LOST

06.03.2008

The game begins in the same way as the TV series — with a plane crash. A plane full of passengers crashes onto a remote island — with just a few survivors. As you'd expect, the main character is one of those lucky enough to live through the crash, although he has lost his memory. He can't even remember his name. Only as time goes by can you use flashbacks to piece together your character's past and the events leading up to and during the air disaster. Talking to the other castaways also helps, but all too often they will back out of conversation with monosyllabic one-liners. Following the format of a point-and-click adventure, you can pose predetermined "what has happened"-style questions via an interface. However, just like previous adventures, there's no point asking the same question more than once as the characters on this tropical island stick stubbornly to the predetermined script and always offer the same answers. Not very 2008.

The smart flashbacks are however next-gen material. At various points during the game, a memory comes flooding back to the man with no name, revealing part of his past. You then have to pick out the key bits of information from a cut scene. You can use a camera to zoom in and bring the blurry images into sharper focus. Once you've uncovered that vital piece of evidence, you need to press the shutter release to banish part of the amnesia so the main character can retain the memory. One photo in particular plays a key role, as does the eerie appearance of a girl you need to find out more about.

Also of great importance are individual objects lying around on the beach that you can collect, such as coconuts and bottles of water. You can exchange these items with other characters for more important wares. However, it is important to know in advance what that person has to offer — otherwise it'll be a waste of a coconut. Fortunately though, there are plenty of them to be found along the shore so you can experiment a little.

The game is split into different episodes, allowing you to explore the island over time. Once you've completed an episode, you're given a recap of previous events as per the TV series — this is a nice touch. During the missions themselves you must solve puzzles, e.g. connecting electrical parts using a specific supply of jigsaw pieces, so that what remains of the plane wreckage doesn't explode too. The puzzles are not especially challenging and seasoned gamers are likely to tire of them very quickly.

A notebook provides information on the current status and which task is next on the agenda. Lost is a very linear game — the mission objectives must be completed individually and even the jungle offers few opportunities to stray from the right path. If you do try to go the wrong way, then it's game over pretty quickly and you have to start again from the last checkpoint. In this respect, Lost isn't always a proper game; rather an extension of the TV series. This is in keeping with the graphics, which look amazing in the jungle but do not match the brilliance of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The character design is more successful; even if you only know the series from the trailer, you can see how well and how accurately the individual actors have been portrayed — the graphics place more value on the characters than on the surroundings. What is good is that the German dubbing artists were brought on board for the game, which is bound to please many fans of Lost. Nothing is more frustrating than different dubbing artists being used for well-known faces.