Lost in Blue Review (no fat)

Game Description

Survival horror takes a backseat to a virtual survivor, Lost in Blue tells the tale of two young adults trying to tough it on a deserted island. With all the necessary tools at their fingertips, Keith and Skye must brave the perils of a natural society and try to find a way to fit in.

Based on Survival Kids for the Gameboy platform, Lost in Blue builds upon the success of the series with numerous graphical and technological improvements.

Lost in Blue Story

Surviving a disaster at sea, young Keith finds himself stranded on an island with no hope of leaving. His only way of survival is the natural environment and its wildlife. Things take an even worse turn when Skye shows up on the island and makes life even more difficult than it was before.

Now with two people to tend to, the adventure unfolds into a survival version of The Sims.

Lost in Blue Gameplay

Copying the popular Sims format, Lost at Blue consists of trying to keep your two characters alive by tending to their daily needs. Various mini-games along the lines of fishing, hunting, building furniture and more prepares the gamer for an immersive island experience.

The pace of the adventure is slow, and exploration is cut to less than a quarter because of the needs of the main hero and heroine. Keith will become tired more often than not, and since getting food is essential in the game it becomes almost a repeat process of finding food, hunting/gathering it, bringing it back to the cave, sleep and repeat.

Skye is a bit aloof but provides necessary functions like cooking, and making various tools for Keith. Keith can issue commands to her but unfortunately the AI is a bit blonde, not much of a joke as it is the sad truth that leaving her in a well kept cave still amounts to misfortune.

Considering Keith’s major needs and how often they need to be met, adding on the heavy task of taking care of Skye leaves even less time to explore. She eventually becomes a human Tamagotchi (you remember one of those irritating handheld pets), and once pleasing tasks become repetitive.

This becomes more evident when you decide to take her out with you exploring, and have to help her along. Since obstacles randomly find a way to stop your progress, you spend majority of your time solving mini-puzzles, and once again rushing back to your shelter to tend to the characters needs.

Skye plays the helpless damsel to a tee, from needing a hand to climb something to having to do almost the simplest of tasks. It would have been rewarding to maybe have her gain experience, possibly so that tasks she once screwed up can become more familiar to her.

The dialogue between the two is a bit rehearsed, and really doesn’t offer much in terms of character development. Putting the tedious tasks aside, when players do get time to explore the island they will be amazed. The mini-games are incredibly fun at the beginning but eventually wear off after use, but still the idea of blowing into the DS speaker and tapping the shoulder buttons to make a fire is incredible.

More of this use of the DS’s technology would have been warranted, and could have added an extra layer of interest to the game.

Replayability is with the option of playing as Skye, for a different experience. How different it will be compared to playing as Keith is up to the gamers imagination.

Lost in Blue Surviving

The touchscreen returns again, but is pretty useful in the game. From allowing a player to dig to even controlling fishing, the touchscreen finally has usefulness. It is still a bit too sensitive for some parts, but patience is key in the game and will pay off for those willing to chance it.

The realism of the game is appreciated but puts even more burden on the survival aspect, as making new tools is a chore and breaking them becomes a royal pain. Setting traps to catch animals for food seems to mimic a one sided turn-based battle. Gamers will find that sometimes by the time they finish setting traps, Porky Pig will have pranced off into the sunset leaving them high and dry.

The easy way around the game is getting natural foods, like berries or mushrooms. However, even the easy way out comes with its dangrs, as some of nature’s goodies are poisonous.

Menus are well done and understandable, and even when it seems the bottom screen is unnecessary you still feel as if it is doing its job.

Lost in Blue Graphics

Because of the games setting, it puts a high demand on the graphics to deliver a deep experience. Not disappointing at all, the engine flows beautifully, in collaboration with the touchscreen to give you that feeling of really being there.

The characters themselves are nothing special, but the 3d world they move in is truly an awesome thing to be in… that is, if you have time to explore it.

Lost in Blue Sound

Looping soundtrack aside, there really is not that many memorable sound effects in the game. Voice-overs are kept to a bare minimum while the music that does play, provides a nice calming feel. You get the sense you really are on an adventure.

Lost in Blue Summing up

Lost in Blue is not a horrible game, because to call it a horrible game then one would have to question The Sims series. But it definitely falls under the past-time of idiotic tasks that repeat endlessly with no noticeable end or improvement. The RPG part of the game is really disguised and this should be treated as a simulation and nothing more.

Only die hard fans with remarkable patience should come near this game.

Lost in Blue Cost

The game retails for $27.54, at the time of writing.