It was so very bad.
So, a few notes (which I’m sure several people have made throughout the Internet):
– The framerate is UNACCEPTABLE. Sometimes the game runs well, sometimes it runs like a slideshow. Let me be crystal on this: THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON IN THIS GAME THAT NECESSITATES A BAD FRAMERATE. It is running on a version of the GRAW engine, and there is literally almost no AI and very few control options. Add to that some fairly restrictive level design (even though you are on an island) and visuals that don’t raise the bar (and in some cases lower it), and this is an embarrassment of technology implementation.
– You need to know Lost. I don’t know that this is a terrible thing in and of itself (some folks might disagree with me), but there is literally no way you would understand what is happening in this game if you haven’t watched a WHOLE BUNCH of Lost. Want to know why Sun is talking in Korean one “episode” (more on that later), and English the next? How ‘bout why characters are appearing and disappearing throughout the game? And all those quotes on the inexcusable amount of loading screens from people who aren’t in the game? This game will make you feel bad for not watching the show. Or you won’t care. (I’m betting on the second one).
– It is SHORT. I finished the entire experience in 5 hours of straight play. As this is such a short experience, that they couldn’t make it run well and be engaging is even more frustrating.
– Gameplay is a terrible mixed bag. The only real fun and somewhat rewarding part of the game is the “fuse minigame”. For some reason, there are several electrical panels scattered about the island that operate the same way, and take the same three kinds of fuses. The needed fuses are also randomly placed about the island. While this minigame only comes up a handful of times during the game (and are exactly the same), they still managed to add a tiny bit of frustration to the proceedings by making the puzzles impossible if you haven’t found enough of the right kind of fuses to beat the game. As you are trying to figure out how to solve the puzzle, you are always wondering in dread whether you’ll have to venture out into the rest of the “game” (and away from this solitary piece of gameplay solace) to find more bloody fuses. The rest of the gameplay moments are silly, and really just a collection of much-more-poorly-implemented minigames, culled from Fusion Frenzy (a “jump or duck” minigame when running away from the Black Smoke Monster in one scene and The Others in a second scene), Beyond Good and Evil (photography without reward, direction, or proper feedback), and Mass Effect (the conversation and trading elements are VERY basic RPG and at least as clumsily-handled as every other aspect of the game, so probably pre-Mass Effect; it’s the most recent RPG that I’ve played, though). There are several ideas that might have had promise in the hands of a competent game designer, but they spiral into frustration and uninspired mash-ups of concepts that always bring on the hate.
– This one gets its own section…The busted “challenge jungle sections” (the game chapters are typically sliced up into Beach, then Dangerous Jungle, then Not Dangerous Goal sections, and they are not the least bit ashamed to display that, unfortunately). These have you stumbling around the confusing jungle while the Black Smoke Monster prowls the area. When it gets close, you need to run into the visually familiar banya tree roots to hide from it. The issue here is the alarming frequency with which the Black Smoke Monster pops up, and how quickly he “finds” you (the event is punctuated by the series’ familiar Scary Horns Section Hit). When found, you must run (read: shuffle uncomfortably with two wooden legs) to a banya root system to hide. The “challenge” comes in because the actual jungle section where this occurs is not very big, and although you aren’t always limited by geometry of trees and brush, your character will groan about “getting his bearings” when he runs out of bounds. Because of this, you have seconds between markers (a series of checkpoints that literally point your head in the right direction) before the Scary Horns Section alerts you to your smoky friend. Add to this the fact that going into the roots to hide resets the direction you are pointing (and an oh-so-special-carry-the-dynamite-back-to-the-spot-which-means-you-can’t-even-shuffle-away implementation at the end) and you will literally be screaming in rage (not fear) at your console when these sections pop up.
As far as the “twist”, it might’ve been interesting if everything before it was even passable, but the fact remains that it is a small bit of fun confusion to a totally forgettable and not well-paced or well-told story experience, and that’s just not worth it. Going back to this being a game “for Lost fans”, I am offended that it relies so heavily on me being a Lost fan (to be fair, only a diehard fan would even attempt to trudge through this lame excuse for entertainment). Much like a movie based on a TV series, there has to be more in the way of exposition and setup for folks coming into the experience for the first time. Leaving that stuff out doesn’t make this a “fans only” experience, it makes it feel incomplete. Even though I love the show, I was hard-pressed to remember much of anything from the first two seasons, and I just watched them! It has to stand on its own, or the kicker at the end has no gravity at all.
I truly hate how mishandled this was; I love the Lost franchise so very much, and to have this happen to it feels very wrong. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go download the Battlestar Galactica XBLA game while I choke on my own vomit.
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