Lost: Via Domus

Lost: Via DomusUbisoft, Unisoft MontrealTV shows, as a general rule, do not usually translate well into the worldof gaming. Lost: Via Domus (retailing at $29.99) continues that tradition.Although it is an improvement over Ubisoft's CSI game franchise. Starting withthe positive, the atmospheres and lighting are very good. The stories fit intothe first two seasons of the series and the flashbacks are online with the basiccharacter plots already detailed in the show.For those of you not already familiar with the basic premise of Lost, thegame sets it up for you at the start. Oceanic Airlines flight 815 crashedsomewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The game leaves it unclear as to weather you endup on the island somewhere or on some different location. The game adds anothercharacter into the mix. Otherwise the basic plot and characterizationsestablished in the show remain intact.In the game you assume the role of an amnesiac photojournalist who wasaboard the doomed flight. During the game your goal is to figure out who you areand why and how you ended up on the plane and in turn the island. You accomplishthis through a series of tasks, talking to other survivors and correctlyidentifying clues peppered throughout the flashbacks.As you continue on your gaming journey, you discover that you had a camerawith you on the plane and there are photos on there that have angered anothersurvivor enough to obtain whatever is on that camera and in the processeliminate you as well. The events in the story follow the storylines of seasonsone and two pretty well, except some additional characters that did not appearuntil the third season are included to allow for the tension between theoriginal castaways and the others.The environments have amazing detail, allowing the gamer to zoom in ondetails that normally go by too fast on the actual show. The crash site looksjust about how it is depicted in the show's pilot episode, however the pre-crashflashbacks are a little off from the string of events portrayed on the show,this may be to allow for the inclusion of your character in future flashbacksthat will unfold as the game continues.The flashbacks are done in a creative way that has you matched parts of thephotographs from the camera with the actual person or location in yourflashback. The characters also interact in a believable way. Some of yourcharacters dialog is repeated a bit too often, which gets a little annoying, butoverall the banter is engaging and informative enough to maintain interest andgive you clues you need to continue through the game.As for the game playitself, you'll be entertained and challenged with bartering, exploringhot-wiring and pistol firing sequences. However, and this is where the negativeaspects come into play, you'll find that you end up playing the samefuse-plugging minigames as a requirement to access everything from old hatcheson the island to the crashed jetliner's fuselage. Also, the charactersthemselves look a little bit off from there small screen counterparts and thelip-syncing is noticeably off.Overall, the PC version of the Lost: Via Domus allows for seamless mouseand keyboard controls. The PS3 and XBox 360 versions perform in a similar mannerto the PC version (although the PS3 version is brighter and has betterresolution, but all versions are basically the same gaming experience). Keep inmind that this is one of those games that will be enjoyable once, because onceyou've figured out who your character is and what his role on the island is,there is no point to the game anymore except to brush up on skills throughrepeat play, but that only holds so much interest and the total game play timeisn't necessarily worth the near $30 price tag.