Even for diehard fans, Lost: Via Domus is a disservice to the series it's based upon.
Via Domus tells the story of a photojournalist who, upon crashing, has suffered from amnesia and has no idea of his identity or past. You start to regain your memory as your progress your adventure and talk with the other survivors but the brunt of your memory recovery is regained through flashbacks. Here you discover your true past and find that the camera you took on the plane with you has made one of the survivors intent on killing on you. Your mission is to discover why and what exactly is the picture of.
Anyone who has watched the show know that many of the survivors true identities and personalities are brought to light with flashbacks, and this game treats us with these for the main character. Early on you discover you're a photographer and during flashbacks you take pictures at precise moments and discover clues to find out exactly who you are. The flashbacks feel natural for your character as you zoom and focus your shots. These instances are nice additions, but I feel they could've delved onto it more. The game also unfolds just like the TV show with "previously on..." at the start of every episode, as well as the "Lost" logo and music. Sadly you only get 7 episodes to work with.
The main problem with the story is how it rushes 2 seasons of the show into such a small frame. As each episode unfolds characters will refer to different locations discovered, "The others" or new survivors that magically appear. Of course, anyone who watches the show will know exactly what's going on, but newcomers to "Lost" will be completely lost in the back story Via Domus is trying to tell.
You acquire your camera from the fuselage early on, and it's a nice mechanic in this game. This makes for taking pictures of familiar items and locations in the game just to appreciate with some unlocking several bonuses. Environments look spot on from the show, from the crash site to the hatch with the all to familiar numbers: "4 8 15 16 23 42." Graphically speaking, Via Domus is quite impressive offering us accurate representations from the show. The likenesses of the character for the most part are spot on, but a few tend to exhibit stiff facial animations. Sadly the voices are not from the original cast themselves, a couple sound the part but most don't have that unique persona that makes them loved or hated on the show.
One of Via Domus' main problems is the sheer lack of actual gameplay you do. Aside from flashback sequences, some of which leave you completely stationary, Most of the time you are running through the jungle to your next destination. A few instances change up the pace, but not all are for the better. Traversing through a dark cave gives that creepy vibe the show sometimes exhibits as well a few running sequences, where you dodge logs and fallen trees to escape the Smoke monster. You can also barter different items with the survivors to get torches, lanterns, and even a pistol. Seeing as most of the action in this game involves escaping or running, I fired my pistol only three times throughout.
One of the more annoying diversions that pops up the most is the solving of these fuse box puzzles that seem to litter the island. Here you redirect the power into different nodes to power up certain areas at the right voltage. But moving replacing certain ones will affect the path of the other and result in you trying the whole thing over. By the end of the game you will feel like a top tier technician. Every instance of the fuse puzzle is annoying and unnecessary. To add to the annoyance, sometimes you will not have the correct fuse to solve the puzzle, forcing you to scour every nook and cranny in the area for the right one.
As a fan of the series, I was expecting a lot more out of this game. Even with finding all the Easter eggs and seeing everything, the game only took me a mere 5 hours to complete. And once it's over, there is absolutely nothing to go back to. Lack of back story, limited gameplay, annoying fuse puzzles, short campaign and no replay hurt this game greatly. It is however a very easy game to get all the achievements for, and that would be the only reason to play the game. Die hard fans may find some enjoyment out of Via Domus, but Nothing in the title is deserving of the $60 price tag it had when it first came out.