The basic premise that all video games based on movies or television shows suck has slowly been falling away. With great titles like Lego Star wars (the whole series), Spiderman, The Simpsons, CSI, and Superman. Well ok I guess outside of the Lego franchise they all were pretty bad or even horrible in the case of the CSI games.

            Now LOST: Via Domus doesnt hurt nor does it help the cause for movie and TV based games. As a game based on the Lost television series it has enough mystery and fun for the true Lost fans out there. It will also have some fun factor for those fans of the old school games where hunting for clues and running through the same areas over and over were the staple of the game play.  Outside of those gamers I can only say its a weekend rental for those people looking for the most basic of reasons Achievements. Yep theyre fairly easy to gain, and just finishing the various episodes of the game will garner you nearly half of the 1000 pt.s available. The other achievements are as simple as taking photos of various items that belong to other characters, taking pics of important items in certain areas (like in the Hatch), or what is the easiest of those to gain just find the few items in the flashbacks that are key to your regaining your memory. These are simple to find, and all it takes is wandering around the small areas in those flashbacks until you get the little words asking if you want to investigate that item.

            Now lets move on to the storyline for this game. Its much like the show itself, and for fans of the show it will again be a cool way to see the major events from the show from yet another point of view.  Beyond that the story is a spin on one of the oldest storylines ever used in TVs, movies, or games. Yes they pulled out the good ol amnesia theme for this game. I am both sad and shocked to have since learned that not only did they weasel out and use this idea, but it was also decided upon by some of the main writers from the show who had been involved since the beginning with this game.

            So you start off on the plane, crash, and become one of the 48 survivors of Oceanic flight 815, but with you not having any memory you find that instead of helping people make camp, find food, and things that normal people would be doing in this kind of crisis. You instead start traipsing around the jungle looking for clues to who you are.  The one positive I can say about using the amnesia problem is that it allows them to keep the main character in this game involved in the storyline of the show without it getting in the way of all the things we know already.

            The controls on this game are very basic. With you using one button to talk or interact with items in the game, one of the shoulder buttons is used as a sprint button, but I have found that the only reason they really put it in there was to help the player get from point A to point B in less time. I havent honestly run into a reason that it was needed in the game. I have only played through just over ½ the game, but being a fan of the show and having read a walkthrough since playing the game I still see no reason to have the run button.

            You will find that the main focus in this game actually diverts at times from being a game about finding out who you really are, and ends up being a game of finding tons of useless items that you can in turn trade with the other survivors to get the actual needed items like guns, ammo, and a lantern. Seeing as how you need to pay like $100 for a gun, and a coconut scores you about $5 in trade value you end up running around mindlessly hoping to find more fruits, nuts, and water bottles to trade.

            The puzzles that you run into on this game run the normal side of things. Like the main thing Ive run into being the now common fix the fuse box puzzles. You have to re-route these in order to move along in the storyline, and I got so frustrated at one point that I ended up looking up that afore mentioned FAQ to help me with getting through the ones in the hatch. They will make you want to chuck your controller at the TV after the few times you continue trying to fix them. I guess if you are an electrician or have that kind of knowledge it may be easier, but for a guy with little skill in repairing things I was about to give up.

            The graphics on this game are nice, but not something that will pull you off your seat. In fact they seemed to not get the idea of consistency for the main characters you deal with. Some of them like John Locke, Charlie Pace, or Kate Austen look much like their TV counterparts, but then you see Hurley or Sayid for the first time, and have to ask yourself who fell asleep at the design table. Now I get it that Hurley is a big dude, and is one of the few TV stars I look at and know that I am not that big in comparison, but they really missed the mark with him. His face looks immense, and doesnt sit well with me anytime I see it on the game.

            Even as true fans play this game, and smile as they see Sawyer sitting on the piece of debris from the plane in the first episode, or seeing Kate playing with her toy plane from her past. Those same fans will cry like Jack at the terrible voice actors they got to portray the cast. They game makers should have found a way to get the real cast in to do the voices, and it would have held me a bit longer to the idea that it is a Lost game, and not some random adventure.

            Finally Ill say that with this game being very linear, having ok controls, a decent storyline, and solid graphics you can see why this game was made. It was made with the hardcore Lost fans in mind. Its just another piece of the marketing pie that they wanted to cash in on while the flames are hot for the show.

            With keeping all of those things in mind I cannot recommend this to anyone (even fans of the show) as more than a rental at best. For anyone who buys this you are a Lost fanatic of the likes I used to be, and will buy and collect anything Lost related.