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Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Lost In Blue

Lost In Blue
by Michael Anderson
October 14, 2005

It is worth surviving the adventure to actually finish the game!

Reviewed for DS.

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Scroll down for our Kid Factor.

GamerDad Seal Of Approval - 10+.  Click to learn more about our review seal. Lost in Blue is a survival adventure game in which you find yourself washed on shore, having been a passenger on a cruise ship destroyed by a major storm. You need to keep yourself alive in order to get off the island. There is no combat. You are not a hero. You're just a kid trying to survive.

The gameplay is fairly straightforward. From the very start you manage three character statistics (hunger, thirst and stamina) that control your life points. This mechanic dominates the entire game. You will be foraging for tubers in the dirt or clams on the beach, shaking trees for coconuts, and gathering up twigs to make fires for warmth and cooking. Throughout the game you do chores. This daily work of survival takes a disproportionately long time, so you have only a small amount of time to explore the island. You gain a partner soon enough, another survivor named Skye, who is both boon and bane. She has skills such as cooking which are essential, and she is a great friend, but is totally dependant on you to survive. If you decide to leave the cave for a while to explore and take more than a day to return, she will probably be dead, no matter how many supplies you left for her.

The game uses the touch screen and controls in some interesting and innovative ways. For example, to find clams on the beach you ムdig' using the stylus on the touch screen. And to gather coconuts you often have to ムshake' a tree using the stylus and then ムgrab' the coconut from the ground. You use interactive controls to build and stoke a fire, and to catch fish and hunt for food. You also learn to build more complex items as the game progresses, leading to your eventual escape from the island.


The biggest problem with the game is just how much you need to do to survive. The thought that eating a bunch of mushrooms and half-dozen coconuts and drinking their milk would leave you near death four hours later is ludicrous, yet that is the constant challenge of the game. It can take thirty minutes to walk between two trees twenty feet apart, exerting enough energy that you need to eat another coconut just to keep pace. This level of micromanagement definitely detracts from the simple charm of the rest of the game. The relationship between Keith and Skye is very satisfying, and doing the many simple things around the island is a great deal of fun.

Lost in Blue is an excellent game hampered by some glaring flaws and a fundamental bias against the player. These prevent you from enjoying all the good things to be found around the island. It's good, but not great.


Click to learn more about GamerDad's Kid Factor review section. Lost In Blue is perfectly rated at E-10. There is reading required and an understanding of contextual relationships between objects. There is nothing offensive, but the themes of survival and potential death on the island make the game more suitable for slightly older kids.

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Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Lost In Blue
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Game Info:
Platform(s):
DS

ESRB rating:
E10+ - Age 10 & Up

Score:




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