Spiritual successor to the Survival Kids series- and Lost in Blue was a return to the series by Konami on the Nintendo DS. Sporting a new “hardcore” title with many design changes compared to the original. It seems like it was a failed success, with 4 titles been released this generation in the series. Did they over do themselves? Or should the series get another look at itself.
The survival genre has been picking up of late, with titles such as Disaster: Day of Crisis and Ubisoft’s I am Alive- covering the basis when it comes to disaster survival games. Lost in Blue was one of the few which limited itself to a simple notion, it didn’t overdo itself- and its story mostly never swayed from the simple shipwreck idea.
But was that in its favour or not?
Survival Kids 2, the Japanese only Game Boy Color game in the series had one major thing going for it. It’s story. Instead of the predictable shipwreck, and the occasional bad guy base which was on the other side of the island- (mostly abandoned)- Survival Kids 2 carved out the whole idea and made you its bitch.
The bad guys- where real bad guys, like these guys seriously had some reason to kidnap a bunch of kids and fly them to their base. From the images, it seems you were offered to either be there bitch, or if you decline you’re sent flying down to the bottom of the island.
You had to escape the bad guys clutches, which added a sense of urgency to the game- then once you’re out, you have no idea where you are- so you have to wonder around and try and survive.
There also where changes in landscapes by the occasional disaster.
What I’m trying to say is that SK 2 was the best, and it’s a shame most of its ideas haven’t been borrowed from in the titles since.
But the major problem with the titles in the series after Survival Kids was left alone for a generation before been over burnt as Lost in Blue- was how experimental the games felt. Lost in Blue felt like it was made just to gage if the game would sell, then Lost in Blue 2 started to offer some unique ideas, but overall it was pretty bleak. The best “attempt” would be Lost in Blue 3 and Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked. But over all- this is one horrible way to develop a game, if all you release are essentially expansion packs to the original idea.
Konami needs to figure out what they want to with the IP, and clearly with the Lost in Blue extension of the series- they don’t know still.
The survival aspect hasn’t changed at all since Survival Kids, and while a few extra status bars where added instead of the “heart” system- over all nothing major had occurred to spice up the survival aspects.
The islands designs also seemed to be more tackier and impossibly crazy- the whole game tries to throw in an island majorly like Hawaii or something of such- while not a bad idea to have every element in the island to give some verity, it seems very uninspired.
What I liked about Survival Kids 2 was the urgency that you had to get off this island- in the other games it just felt that if you wanted to, you could live there for ever and be fine. Konami needs to bring back that feeling if they continue the series.
What annoyed me the most was the mini games. This generation has been full of them- this mini game fetish has to stop. None of them where creative or interesting- they just stretched the game out to much and made it feel more and more like a chore. Especially with the Nintendo DS fire starter- not everyone can breathe into the mic strong enough- you know?
The series has the worst identity crisis ever, which is a shame. Clean up a few things and the games could be some of the most solid and interesting games around.
Konami should try and touch the waters again with this upcoming generation by using a download service to make a sort of “Survival Kids Zero”. Meaning a game which uses the sprite pallet and tries to capture the feeling and design of the original games- instead of trying to expand from that drastically.
After that- the series would need a huge envisioning. The idea that you’re on this island, needs to expand- give it that urgency, and then make the supplies more and more limited- draining, remember things need time to grow etc. You can’t just use all your resources on the island and expect more the next day.
A survival game, shouldn’t be “fun” in the traditional sense. It should make you feel fast paced and like you have to do things- but at the same time not tripping over as much to make it feel like a chore.
Oh and- next time you add a companion, make them get their own supplies.