The Lost City Review – A pleasing adventure game for Myst nostalgics
App Type: Uncategorized
Our rating: 
By: Joe Kauffman
Version #: 1.01
Date Released: 2012-02-09
Developer: https://www.firemaplegames.com/
Price: 0.99
User Rating:
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It didn’t take long for developers to see the iPhone’s potential as a platform to bring back good old-fashioned pointy-clicky adventure games. The Monkey Island series and Broken Sword have had great ports, but until now there hasn’t been a quality game in this genre made just for the iPhone. With The Lost City, this has now changed.
In this game, the vague plot sees you travel to the jungle after you Grandma gave you a mysterious artefact which suggests that there is some kind of lost city there; hence the title, Lost City. After the brief back-story, you’re thrown into the jungle, where the puzzles begin.
The game has a mock-1st-person view in which you get a single perspective on each location you move through. It’s your job to look for things in these locations that can be interacted with or picked up. Bits of broken tile, levers, puzzles, slots for you to stuff things into, it’s all there. While the game starts off easy, it soon becomes an engrossing challenge as you’ll be racking your brain to find out what fits where in this pretty jungle world.
And it is a pretty world. Combining old-fashioned, photo-realistic static scenery with beautifully-rendered water effects and other subtle movements, The Lost City is an aesthetic treat to move through. The soundtrack is equally mesmerising, and adds to the mysterious atmosphere of the game.
Inevitably, the game can get confusing at times, what with all the locations and odds and ends you’ll be picking up, but the dev’s have clearly considered this by including a journal and map for you to reference; both essential tools in avoiding getting hopelessly lost in the game.
The Lost City is a beautiful, iPhone-exclusive hark back to the classics of point-and-click adventure. Its visuals are unique and appealing, and its puzzles are challenging and oh-so-satisfying to solve. Naturally, you’ll have moments of feeling a little lost in it all, but that’s part of the fun.
Quick Take
Value:High
Would I Buy Again:Yes
Learning Curve:Medium
Who Is It For:Point-and-click nostalgics
What I Like:Immersive graphics and sound
What I Don't Like:Can get confusing
Final Statement:A beautiful iPhone-exclusive point-and-click adventure
adventure Grandma was right.
Nobody really believed her. Not even you, her favorite grandchild.
But she was right. And more so than you could ever imagine.
The city before you, deep in the mist shrouded forest, can't be found on any map. It shouldn't even exist. Though it's been asleep for a long time, you feel a mysterious power begin to awaken from the ruins around you.
Legend has it the civilization that built this place could somehow control the seasons. But nobody listens to legends.
Nobody except Grandma.
And she was right.
You look again at the artifact she gave you. Close to this lost city, it almost seems alive in your hand.
The city does exist. It's real.
Could the secret magic, powerful enough to change the seasons, be real too?
Features:
• Inspired by classic point and click adventure games!
• Beautiful graphics that draw you into this mesmerizing adventure!
• Lots of items to collect and puzzles to solve!
• Original soundtrack and sound effects!
• A journal that keeps track of all the symbols and clues that you encounter.
• A dynamic map that shows all of the areas you have explored, as well as your current location.
• A complete hint guide and walkthrough built right into the game.
• The Lost City has been translated into several languages.
• Available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad!
Screenshots
Article By Robert Zak
I'm an up-and-coming freelance writer (or so I like to think) specialising in film, apps and gaming. Aside from writing app reviews on what sometimes feels like a mass scale, I've also contributed work to The Independent and IGN.com, and am on the writing team of the popular Lifestyle blog, WhatCulture.com. Like what you see? Follow me on Twitter @Rob_Zed and get in touch!
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