Lost: Via Domus By Kenneth Cox on Mar 17, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

Lost: Via Domus Ubisoft, Unisoft Montreal TV shows, as a general rule, do not usually translate well into the world of gaming. Lost: Via Domus (retailing at $29.99) continues that tradition. Although it is an improvement over Ubisoft's CSI game franchise. Starting with the positive, the atmospheres and lighting are very good. The stories fit into the first two seasons of the series and the flashbacks are online with the basic character plots already detailed in the show. For those of you not already familiar with the basic premise of Lost, the game sets it up for you at the start. Oceanic Airlines flight 815 crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The game leaves it unclear as to weather you end up on the island somewhere or on some different location. The game adds another character into the mix. Otherwise the basic plot and characterizations established in the show remain intact. In the game you assume the role of an amnesiac photojournalist who was aboard the doomed flight. During the game your goal is to figure out who you are and why and how you ended up on the plane and in turn the island. You accomplish this through a series of tasks, talking to other survivors and correctly identifying clues peppered throughout the flashbacks. As you continue on your gaming journey, you discover that you had a camera with you on the plane and there are photos on there that have angered another survivor enough to obtain whatever is on that camera and in the process eliminate you as well. The events in the story follow the storylines of seasons one and two pretty well, except some additional characters that did not appear until the third season are included to allow for the tension between the original castaways and the others. The environments have amazing detail, allowing the gamer to zoom in on details that normally go by too fast on the actual show. The crash site looks just about how it is depicted in the show's pilot episode, however the pre-crash flashbacks 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 flashbacks that will unfold as the game continues. The flashbacks are done in a creative way that has you matched parts of the photographs from the camera with the actual person or location in your flashback. The characters also interact in a believable way. Some of your characters dialog is repeated a bit too often, which gets a little annoying, but overall the banter is engaging and informative enough to maintain interest and give you clues you need to continue through the game.As for the game play itself, you'll be entertained and challenged with bartering, exploring hot-wiring and pistol firing sequences. However, and this is where the negative aspects come into play, you'll find that you end up playing the same fuse-plugging minigames as a requirement to access everything from old hatches on the island to the crashed jetliner's fuselage. Also, the characters themselves look a little bit off from there small screen counterparts and the lip-syncing is noticeably off. Overall, the PC version of the Lost: Via Domus allows for seamless mouse and keyboard controls. The PS3 and XBox 360 versions perform in a similar manner to the PC version (although the PS3 version is brighter and has better resolution, but all versions are basically the same gaming experience). Keep in mind that this is one of those games that will be enjoyable once, because once you'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 through repeat play, but that only holds so much interest and the total game play time isn't necessarily worth the near $30 price tag.