'Lost' Via Domus Review: Part 1

Over the last few months here on the blog, we've looked at a lot of ancillary narrative set within the Lost world. I've lauded these alternative narratives, written about them, and most importantly, mined them for information that could yield answers within the show itself. After all, I'm your humble, intrepid Lost blogger, so part of my job involves looking beyond the mere surface of the show for clues that could unlock mysteries or suggest answers.

And yet, as evidenced here recently, such searching may not always be the best course of action. I don't mean to rehash the recent past here, but sufficed to say, we all need to take just a pinch of salt when applying elements found in such alternative outlets as "The Lost Experience," "Bad Twin," "Find815", and now, the video game Via Domus to the mothership that is Lost. I'm not entirely happy about this, but them's the rules laid out by the producers, so I'd be a fool to ignore their proclamations.

With that all said, I bought Via Domus last week, in search of answers. Armed with a Playstation 3 and a whole shaker of salt, I worked my way through the game. And honestly? I've mixed emotions. Certain things about Via Domus are FANTASTIC, and others are so cringe-worthy that I'm semi-ashamed to be admitting on the internet that I even played it.

And then there's the story...more importantly, the ending. There's some stuff in here that I really hope is Darlton approved. For one thing, the story line itself features supporting evidence for theories I've been floating for months, and secondly, the ending? The ending, conceived by Damon Lindelof himself, has such huge implications for Season 4 and beyond that I pray, pray, pray we get confirmation from him that yes, that ending is canon in terms of its applicability to Lost.

After all, while Find815 was deemed non-canon by Darlton, elements from it showed up all over the place in "The Constant." Penny's phone number, Penny's address, and Hanso's journal were all elements first learned within the ARG. So while we can't take everything in Via Domus as canon, perhaps there are some elements we can apply to Lost and make some interesting discoveries.

But I won't make this journey alone, no sir. I've recruited one of Zap2It's finest, Andy Grieser, to take this trip with me. Which is a long way of saying there's no way I'd play this relatively awful game without making someone else around here suffer. I've been sharing my thoughts with him as we progress through each of the seven chapters of the game. Today, I'll share our thoughts on the first three chapters, and tomorrow will feature our thoughts on the final four. Think of it as a way "behind the scenes," as it were, here at Zap2It. Only in this case, the men behind the curtain are geeks with PS3s. Disappointing, I know.

(Video of each chapter in its entirety will follow our discussion. God bless YouTube.)

Chapter 1

Ryan: Our protagonist looks like he's being stalked by Jason Statham on Oceanic 815. Weird. Why is The Transporter after our boy? Plane goes down, and our boy encounters Christian's shoe and the ghost of a woman we don't know yet. He then encounters Kate, who as you've rightly pointed out, is one of the few characters in the game that actually resembles the character on the show. If Kate's a 9/10 in terms of resemblance, Claire's about a 5, and Hurley is a negative 16. Dude looks like a vat of pudding given facial features. Just awful.

After a flashback, we have our first real game play: an epic "chase Vincent" sequence! Yes, that's sarcasm. I'd call the fact that I have a 50-inch TV and had to squint to pick up Vincent a "design flaw." Elliot has to stop the plane on the beach from exploding via a fuse puzzle, the first of approximately 60 of these things in the game. Later than night, notJason Statham beats the heck out of Elliot on the beach, the first of approximately 60 times Elliot has his hat handed to him in the game. Honestly, he rivals Lex Luthor of Smallville in terms of numbers of concussions suffered when all is said and done.

Andy: Ryan, I'll admit to being nonplussed from the beginning. In a previous incarnation, I wrote about video games, and I admit to being most comfortable with a short tutorial followed by the meat of the game. Via Domus has no tutorial, really, and the follow-Vincent sequence is never used again. As for the rest of the chapter, for once the oft bemoaning role-playing game drudgework would have added some nice gameplay. Why no sequence for building the camp and learning to survive, a la the fantastic Lost in Blue games?

On the plus side, the pacing and video sequences do give off a Lost vibe, and I loved loved loved the "previously on 'Lost'" montage at the beginning of each new chapter. While I agree that the character models range from spot-on to unrecognizable (witness Claire's Dolly Parton-sized chest), the jungle graphics are really well done.

Chapter 2

Ryan: Andy, the graphics and sound (aside from facial representations) are uniformly fantastic, agreed. It looks and feels next-gen, from the music to the sway of the leaves in the wind. In Chapter 2, we get our first glimpse of the Monster, after Elliot tricks Jack from blocking the only way into the jungle. Yes, the only way. Not only is this dumb, but makes Jack even more insufferable than he can be on the show, which I thought was an impossibility.

Hiding from the monster inside the banyan tress clusters is actually one of the more immersive parts of the game: The combo of first-person perspective and hearing the monster circle throughout my surround sound was absolutely fantastic. More than made up for the suddenly sniper-happy Others trying to take me out while I made my way to the cockpit.

And when meeting Ben at the end of this chapter, what did you think meant when Ben suggested Elliot may be "The One?" Is Elliot Neo?

Andy: Absolutely, the sequence of avoiding Smokey to get to the cockpit was the best thus far into the game. I'll admit to being pounded to paste on my first try, and during the next one I stayed inside a banyan for a while just to watch a listen to Smokey move around. The chattering signaling its approach still makes me shiver. The Jack "puzzle"? Laughable. The flashback photo shoots are neat, if awkward, but I'll go back to saying I'd much rather Jack have tasked me with gathering food or, in pure RPG fashion, killing rats. I also liked the fuse game in the cockpit (and elsewhere), but I'm one of the few people who played the pipe game in Bioshock as often as possible.

The Ben sequence post-cockpit felt a little too much like Mary Ellen or Sue Ellen or whatever the practice is where a fanfic writer makes him- or herself the hero. Ben's turn as Henry Gale was one of the show's best character introductions, and I dislike Elliot meeting him first. As for The One, maybe Ben needed a portrait photo session done after his spinal surgery?

Chapter 3

Ryan: Andrew, love that photo session theory. I personally can't wait to visit the "Olan Mills" Hatch in Season 5. Also love how we both avoided discussing the cave sequence in Chapter 2, trying to will it out of existence. Sadly, there's no avoiding the caves in this chapter.

The caves bring up a feature we haven't discussed yet: bartering. Seemingly everyone in Via Domus indulges his/her inner Sawyer and forces you to trade up elements such as cococuts, papaya and water bottles in exchange for things like torches and guns. I could see using Sawyer as the be all and end all in terms of this system, but Michael, Locke, Charlie and even Juliet seem willing to trade with our protagonist. And who determined the exact currency in which twenty-five coconuts equals one hand gun? Those Dharma dollars sure are weird.

But trade you must, since you need torches to maneuver through the ridiculously laid out caves. I got so fed up at one point trying to find my way through that I just kept forgoing the torches altogether, preferring to let Elliot continually burn his hand on the lighter. Even more ridiculous than this was the reason for going into the cave: Locke goes all Yoda on your Luke and tells you to essentially face your demons inside the cave. Rather than slicing your own head off, however, you receive a compass adorned with the Latin title that gives the game its name. All this so Locke will give you a laptop battery to power up your PC.

So Andy: why wouldn't Elliot just trade Sawyer a few dozen papaya for a battery? Is the improper Latin (it should read Via Domum, really) a clue or just shoddy oversight? And how many coconuts do I have to give you in exchange for your take on Chapter 3?

Andy: The great thing about coconuts is that they regenerate, so you can pick clean an area and do so again the next time you're there. I agree that canon dictates Sawyer be the trader, and I actually like the idea of commodities like Dharma Beer and Apollo Bars being valuable enough to barter for a gun, lamp and so on. I had to laugh, though, when junkie Charlie sold me a handgun.

You mention caves, so important to Chapter 3. That lets me rail against the checkpoint-saving system, which in this case occurs not at the cave but a few minutes before. Every time I died in Locke's cave, I had to tediously pick up coconuts, barter for torches, hear the awful Terry O'Quinn impersonator and then head back to the dark. Locke's cave is full of cheap tricks, like bottomless pits hidden in the shadows and behind waterfalls. And then there's the loop back at one point, which took me back to the start after having burned two precious torches. I almost threw my controller across the room.

After all is said and done, though, you do get a new flashback and some more of Elliot's back story, which is intriguing. We now see that he's tied in with a Hanso offshoot, though of course it's not canon if it's not on ABC Thursday nights. What did you think of our hero's journeys in memory and the next chapter's adventures in The Swan?

Ryan: Andy, thanks for pointing out something I've unwittingly omitted: the voice acting is just...God...awful. Most often, these take the form of people who sound nothing like the character spitting out sentences that the character wouldn't say in the first place. It's like a combination of the worst episode of Lost and the worst episode of FrankTV all spit out at 720p. And when they did manage to land the actual actor? The performances are listless at best. Anytime you can have Michael Emerson speaking lines as Ben and have me bored to tears, you're just not doing your job.

As for Elliot's adventures in the Swan...well, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out!

Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude.