App and game reviews by Mobilism's Android Reviews team
Jan 18th, 2016, 7:10 pm
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Game: Lost Echo v1.9.13
Developer: Kickback
Category: Trivia/Puzzle
Price: $2.99
IAP: N/A

Lost Echo is a classic third person point-and-click style adventure game set in a futuristic world with a few nice quirks mixed into the typical adventure game formula. It originally came out on iOS back in 2013 and the Android edition of the game came out in late 2015. First off, the graphics/art style is beautiful. With a style similar to Mirror's Edge, the game uses very solid coloring and sharp architecture work with great camera framing to showcase the futuristic setting to maximum effect. The character models don't possess a ton of detail comparatively, but are still appealing to look at with a nice clean design. If it has a weakness graphically it's in the somewhat stilted animation at times, which is a typical flaw of point-and-click adventure games. That being said, it's a fairly minor quibble given all the graphical goodness the game gives you to look at.

Lost Echo delivers for the most part on the audio front as well, recommending confidently before you start the game to put on headphones for the best experience. The game's soundtrack is really good throughout and varied, with a mix of John Carpenter-esque sci-fi themes, noir type music, and some more haunting music as you go throughout the game. Sound effects are used sparingly for the most part but are put to good use when they are needed. On the negative side of things, there's no voice acting in the game, and quality voice work would have helped make the story more immersive.

The gameplay and story in Lost Echo really shines. Without spoiling things, the story is a futuristic mystery with interesting characters, good pacing, and plenty of twists, particularly in the last third of the game or so. In classic adventure game fashion, as you talk to NPCs there will usually be a variety of conversation options, some of which might influence how that person reacts to your character(and vice-versa). The puzzles within the game are incorporated well within the constructs of the story, with a variety of inventory-based puzzles, logic puzzles, and a few clever environmental type puzzles. There is an in-game hint system and two modes of difficulty. It will probably take most gamers about eight to ten hours to finish the game, with gripping content all the way through, so the player gets good value for the money. However, there isn't much incentive to play the game again once you've beaten it, so the replay value on it is limited. I played the game on my Note 5, and unfortunately it does not currently support the S-Pen, so if you like using that for greater precision, you won't have that option here. The game does use a fairly easy to handle touchscreen interface though, and does have hotspots for key points of interest so pixel hunting is not necessary. If you like classic adventure games, are a fan of a good story, or just want a showpiece game for your Android device, Lost Echo is a great game for all of the above.

Pros:
  • Great graphics and art style.
  • Excellent and varied soundtrack.
  • Interesting sci-fi mystery storyline.
  • Clever puzzle design that works naturally in the game.

Cons:
  • Lack of voice acting.
  • Fairly limited replay value.
  • Somewhat stilted character animation.

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Reviewer rating: Image
Device/OS used: Samsung Galaxy Note 5/Lollipop 5.1.1

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Mobilism: Lost Echo v1.9.13


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Jan 18th, 2016, 7:10 pm