Stranded characters on a deserted
island has always been one of the most popular situations for stories to be set
in. From Robinson Crusoe to Gilligan’s Island to Survivor to Lost, we have
always been fascinated with the idea of ordinary people being forced to survive
with nothing more than their own wits, strength, and speed. The subject has
rarely been used as a setting for video games, however. On the Game Boy Color,
Konami released Survival Kids, giving players the chance to try their hands at
living on their own in the wild. The spiritual successor to that title, Lost In
Blue, was released for the Nintendo DS, and was successful enough to warrant the
release of a sequel, Lost In Blue 2.
As either Jack or Amy, two teenagers
who both happen to survive a cruise ship wreck, you must keep yourself and your
partner alive on a mysterious, jungle-covered island. You must find water, food,
and shelter, all the while searching for a way to escape back to your home. The
game’s premise is strong, and exploration of the island is fun and exciting.
Using only what you can find, you must create fire, makeshift weapons for
protection and hunting, and edible food. You not only have to worry about the
big problems, i.e. getting off the island safely, but also your basic, everyday
concerns. And it is here, unfortunately, that the game falls apart.
The characters have four basic
statistics: hunger, thirst, need for rest, and overall health. Each is
represented as a percentage out of a hundred. Anytime either character gets a
low percentage (under 40 percent) in any stat, they’ll let you know about it,
over and over. This would not be such a problem if it weren’t so hard to keep
the statistics up, especially hunger. You can spend all day gathering as much
food as possible, bring it back to your cave/improvised home, and in all
likelihood you probably still won’t restore more than thirty or forty percent of
your hunger. Even worse is the way the statistics relate to each other; if
you’re too hungry or thirsty, you can’t go to sleep, but if you’re too tired,
you can’t carry on to search for food and water. It makes survival much more
difficult than it should be and certainly too hard to be any fun.
Making matters worse is the fact
that your partner character is completely useless. If left to their own devices,
they will die of thirst before they go get a drink from the stream that is
literally right outside the cave; you have to take them by the hand and pull them
into the stream to get them to drink. The same goes for eating and sleeping;
your partner will do nothing to stop their own demise, leaving you to do it for
them. Sure, if you ask them to make something while you’re gone (like a firestarter or a spear), they will, but you could just as easily do it yourself.
Of course, if they die, it’s game over for you, so you’ve got no choice but to
babysit your partner constantly. This, coupled with the difficulty of keeping
your statistics high, adds a severe frustration factor to the title.
Which is a real shame, because
if you can look past these two crippling flaws, there’s definitely the potential
here for a great game. The game is technically very solid, with good 3D
graphics, a great art style, soothing music, and fitting sound. The island
itself is well designed, with numerous secret and hard-to-access areas that
really make you feel like you’re exploring the wilderness. The touch
screen/microphone minigames that govern most activities, from fishing to
starting fires to shaking trees for fruit, are simple but fun enough. There’s
even a relatively deep cooking system that, while no Cooking Mama rival, does
allow for many different recipes and cooking methods, each represented by its
own unique minigame.
Unfortunately, though, the truth of
the matter is that this is a broken game. All the positives in the world would
not offset the fact that the essentials of the game, your day-to-day survival,
are difficult, frustrating, and just plain no fun. If Konami adjusted these
aspects of the game, I could see myself greatly enjoying a Lost In Blue 3. As it
stands, Lost In Blue 2 is a real disappointment. If this is what it’s like to be
stranded on a desert island, I think I’d rather go down with the ship.
|
Review Scoring Details for Lost in Blue 2 |
Gameplay: 5.1
The minigames are fun, if simplistic. The survival aspects are poorly designed
and far too frustrating to be enjoyable.
Graphics: 7.5
Among the better looking 3D games available on the DS. The world is lush and
the characters animate well.
Sound: 7.8
Some music is beautiful and some is merely soothing in a forgettable way. The
sound effects go a long way toward immersing you in a jungle environment.
Difficulty: Hard
The game is hard in a frustrating way, not a challenging way. Micromanagement of
your character’s needs can be done well (see The Sims) but was not here.
Concept: 8.3
A deserted island is a genius setting for a video game. Survival in nature is a
natural for game mechanics.
Multiplayer: 5.6
Compete against your friends in one of three very simple touch-screen minigames.
There’s not much content here, and it gets boring very quickly.
Overall: 5.7
A poorly designed main game surrounded on all sides by high quality elements.
Unfortunately, the strengths of the latter in no way make up for the
shortcomings of the former.
