get more details about the show. Even with the negative reviews of the game, I took a chance because I thought my love of the show would be enough to make it worth my time. Unfortunately the game is just too much of a mess.

As mentioned in other reviews, the game feels empty. In the TV Show, almost all of the scenes out on the beach are filled with characters, some important, some not. In the game you're lucky if there are half a dozen people in an area. So instead of making it feel like you're "playing the TV show," you just get reminded of what you're missing.

Certain game conceits, the things done to provide you with some game play, directly contradict the show. You character walks around finding water bottles lying around island, but the show made a big point of how scare those bottles were. They were hoarded by certain characters, not scattered across the beach and the jungle.

There are annoying cave sequences that feel tacked on and not in the spirit of the show.

The passage of time feels inconsistent. Events that occur weeks apart apparently happen during the time it takes to walk from the beach to some location in the jungle. Also, some events almost certainly didn't happen within the Lost continuity, which feels like a cheat, since part of the reason of playing the game is to learn more answers about the island.

There were some good things. I liked exploring some of the locations from the TV Show, as they felt pretty true to the sets used on the show. The graphics were decent. It definitely doesn't push the game system, but it looks better than it probably could have on the previous generation's consoles. Some of the voice work is good, though some of the characters don't sound anything like their TV show counterparts.

My biggest problem with the game is that is just isn't very fun. I played the game for the story, and while it was pretty good, it is surrounded by a system that makes it a chore to play. I think fans of the show should just find a summary of the plot details online and skip the game entirely.

I am a big LOST fan, I will be honest, I thought when the game started it was going to be an interesting and fun game with pretty decent graphics. Well, the graphics were decent, but that is about where it ended. The game took me about 3 days to finish, however I work 2 jobs and didn't take a lot of time to play it. I imagine an avid game player could wrap it up in about 4-6 hours. The situations and dialogs were predictable and there was nothing that really challenged your mind other than figuring out what direction to place the fuses in the fuse boxes in every building.

As a lost fan, I thought this would be a good addition to my LOST library, but after playing, I made the realization that I will never play this again. So I ended up selling mine back on Amazon!

Buyers beware and good luck!