Surviving on a deserted island can be tough work. Just watch any movie or show such as Castaway or Lost and you’ll get the idea. But, despite what the movies tell you, doing so in real life is even more difficult. If you don’t have the correct knowledge or skills to make tools, find food, and create a shelter, you’re in bad shape.

Konami struck gold with Survival Kids on the Game Boy Color, featuring a new type of RPG where players must realistically fight to survive on a remote island rather than fantastically fight mythical creatures to save the world. The gameplay, though slow, was very rewarding in the end and the game itself was one of the more unique RPGs. After years without a sequel, Konami finally released Lost in Blue on the Nintendo DS. The game had nice improvements in the presentation department (mainly because it was staged 2 generations of handhelds later) and the touch screen made chores more unique but overall, the gameplay remained intact (and the need to take care of a second castaway became a chore).

Two games later, and not much change to the format (it’s hard to find a lot of variation or new material after making 4 games of island survival) we now have Lost in Blue 3. Though Konami has made a few subtle changes to the games here or there, we essentially have the same game over and over and over again. Let’s face it, island survival is interesting the first time through but does anyone really wonder why there isn’t a Castaway 2?

Survival Horror

Lost in Blue 3 begins the story in essentially the same way as its predecessors where you fall off a ship and are stranded on an island. Though this time around, the characters seem a little more endearing, the overall premise just feels too similar. Next, you run into another castaway of the opposite sex, find a shelter to live in, and finally you get to spend the next several days figuring out how to survive. Pick up a coconut here, pluck a mushroom there, grab some firewood and bark to make a fire starter, you get the idea.

The one thing that makes Lost in Blue unique is that you really do feel the pressures of survival at all times and this is exactly where the game wins and loses appeal from its fans and critics respectively. For instance, your constant attention to the ever dropping food, water, and stamina meters can either be seen as a strategic element or simply a nuisance. I for one found it to be more of the latter as I felt like it was an artificial way to extend gameplay—the meters drop so quickly, you’ll have to spend the majority of the day searching for food—and the addition of a partner was even more of a nuisance as you literally have to babysit him/her the entire time if you want him/her to survive. So you say you want your partner to walk to the nearby river and take a drink so that he/she doesn’t die from dehydration? Sorry, you’ll have to stop your exploration and travel a mile back to the cave just to escort him/her to the river.

Also, if Lost in Blue is a new experience to you, it can have a very sharp learning curve at times. It’s easy to figure out how to find food and somewhat easy to find the riverbank to replenish your water but learning things like asking your companions to cook or hunt food are a little less obvious. And sure, it is nice that your companions actually serve somewhat of a purpose in your survival but overall they are much more of a burden than they are useful. Understand that another major problem with the game’s design surrounds that fact that you do encounter more people throughout your journey. Yes, this does add elements to the story as well as multiple endings but in the end, this just means more babysitting. Now instead of making one trip to the riverbank to get water, you’ll have to make 2 trips (you can only have one companion with you at a time).

Striking Resemblance

Lost in Blue 3 features the same mix of extra modes as its predecessor featuring a few multiplayer games where you compete to cook the best food or play in some of the other island mini games and a survival challenge mode where you are stranded on the island by yourself and you see how many days you can survive. It was a big disappointment not to see any other extra modes (especially on the multiplayer end of the spectrum. For instance, how fun would it be to actually be able to play 2 player co-op through the adventure mode and actually have a partner that can think for itself? Unfortunately, we’re left with a drone that can’t even feed itself without having you there.

As for the presentation, the atmosphere doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from the islands in the previous games. The characters, as was mentioned before, are more personable in appearance due to their derivation from anime art style, but overall, the graphics do nothing to separate this adventure from the previous ones. As for the music, it’s not much to write home about either (only a few songs here or there, all of which are fair) but the one notable addition is occasional voice acting (though very sparse). Just as the game’s mechanics fail to separate itself from previous installments, the presentation may make you start to wonder if this is actually a different game.

Lost…in Monotony

It’s really sad that there is a decent amount of material to be had in the game as you progress through the story (including over 20 mini games and multiple endings) but most gamers won’t even be able to put up with the game for much longer than an hour after realizing just how agonizing survival can be. The repetitions of mundane tasks such as cooking, searching for food, shaking trees, etc. that are forced by the ever-looming need to survive make it difficult to endure the game’s challenges to the end. If you’re a fan of the series, you will probably still enjoy this game but most other gamers may want to play it first before they purchase it.