The Mystery of a Lost Planet

Fantastic landscapes. I enjoyed the exploration of this "lost planet." I would go back again if they could reverse the spaceship. A wealth of puzzles, many of which are simply hidden object exercises, so are not that hard. Some of the rest of the puzzles are irritatingly difficult to do "right." Some are purely mechanical, like click a number of glowing mushrooms in the correct order, which can be solved only by trial and error. Others involve some concept or other, like sigils of the 4 (or 5?) elements, but rarely anything of consequence, or indeed even requiring an understanding of the story. But fortunately the hint system and the SKIP button helped this player avoid total frustration.

“The Mystery of a Lost Planet” is a passable HOG-type game, with somewhat sluggish controls and rather under-developed story, but with few wonderful sceneries of the said exotic planet and nice subdued music. Hidden-object scenes are somewhat weaker, on the other hand composition and usage of inventory objects at least tries to stick to some elementary logic, so scarce in HOG games otherwise. If you’re a fan of these games, you might consider adding this one to your library, especially if you like exploring alien planets.

Nice little sci-fi hidden object game that doesn't hold your hand when it comes to figuring things out. The soundtrack is the real star of this game however, I've never heard anything like it and I wish I could buy/download it separately so I could listen to it on its own! :)

An enjoyable but fairly difficult, sci-fi HOG. One achievement (Rescuer) requires playing on Expert mode at least until a short time after you collect the 12 plants and 17 crystals which is less than 20% through the game. Then you can switch to Casual mode for the rest. Not a log game, the HO scenes are sometime difficult. The mini-games are of average difficulty.

Although the visuals and ambient sounds are quite good, the animations leave a bit to be desired. Normally I can forgive a somewhat poor localization, but the lack of guidance and absence of logic left me hitting the hint button quite frequently. The hidden object scenes are cluttered with items that contextually do not belong or require collecting items with questionable significance and no discernible reason to gather in the first place. Although it differs from other games in this genre by having multiple protagonists, split into two groups, there is no depth or character building. Some of the puzzles and means for progression are too obtuse and often require pixel-hunting and backtracking for no reason other than there is no clue on how to move forward. It's a cool alien world in a science fiction tale, but it is a frustrating journey with a pay-off that isn't worth it as the conclusion was more magic than science.

Another of a series of aged hidden object games that are available. Whether or not you want to take a chance on this depends on your tolerance of these things. The level of game play between what HOGs have come out in more recent years is a lot further along than something like the Mystery of a Lost Planet.

Overall, I find main components such as narrative, puzzle difficulty, hidden objects and game flow all lacking. I failed to take in what story was being told; its as if something was lost in translation to this English version. Nothing much in the way of NPCs to further along a plot. It was clunky navigating the screens, and searching for items within screens.

Two positives. First, the mechanics were a bit different than typical HOGs. For instance your character would need to find different parts to repair an object and you have to fill all the slots before proceeding. There was an attempt at some complexity. The other thing I enjoyed about the Mystery of a Lost Planet was the chill soundtrack throughout. Otherwise this was more or less forgettable.

This is the Dark Souls of HOG perfect for veterans who will hate the challenge at first then grow to enjoy the levels of mystery puzzle solving requiring skills on the level of Sherlock Holmes to get through. The game is very short providing a rewarding satisfaction from being able to solve the puzzles. All of the hallmarks of extreme difficulty are present, from objects hiding behind other objects, to tiny objects, to objects color matched to the background, their all here for the brave explorer willing to venture to the lost planet.

The game is very short, even the "casual" or easiest difficulty doesnt make the game much easier so go with expert which still provides a hint button if stuck or lost. Half of the puzzle solving is figuring out what the puzzle is, what to do next, or even how to solve a puzzle. No instructions for puzzles, and many barely have hints to figure them out making even solving the puzzle itself a mystery, let alone finding them.

Great cast and characters, not enough of them in game. While most games never have characters or the player is the character this has a small group of explorers part of a space mission which makes it that much more interesting than traditional HOG formulas.

Probably the most comfy menu screen in gaming with the whole game having atmospheric music that fits the feeling of an alien world. If anything the game can be worth getting just to leave the comfy menu screen on in the background.

Veteran HOG gamers should consider this title.
Rating: 9/10 Value: $4.99

This is a weak recommendation.

If you like hidden object puzzles, that's most of what this game does. There are only a handful of other puzzles.
It did run fine, including easily Alt-Tabbing out and re-opening (in Win 10). Also, it's pretty generous with hints and the like and getting all of the achievements is not too hard.
It's a fairly short little game, though not much shorter than most other HOGs I've seen, but I think that fits the price tag (my time is inflated with some time minimized doing other things).

There's quite a list of cons, though. The graphics are mediocre. The story is simple. The scenes and setting don't really try to make much coherent sense. Odd grammar (poor translation?) and misspellings are common, even in the HO scenes. Some of those objects in the HO scenes can be tricky, though I will say that while a few times I was a little frustrated finding something and thought there was a bug each time it just turned out to be harder to find than most items or there was a trick with some object being a close match if you don't pay attention.
One of the biggest issues is inconsistency with the puzzles. As in, how a puzzle works, including the HO ones, can vary in how you're supposed to solve them scene by scene. Comes across as entirely different people designing each scene and then cobbling together afterward. Some are straight forward finding objects in opened scenes, some are entire 'rooms' that you can enter and leave at will and maybe you have to do something specific before or after it works like a standard HO puzzle. That inconsistency is confusing and grating.

I'm basically giving it a recommendation because, in hindsight, it does seem bug free and runs decently and focuses primarily on HO scenes of varying sorts. And the base price isn't high, so it's definitely worth it on sale.

Oh My God! Do Not Buy This Annoying Rubbish. There is no Spoken Audio. The HOP's are almost impossible to complete. The puzzles are Annoying rather than fun. One in particular involving some wires you have to follow to their source actually has the wires disappearing half way through the puzzle. Absolutely Horrendous.

An interesting concept and visuallly quite engaging, but boy is it a short game. I hope I did'nt pay too much for this as there were only an hour of play time and nothing too mentally strenuous.

It's not a long game but for the price it's a nice little hidden object/point and click game. Not much to the plot, you're on a planet looking around basically, the game is more the visuals and audio which was nicely done.

The achievments are pretty simple to get, certain things you're required to do so give them a read first.

I enjoyed the hidden object elements to the game and the puzzles which had to be solved. Some were a little tricky to get at first but once you know what you've got to do, they're simple to complete. My favourite puzzle was the password one, I thought that was quite clever.

The point and click element to the game is mostly to do with finding items to get passed certain parts, like a hammer etc. It broke up the game quite nicely, not just all hidden object searches.

A few things I didn't like were all the spelling mistakes and once you have completed the game, you can't select a section to go back to. For example if you missed one of the achivements, you'd have to do the game all over again to get it. Obviously second time around is easy because you've been through it but it's a little boring to complete again.

Overall a nice little game to pass some time. I would recommend this game but maybe not at the full price, wait for a sale because once played, you wouldn't really want to go back to it.

Decent art design and HO scenes, but the game fails to communicate with the player. Over the course of the game, this progressed from "not holding the player's hand" to "possibly a bad translation" to "purposefully obtuse" to "badly designed." If you REALLY want a hidden object game with a scifi setting, you might be willing to use the skip button and overlook things, but if you're here for a game...skip it.

It's a rare science fiction hidden object game.

Well, this HOG is special because there aren't that many around that have a science fiction theme. The theme is well done: I like the artwork, the atmosphere, and even the plot is kinda nice. Where it all falls down is the puzzles. The HOGs suffer from the usual bad translation (calling a compass a "caliper" and a starfish a "sea star" etc.), and the puzzles suffer from bad logic (for example, in one scene you need to use the binoculars, on an area you can walk to, without any hint that you need to do this, and you can grab the objects you see through the binoculars, but only while you have the binoculars deployed). Also, the game crashed when it tried to load the outro, both on easy and on hard. There's no map travel.

I played this because Artifex Mundi was asking about my favorite HOG genre, listing Science Fiction. It's mostly enjoyable if you can overlook its flaws, but you have to want to play a science fiction HOG and like it for its sci-fi setting.

If you don't want to play sci-fi and hidden objects in the same game, I recommend J.U.L.I.A. Among The Stars as science fiction puzzle adventure and anything by Artifex Mundi for the hidden objects.

This game ran fine on my old Windows XP computer up to the point when it crashed loading the outro. It does run windowed @1024x768.

Some challanging puzzles but story makes no sense, or if it does its very simplistic. I recommend sticking to Big Fish and other top names in puzzle/hidden item games or just wait till the price drops.
It was also filled with bugs that would cause the "animation" scenes to lag out or crash the game.
I do appreciate all the beautiful artwork though, that is the only reason I suggest buying the game.

This game regularly lagged, graphics froze, etc. For an HOG this was challenging enough, but storyline and gameplay are not fluid whatsoever. I could not even complete this game due to quite early on getting stuck any time I had to go to (or past) the screen where fireworks are going off in the background. Problem isn't my system, I have played dozens of HOG games, as well as MMORPGs, with little to no difficulties.

Frankly, not worth what I paid, and I'm going to be wary of any games from this particular developer in the future.

cool premise, poor execution. near non existent storytelling leaves you wondering what the mystery even is. i was over half way in when we found out it wasnt just a random malfunction that causes the crash.
The puzzles are not fun. the instructions often dont tell you what outcome you are looking for, so thequestion goes from 'how do i do this?' to 'what do i do with this?' one required cutting wires in order, but refuses to let you actually cut until you click on the exact 1/4 in segment in a roughly 6 in wire that they deemed appropriate, with no indications that was the case. not puzzling, tedious.
the 'find objects' parts are useless. i was always surprised when i got an item from it that i had actually found, instead of some random thing that hadn't even been in the picture.
a lot of deus ex machina, rather than having the tools in the game for the player to fix an issue. here's this thing you cant do anything with, go into that other room and come back, now isnt that better?
also ridiculously short.
at 2 hrs gameplay it is finished, and i am a novice gamer.
SOME of my complaints may stem from this being translated to english from another language.(unclear and incomplete instructions/story)

Positives

• Plot: I thought the plot and premise was quite good. I don't know why but I kept thinking of a game called The Dig whilst playing this, got a similar vibe for some reason. I'll comment later on in the review how this was let down in some ways but otherwise it's one of the more interesting hidden object games on Steam.
  
• Aesthetics: Some locations look a bit too similar IMO but that doesn't stop the game looking pretty. The music was also quite atmospheric which is always nice in a HOG. The UI is okay but getting the inventory bar out of the way got a bit annoying sometimes ;)
  
• Achievements: While some might see this as a negative it was a nice break to play a HOG without any punishing achievements! Depending on the difficulty level you play through, you can also get them all in one run which may appeal to some people :)
  
• Value for money: I got just over 3 hours of play time out of this game and for once it wasn't one I'd leave running in the background while I wandered off to do something else. That was one full run through then a short play through just to get one of the achievements I'd missed, so to me this game has paid for itself in game time. There are games on Steam for more money than this that offer less content!
  
• Hints: I was getting butt mad and was going to review this game differently until I realised it was my own fault I was struggling! Use the little mobile PC in the bottom left of the screen, it contains a lot of information that will help you. I assumed it would just be like the typical HOG diary and log what you had done but it actually gives you some nice little hints ;)
  
• Puzzles: The puzzles in this game are a lot easier than other HOGs on Steam IMO but I didn't see this as a bad thing, the game more than makes up for it with the hidden object puzzles, of which there are a-plenty ;)
  

Negatives

• Backpedalling: Maybe it's just me but I get bored quite quickly with hidden object games that require a lot of clicking back and forth between screens to trigger events. There isn't too much of it in this game, but there are times where you will be looking around for ages trying to figure out where to go and it's because the screen you were on ten minutes ago has an event but because you didn't go back to it immediately after leaving that screen.
  
• Cut scenes: Don't hate me but I can be super impatient, so waiting for an oiler to oil four seperate pieces of machinery really slowly just sets me off haha! I wish some of the actions and cut scenes were a bit faster, purely because I want to get back to the game. Just personal preference though ;D
  
[*]Text: The only thing I really disliked with any depth was the text in this game. I think the vibe the developers were going for was great, but it was ruined by multiple typos and poor translations. This isn't the only HOG on Steam to have this problem, and it doesn't make me think any less of the game but I think it's selling the game and all the hard work put into it short.

Storyline: A five person space craft (the gamer being the fifth crew member) is pulled to a planet by some unexplained gravitional force and the excellent pilot manages to do a controlled crash landing where the ship does not break into pieces and everyone survives. Give that man a bonus! A huge bonus! Now time to do damage control, figure out what happened by exploring the surroundings and if possible get off the planet again.

Gameplay: Runs in a linear fashion and once an area is completed it is "closed" off and can not be returned to. What is different about this game is there are two teams. Half way through the game when the first team finishes their objective the gamer switches to the second team. There is a point and click element to this game mostly in the gathering of inventory items to use for a specific task. Yes, screwdrivers and hammers are needed and can actually be found. And there are game comments concerning the use of other equally capable objects which basically state a better object is needed.
I will note here there are some typos and the occassional skewed find for example a magnifying glass is called a lens and masks are not goggles.

I suggest reading the hand held PC unit since it is the clue giver through pictures and instruction. What needs to be done is more and less explained either through PC unit pictures, game comments, at times made by crew members, or through silhouette pictures shown above the task object in question.

There are three levels of difficulty casual, advanced, and hard. As the difficulty level increases the less clues the gamer is given. Note: Only on the hardest level will an extra NPC character appear (the survivor of a previous space crash) and this is the only way to achieve the final two achievements.

Achievements: All are earned through gameplay. Again the survivor and all complete achievements can only be earned on the hardest mode.

Hidden Objects scenes: Many. Ahh, to play a hidden object game that actually focuses on hidden object scenes, yes! The HO scenes run from windowed area list finds with some interactive finds to complete game scene finds. There are also "find x amount". In one case of "find x amount objects", the search is over two game scenes. The gamer can actually "walk" right through most find scenes to the next area and some find scenes have extra mini locations.
A note here: Often after the HO scene is played the gamer needs to leave to progress the game then return to do some other task which was previously unavailable (either as an HO find or as an inventory pick up). One comment about the HO objects: They basically seem like random piles of junk, but then again these are crashed space crafts so randomness is expected.

Puzzles: There are some head scratchers and a frustrating puzzle or three. The puzzles break down into two catergories 1) the usual how do I do something like build a ladder or get that object over head and 2) actual puzzles which include rotating picture puzzles, sliders, matching, color, logic and code breakers (those door lock hacking puzzles which my son tells me are like those in Far Cry 4). There is one lock picking puzzle which is very difficult to figure out. The directions for some of the puzzles are vague or not explained well so feel no shame using the hint or skip buttons, especially since there is no penalty.

Overall the game is a challenge but not needlessly so, and the overall gameplay logic makes sense. My only complaint is the end game and can be summed up as What was that? and What just happened? But who am I to question anything when the space craft gets miraculously repaired and is outer space flight worthy. (And no, I do not think that last line is a spoiler, especially since the mystery is never solved.)

The Mystery of a Lost Planet is telling the tale of the crew of a spaceship that crashed on a mysterious planet, after being pulled down by a gravitational field. What will they discover? How will they go back to their homes?

You're not a particular member of the crew, you're playing all of them without disctintion. For example, the doc is asking you to find crystals and flowers, however, when you're using the flashlight, it's himself that says he lost it. Same for the other team... Because, in reality, you're playing two teams; the first one exploring the forest and the other one an older ship that crashed and the surroundings.

However, the gameplay is focused on list of items, as you have many of them throughout the adventure. There are some puzzles too, true to the description, that they're rare in the genre: attempt to guess a password for example. But I must say that without proper instructions, you're often wondering what you have to, even in casual. I had an hard time at the beginning too because I couldn't find an area that was nearly obstructed by your PDA recording the finding. The hidden objects scenes themselves can be a challenge. You need to think: ball of thread was in reality a rope or lens is a magnifying glass.

Given the mysterious nature of the planet, the scenes are also superb with strange plants, caves and even an underwater passage. However, it's alternating with a ship that crashed, another one, more reminiscent of our own world, floating on the water... The soundtrack is also reflecting the ambiance of the game.

Anyway, for 5 bucks, it's a nice little game. You can go ahead.

PS: for those asking themselves where is the survivor of the wreck, play in Expert, he should appear quickly :p

Ok this game for me falls in the middle of a "maybe" recommendation. I only put positive due to it's very low price and Steam cards and achievements.

The graphics are pretty meh, at least in my opinion, in comparison to some of the beautiful HOG's I've played from Artifex Mundi or Madhead Games. I also play on a wide screen so it makes it worse with a bit of a stretched look but truthfully for the price and achievements I decided to keep the game. If anything it passes an afternoon.

* I have been corrected thanks to Vic! No ending bug. The "survivor of the wreck" only appears in Expert Mode. So if you don't play the game on expert difficulty you will miss out on 2 achievements in the end.