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For those who are unaware, Lost is a popular television show on the US network television station ABC. It is currently in its fourth season, and we loyal viewers are still left with more questions than answers. Lost the television series follows the exploits of the survivors of the fictional Oceanic 815 airplane crash on a mysterious tropical island in the Pacific. There is intrigue, love triangles (and at times love hexagons), polar bears, and mystical "evil" numbers. For the uninitiated, I order you to do yourself a favor and go out and buy the first three seasons.
 
Lost has also been recently made into a video game by Ubisoft called LOST: Via Domus. Via Domus is Latin and loosely translates into "the way home". The game is difficult to review; on one side there is the fanboy that has seen every episode of the television series and on the other side there is the journalist whose purpose is to save good people from bad games. So I will start of with this; LOST: Via Domus rates a six out of ten as a stand alone game, but as an eight or nine out of ten for a fan of the show.
 
On a completely technical note LOST: Via Domus could have been better. The graphics and the gameplay could have both used a bit more love. Graphically the character models are blocky, and a bit like something off the Xbox or PS2. The water effects are far from realistic, and don't even come close to feeling alive. On the other hand, the jungle is dense and detailed with albeit weak textures. It's also pretty easy to get lost when you are under the jungle canopy, which also ads to the jungle’s realism. Some of the character models looks spot on with their television counterparts, while other such as Hurley don’t even come close.

Controlling the protagonist, an amnesic photojournalist, feels a bit like controlling an inexpensive remote control car. He feels rather stiff and robotic; he can run, but can’t jump or slide except during special sequences. When attempting to navigate the terrain if you run into a rock, piece of plane debris, or any other minor obstacle you will find yourself screeching to a sudden stop. Overall the controls feel a bit more like a beta, and the overall scope of the game feels a bit like a demo.

LOST: Via Domus is also rather short. You can easily finish it in about ten hours, and maybe spend a couple extra hours exploring and unlocking everything. Lost has the feeling of a free roaming adventure game, but it’s a bit of an illusion. You are treated to a couple dozen small areas from the show such as the Hatch and the Black Rock.

Unfortunately you can’t just roam around and discover areas on your own. You must complete certain objectives that will further the story and lead you to the new areas. When traveling between areas such as the crash site and the jungle you are treated to a short load screen that shows a fancy picture from the game and a quote from the show or a gameplay tip. 

LOST: Via Domus really does shine in some areas such as voice acting and the overall story. The in game dialog is spoken, and many of the actors lend their voices from the television series including Michael Emerson (Ben Linus), Andrew Divoff (Mikhail Bakunin, Yunjin Kim (Sun-Hwa Kwon), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond Hume), Emile de Ravin (Claire Littleton), and M. C. Gainey (Tom). The rest of the voice acting is done by sound-a-likes; some of which sound great while others really don’t come close to the television actors’ portrayal of the characters.

The music on the other hand could have used a bit more work. We are treated to a full orchestra for the score and the majority of the in-game music, but it would have been nice to have that catchy tune from the Hatch playing while you are in there. The little touches with the in-game audio just weren’t there, and instantly pulled me out of the moment.

LOST: Via Domus is broken up into seven episodes. Each episode starts off with a quick recap of the story thus far, and then they flash the Lost logo and let you get to business. The main character is a photojournalist who has lost his memory. He attempts to regain his memory while interacting with the other survivors.

This interaction will occasionally spawn a flashback where you must photograph events to regain that portion of your memory. This leaves you with a rather intriguing story, and a fresh way to experience the story and interact with the characters. Of course this is Lost, so you may be left with more questions than you got answers.

The in-game action is pretty much an adventure title with some action mixed in. There are plenty of puzzles scattered thought, but the puzzles are not very diverse. There are also other in-game puzzles that have to do with character interactions, who or what to shoot and where to stand; you will likely die a couple times trying to figure these out, but they are pretty creative and more enjoyable than the standard “fuse” puzzle used in the game.

The protagonist has the ability to trade with other members of the island, such as Ford. You can trade coconuts and bottles of water that you find on the ground for a gun, ammo, torches or a lantern. Torches and lanterns light your way in dark caves, but are consumable, and obviously the gun and ammo are to shoot the sporadic armed “Others” you will occasionally run into while trekking through the jungle. Oh, and a word of advice, beware of the black smoke when running with dynamite. Fans of the show will know exactly what I’m talking about.

For a fan of the show, you will really enjoy exploring the various familiar locations. You will enjoy the characters, and the quotes from the show, but most of all you will enjoy experiencing the island from a new perspective. The best part was that the longer I played the more I enjoyed it.

If you are a fan of the show go out and rent LOST: Via Domus, or even buy it and set it right next to the box sets of seasons one through three. If you enjoyed games like Myst, and don’t mind dated graphics and only a dozen hours of gameplay, then you will also want to check this one out. If graphics are more important to you than story, and you can’t look past clunky controls, then you will want to completely skip this one.

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