Iain finds a reason to get back into Lost.

I must admit, I gave up watching Lost towards the beginning of the third season. I was of the opinion that it just wasn't fun any more, and despite being unarguably gripping television, the feeling of needing to watch the next episode but not actually looking forward to it finally wore me down and I got out of the cycle.

Throughout my time keeping up with the survivors of Oceanic 815 I was always aware of the potential the story had in videogame format. It's the perfect set up for a tense, intriguing adventure game, capitalising on the superbly well-developed characters and story-arc of the show. Ubisoft evidently felt the same, and thus we are presented with Lost: Via Domus, a new story set amongst the aftermath of the crash.

It's centred around a new passenger of that fateful flight, one Mr. Elliot Maslow, an American photojournalist in Sydney to get particularly big scoop. In true Lost style however, you don't know the exact reason for your being in Sydney, being on the plane, or indeed, anything as due to a bout of trauma-induced amnesia, you wake up on the island with no idea who, what or where you are.

In a nod to the original TV format, the game is split into episodes, each starting with a "Previously on Lost..." recap and ending with those cliff-hangers that the writers are so fond of. Each episode also has several playable flashbacks, unveiling more of your character's backstory each time. Once a flashback is triggered, you're shown a brief glimpse of a torn up photograph, which you have to recreate by taking photos using your camera within the flashback. Once you've got a photo of all the right elements of the scene to trigger a memory, you're rewarded with a brief cutscene, the grey blur effect (representative of your recollection being foggy) is lifted, and a new facet of the story is revealed.

Mmmm...Kate

Back on the island, the gameplay is split into several distinct sections. The first you'll encounter is the basic exploration/talky bit, with you waking up in the jungle and having to find your way to the beach, meeting and talking to Kate on the way. Dialogue is handled in a fairly typical adventure game style, with several subject trees available to you. It's also split out into more general topics; Quest, General, Inventory and Trade. Quest topics will either give you something to do, or give you more information on what you're supposed to be doing while General options will tell you more about the island, and background of the characters that you're talking to. Inventory allows you to talk about the gear you're carrying around with you, while Trade, only available for certain people at certain times, is where you trade all that superfluous fruit and such for more useful stuff.

The trade system, while being quite simple, is a bit different to what you may be used to. As there's no economy on the island, you trade things you find, worth a set amount of dollars, for items that the other person is carrying of an equal value. For example, Michael has several torches that you need to proceed, and they're worth $10 each. You can trade him 5 coconuts (worth $2 each) or 2 bottles of water (worth $5 each), or indeed any combination of items to make up the cost of the torch.

Other gameplay elements include picking your way through pitch-black caves with the aid of the aforementioned torches and legging it from the mysterious black smoke (along a set route, using one button to jump low obstacles and another to duck high obstructions.)

While these may initially look and feel a bit like a series of mini-games, the nature of the story and the tone keep them feeling cohesive and a useful part of a much larger experience. And it helps that you're always basked in glorious visuals.

Welcome to the Jungle

It uses a modified version of the Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter engine, which was built specifically to deal with built up urban areas. Don't let that worry you however, because it does an admirable job of built up jungle as well. The environments, ranging from dense jungle, claustrophobic caves or the open expanses of the beach all look lush (or bleak, depending on the area but it's all appropriate and all looks great). Characters as well are superbly modelled and instantly recognisable.

So it's a franchise with some genuine potential that could, for once, be realised. From what we've seen so far Ubisoft have pitched it perfectly, with the emphasis firmly on the adventuring rather than the bombastic action. We'll find out if the final product capitalises on the potential and turns it into a great game, soon.

Preview by: Iain Thomas
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Preview Published: 25.01.08