Nostalgia Time : Lost Eden
I always enjoy going back in time and revisiting something I loved as a small child, whether it’s the days of watching the Pokemon dub on YTV, or various games that I would play as a kid. Lost Eden used to be one of my favourite games. I found it in a bargain bin one day and brought it home, and immediately loved it. When I was tiny, I had a great fascination with dinosaurs, like many kids. A game about a land where dinosaurs and men co-exist was a very interesting and unique idea to me. I was also very impressed with the music and visuals. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Of course, the game had big flaws. It was way too easy and repetitive, for one thing. But I was a kid. I didn’t really care at the time.
Basically, the story is about an alternate world where dinosaurs and humans exist at the same time. In the past, they worked together and built citadels, making use of both their skills and producing mutually beneficial results. All of this work was due to the ideas of a person called “The Architect”. But his son came along, and he didn’t have the same ideas about dinosaurs and humans. The trust between the two was torn apart, the Architect was killed, and that’s the way it’s been ever since. Now, with the advent of Moorkus Rex, a villain who controls hordes of hungry Tyrann, the world faces destruction and chaos. The only safe place is the Citadel of Mo, the one remaining Citadel where Moorkus Rex cannot infiltrate. Inside the walls is Adam of Mo, descendant of the Architect. His father, the King, is a stubborn man who wants his son to stay safe in the castle walls. But Eloi, the King’s messenger, gives a secret message to Adam. He wants him to meet Dina, a female dinosaur, at the side entrance to the castle. This will lead to Adam discovering the secrets of his ancestor, and the group will persuade the King to allow Adam to travel the valleys, build citadels, and defeat Moorkus Rex.
It sounds like the setup to a wonderful, epic game. And to some extent, it is, but now that I’m older I realize there was so much possibility with this story that wasn’t really achieved in the end. Still, exploring valleys, finding Brontosaurus, rallying men with dinosaurs, watching my citadel being built, these were all amazing experiences as a kid. I was terrified by the Tyrann (shown in the picture) and was awed by the Triceratops.
The game is a point-and-click adventure. You go to different valleys, find dinosaurs, find humans, then rally them together. Eventually you go directly to Moorkus Rex to defeat him. Most of the valleys are generic forest or plain areas, with about 3 or 4 areas per valley which will have Brontosaurus, Triceratops, tribes of the valley or Velociraptor. When you click to go forward in an area, usually a short movie will play of the camera zooming gracefully towards that area. It’s very cinematic, and of course nothing like how a person would walk towards somewhere, but it achieves the desired effect. This doesn’t happen in the valleys, where ¾ of the area is just generic plains/forest.
So there’s some memories from when I was kid. I called this my favourite game ever and I always wanted my friends to play it. I’ve played it again recently to relive my experience and had a ton of fun.
It’s a charming little game 
August 21st, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Hey! I remember playing this as a kid, too! I think I even found it in the bargain bin like you did.
I never beat it though. I really suck at video games.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Heh…I think this is the first time I’ve met someone who has actually played this =D
November 7th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to reply to a post more than 1 year old ^^;;
Anyway, when I was a kid, this was one of my favorite.
The game is in fact quite similar to its creator Cryo’s previous game, Dune, although Dune has more in-depth strategic components. Both also have great soundtracks composed by their musician, Stephane Picq.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Hey cuc,
Don’t worry, thanks to modern technology, I am alerted whenever anyone posts a comment regardless of the age of the post. Yeah, I’ve heard of Dune, but I never got a chance to play it. The other Cryo game that I played was “KGB” which was very, very difficult but fun.