When this particular game was first announced, I was deeply intrigued. Ever since the first season, the producers of "Lost" have desperately wanted to create a multimedia concept. Unfortunately, the implementation has been sketchy at best and abysmal at worst.
"Bad Twin" was supposed to be a clever example of meta-fiction; instead, the selected author decided to take an unexpected and undesirable direction. The subsequent "Lost" novels have been generally panned. The most successful enterprise was the "Lost Experience", but it suffered from several fatal flaws, the most problematic being its casual connection to the series' canon. "Via Domus" is just the latest attempt to capitalize on the depth of the "Lost" universe.
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were involved with the conception and plot elements of "Via Domus", which should have resulted in a relatively tight fit with continuity. Not surprisingly, the realities of gaming forced a few concessions. Many of those concessions undermine the game as a whole, both in terms of its effectiveness and its enjoyment.
Players take control of a character who suffers from amnesia after the fateful crash of Oceanic 815. The story is broken into seven chapters, each presented as a mini-episode, and the point of the game is to determine your character's history and chart the typical path of redemption at the heart of "Lost". Along the way, as one of those characters standing around in the background, players interact with the main characters of "Lost" while experiencing some of the highlights from the first two seasons.
Like the show, the main action takes place on the island, but the character experiences flashbacks, which involve game play elements as well. The flashbacks are sufficiently isolated to the back story of "Lost" and the game's main character to remain viable as canon. Unfortunately, the interactions on the island are often out of sequence with events as shown in the series. The longer one plays, the more obvious it becomes that the story doesn't quite fit.
Like the "Lost Experience", one is left to determine which items are actually meaningful to the canon of the series and which ones are best discarded. This is problematic, because fans of "Lost" want answers at the end of the thrill ride, especially a game meant to provide revelations, and anything providing information of questionable value only adds to the frustration. Also, at $60 retail, players have every reason to expect that the story will be meaningful.
They also have reason to expect that the actual cast will provide voiceovers, or that an extensive search will be made to find replacements worthy of the task. While many of the less prominent cast members happily contributed, most of the heavy-hitters did not. The replacements for Jack, Kate, and Hurley aren't too bad, and those for Sayid and Charlie are barely tolerable. The replacement for Locke, however, is incredibly bad and sounds nothing like Terry O'Quinn. It's so bad that it pulls you right out of the game.
Beyond the voiceovers, the audio works wonderfully. They truly capture the sound of the "smoke monster", and the sounds within the Swan Station are authentic. The musical score is evocative of the series. They also win, for the most part, on the graphics. The island looks beautiful, and it highlights how confusing it can be to navigate a tropical jungle.
That factors into the game play, but not as much as one would suspect. The game is remarkably linear, and the areas available for exploration are typically quite small. This is yet another disappointing feature of the game. This is the kind of property screaming for an "open world" gaming experience. If the story is already pseudo-canon, why not diverge a bit more and allow the players to access more of the island?
Also, the game play is about 95% conversation and puzzle-solving. You can use a gun now and then, but it's only essential in three instances, and those instances require exactly zero skill. The conversations are short and generally provide fan service, while the puzzles are far from challenging. The most difficult part of the game comes with the flashbacks. Your character is a photographer, so within each flashback, a picture must be taken to trigger a returning memory, relevant to the character arc. Unfortunately, the camera controls are incredibly touchy, and the pictures are hard to take within the desired parameters. It's beyond frustrating.
With so many shortcomings, the game could have at least been long enough to justify the effort and cost. Instead, the game took me about six hours to complete, and the experience is so straightforward that I was able to do it in a matter of a few nights. I could forgive many of the other issues with the game if it provided lasting entertainment, but not when the extras on the DVD sets are more substantial.
One of the first licensed games I played was "The X-Files: Resist or Serve". Not only was it true to the series' premise, but it was a fairly long and challenging game. It was rewarding for the fans on several levels. This game is too short, the mechanics of the game play are too simple or too frustrating, and with a story that is decidedly non-canon, it adds little to the franchise. As a result, I cannot suggest to anyone that they buy the game. At best, it is a rental, and only for dedicated "Lost" fans.
