Once again you wake up shipwrecked on an island, this time the prisoner of the natives who plan to use you as a human sacrifice to darkOnce again you wake up shipwrecked on an island, this time the prisoner of the natives who plan to use you as a human sacrifice to dark deities. This was no ordinary shipwreck and you were brought here on purpose to fulfil their evil ends in a quest for power. You also notice a bizarre tattoo on your arm that acts like a marker. In confusion you escape your captors but with no apparent way off the island you must explore this hostile place in an effort to not only break the curse that has infected your arm but also find a way home. Any other resolution will lead to certain death!
What is it with this island and people getting shipwrecked? There should be some sign put up warning people not go there; to stay well away. Lost Lagoon: The Trail of Destiny (2010) by Intenium was a passable but deeply flawed HOPA. There wasn’t anything really wrong with it but the game through its story and gameplay did little to differentiate itself from other examples of the genre. Is its sequel Lost Lagoon 2: Cursed & Forgotten (2012) any better? Gameplay offers a little more freedom this time around. While gameplay is still a little linear there is more room to explore various places. This sequel contains a variety of locations to visit including a sunken ship and, like the previous game, a dream world. There’s a little more depth to the puzzle solving so Lost Lagoon 2 ends up a little more challenging. Puzzles must be completed before objects required to continue can be obtained. They are of the standard variety which includes connecting circuits, matching pairs and finding out key codes. Like the previous game the developers also include a silhouette hidden object screen. The puzzles are much more taxing this time making a skip button much needed. Still…some puzzles rely far too much on physics. At one point you have to click on some pieces of a medallion to merge them together however the pieces not only don’t stay as a whole but each piece only joins together for a limited time. Even when you work out the timing order of each piece to click on it’s impossible to get the game to register the combined pieces before they drift apart meaning you’ll have to at least use the skip button once. At least in the build I played it simply can’t be done. Like the original it’s a difficult game to recommend. Sure, the gameplay provides a bit more to do and while the game feels a little longer overall the plot still feels underdeveloped. It’s not clear what this evil is that’s going to be resurrected and the unproportionate amount of voice work makes dialogue scenes feel unbalanced. None of the natives are given a face or character. I actually thought the natives would turn out to be misunderstood but nope they’re all out to cause chaos. Ironically the relaxing music while catchy and providing atmosphere (a major plus) is totally at odds with the game’s central premise.
While Intenium’s sequel Lost Lagoon 2: Cursed & Forgotten provides less linear gameplay it still contains the same issues the original had whether it’s bugs or a lack of depth when it comes to the plot. For the former the hidden object screens contain some of the same issues many games of the genre have where you click on an object and it doesn’t always register. Lost Lagoon 2 leaves it open for another sequel yet a third game never arrived, probably because Intenium got bored of the premise. This second game is a slight improvement but not by much and like the original is hard to recommend. There was potential with this game but like its natives trying to bring back an ancient evil it became cursed and forgotten. Disappointing.… Expand
