Lost: Via Domus, which is latin for "the way home," is an action-adventure game set within the world of Lost the television show that includes the full roster of characters, locations and storylines, along with the addition of a new character, Elliott Maslow -- AKA you. Sadly, the game attempts to emulate the show's presentation and fails in nearly all respects.
Happily, fans of the show will instantly identify their favorite characters; and sadly (again), fans of the show will instantly identify their favorite characters in the same way the 2 inch plastic doll in your burger combo meal promotion does. In certain cases, the character models are quite good (except for hair, which seems to be a throwback to the days when game graphics could not manage that convoluted algorithm that is hair) while in other cases the characters are so poorly modeled that it would have been better to leave them out entirely. For instance Hurley, the island's heavyset hero, looks more like a plastic Jabba the Hutt doll than the real life actor, Jorge Garcia, so eerily flattened, waxy and lifeless looking is he.
As if visual dissimilitude weren't enough, the audio is an even bigger disaster, mainly because none of the main characters lends their voices to their digital counterparts. Don't these guys know a paycheck when they see one?! Apparently not, and instead of enlisting the show's talent (for reasons unknown), the characters are given no-name substitutes that manage voice-overs ranging from passable to atrocious. The few lines spoken by the cast of castaways -- about as conversationally profound as "this is the one thing I've been programmed to say, now move on" -- sound as if a local community theater were presenting a rendition of "Lost: The Play" followed by "Puppet Show."
Fans of the show will likely cringe but endure the digitized lifelessness just so they can enjoy exploring "the island" more thoroughly thanks to a few detailed set pieces. While limited in number and having already been explored in the show, there is still a sense of wonder going through the now-iconic locales, like the hatch, and typing the iconic numbers, like, oh, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42, into the antique computer.
Unfortunately, getting any more enjoyment than that out of Via Domus is ruined by the actual "game" that takes place outside of those few moments.
Languid presentation aside, the game fails at the most basic level: it isn't fun. It's divvied into "episodes" that are played out in almost the exact same repetitive manner every time: Navigate through the jungle; avoid gunmen; fix electrical panels by solving electrical routing problems; watch a cutscene. The few character interaction opportunities are so superficial that establishing any connection, or even familiarity, with the other survivors is impossible, save if you know the show.
And that's the crux of it. Via Domus seems designed to appeal to fans of the show but assumes those same TV watchers think that famed Apple II is about as sophisticated as it had to get, and that's rather insulting, like Lost and your grandma's "brain game" share the same, singular demographic.
Based on a series with such highly regarded writing, it's disappointing to see such a poorly developed game.
Taken as a whole, everything about the game's production feels more like the work of ardent but amateur fans rather than the creative force behind the television show. Even for the most hardcore Loastaway, the game does not offer enough content to justify buying Lost: Via Domus at any price, and barely covers enough for a rental, and mostly then just to say you played it, because you're devout... but not stupid.
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