Lost in the City 2: Post Scriptum

Lost in the City 2: Post Scriptum
by: Elephant Games - South Studio

Series links: Lost in the City 1, Lost in the City 2: Post Scriptum

Available at:
Big Fish for PC and Big Fish for MAC
Iwin



Help Hero and Ann wake up all of mankind in Lost in the City: Post Scriptum!
Put an end to the curse and save the entire world! After being the
guardians of the future, Hero and Ann are told to leave their city.
After returning to the real world, they discover that all of humanity is
asleep! Follow the Hidden Objects and make your way through this
intriguing story and save the day!

• Beautiful graphics
  
• Great gameplay
  
• Explore a mysterious world!
  

Click images to enlarge

Lost in the City: Post Scriptum (Adventure-IHOG)

The game opens with a skippable cut scene which nicely picks up the story from where the first game left off. The loading scene is very cute, with a cat trying to catch a purple butterfly.

Like most games nowadays, you have a separate music and sound option, as well as "Windowed" and "Hardware cursor" (custom cursor).

There is an optional tutorial, which I declined as well as a HINT (S.O.S.) button with a 60-second refill time.  You can earn new hints to use (with no wait-time to refill) by collecting the purple butterflies that look like the game logo.  I believe you also get an extra hint for completing mini-games.

Mini-games are skippable.

There is a random-click penalty, but unlike the first game, it does not take away time or points (there is no timer or points gauge) - instead the scene "cracks" for a couple of seconds.  I actually have clicked randomly a few times just so I could see the "antiquing" look of the scenes

The game is linear without being constrictive, giving you some choices of what order you'd like to do things in. ie. Which hidden object scene in the room to do first, can look for needed items before or after HOG scenes, etc.

I like the music, though it's so nice that it seems out of place during the first minutes of the game.  Perhaps the difference is that you now have the love of your life with you, as opposed to desperately trying to find her (in the first Lost in the City game).

The game can be as immersive as you wish it to be.  The are no voice-overs or long cut scenes that I've come across so far, everything story-related is short and to-the-point.  You do have a journal to help you keep track of things, but again, it is very to-the-point.

The overall "feeling" of the game is very similar to Lost in the City 1, game is a bit more adventure-y and the graphics slightly more colorful.  Hidden object scenes are appropriately cluttered without objects being jarringly out-of-place.

I haven't even finished half of the demo, and this is a must-buy for me   If you loved the first game, you're likely to feel the same about Post Scriptum.  Even if you didn't enjoy the first game, at least give this one a chance and try the demo - there are enough differences that you may find yourself liking it!

Very Urban Jungle

  

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
This sequel to the original Lost In The City is a great example of the difference a year makes in the gaming world. This is very much the same style game as the first, and uniquely so, but is leaps and bounds improved in not only graphics quality, but also in sophistication and design.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
I love the use of colour in this rather drab and dark game. Despite being largely displayed in colours ranging from white through the greys to black, little bursts of colour (particularly purple) give it a lift and a sense of real art – a film noir perhaps The art is massively improved on the original, but still does not equal today’s standards. In this case, there’s a kind of beauty in that, as any art critic will tell you. *rolling eyes*. One really neat visual is the fluttering of dozens of butterflies as each HO item is drawn away, and the inventory items, which are kept not in a bar but individually in their own barbed wire environment.

I did find the music a bit monotonous. It had just the right taste and feel, and I enjoyed it, but there just wasn’t enough variation. There are no voiceovers in this game and very little sound effects. But the electric hum pervades everything, keeping your teeth on edge.

WHAT’S HAPPENING
You and your sweetheart Ann found each other in the first Lost In The City, but had to give up life in the human world in order to be together. Now they have been told they can go home. But of course, nothing is ever easy with those kinds of deal. We embark on the outbound journey and discover almost immediately that something is terribly wrong.

MAKING PROGRESS
This is still basically a HOG. Almost all the gameplay involves them, but now the game extends into more puzzles and a little more of adventure action. The HOPs are interactive lists. Hints can be accumulated by collecting purple butterflies both in and out of HOPs. None of the puzzles were astonishing hard, but sometimes tricky. There is no map or movement outside a particular scene except when the section you are in is completed. Then you will be given 2 or 3 options to choose from, and again a couple of times more until you reach the same place every time – but it does feel like you have some control. *wry scowl*

FINAL VERDICT
I loved the edginess of the first game, and it is true that some of that is lost in this one’s polish, but I love this one too. There atmosphere of urban degeneration and despair is palpable.

I Recommend This Game!

I'd wondered how you'd like the sequel.  So glad that you enjoyed these games, as they hold a special place in my heart.

I'd term it an IHOG-lite.  A little bit of interaction, but not a full-blown IHOG, nor a simple straight HOG.

It was excellent! Both were are great surprise to me, because I didn't think I could really get into either of them! I trialled the first a couple of computers ago and rejected it, so it was interesting how my tastes have changed!

You are all giving me a great education