Nintendo World Report

Preview

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.

Lost in Blue follows the story of a young guy stranded on an island. Lucky for him, he teams up with a similarly stranded girl. Foraging, tool construction, teamwork, hunting, fishing, cooking, and other skills will give them a chance to survive comfortably on the deserted isle. The player must keep an eye on food, water, stamina, and overall health to survive. To fulfill these needs, and also possibly escape the island, players forage for supplies and construct the proper tools. Taking full advantage of the DS's unique features, Lost in Blue offers distinctive and varied tasks not yet seen in a game, ever.

In Lost in Blue, the player first plays through the story as the male character, and then the female character, each with their own unique "jobs." The time through the story for each of the characters is about 10-15 hours, so there's about 20-30 hours altogether in the main game. The player can slow down their own pace a bit if they wish and do plenty of exploring and playing around, though. (Also, there's a "Survival Mode" afterwards.) The game has many different endings, largely based on how well dialogue goes with the fellow survivor. The DS seems to be the premier system for dialogue and relationship games lately, doesn't it? If you're trapped on an island with someone, you'd do well to try to get along…

Along with important dialogue, much of Lost in Blue hinges on searching for items necessary for survival, building tools, and putting those tools to use. The player forages for the necessary objects, often by venturing out and digging in the dirt or sand by using the touch-screen. For example, to build a fire, a player would go for a little hike, and pick up or dig up pieces of wood. At the actual fire site, the L & R buttons are used to rub sticks together and the microphone must be blown on to fan the flames. More advanced tasks include building furniture and survival tools like a spear, fishing rod, and bow & arrow. The player builds these objects, provided they've collected all the components, by following a set of marks on screen, perhaps a bit similar to DDR (it's by Konami, after all).

Putting together meals is done similarly, but with an extra trick or two to it. After adding the ingredients to a pot of soup, for example, the player must physically lid the pot by closing the DS and letting it cook for just the right amount of time, without letting it undercook or burn.

Konami is making the DS do every trick it can with Lost in Blue, but is also creating a longer, more in-depth game than much of the current DS offerings. Lost in Blue comes out this fall in the U.S.