Some time ago, I stumbled upon a mobile game called SIM: Sara Is Missing. At the time I questioned why this sort of game hadn’t happened before. The idea seems like such an obvious one in the smartphone age, and the game felt similar to an old PC game called In Memoriam which involved you searching the internet and being contacted by a serial killer via email.
Much like the aforementioned SIM, A Normal Lost Phone has you searching through a stranger’s smartphone to locate clues to ascertain their whereabouts. Where SIM came out a few months ago, A Normal Lost Phone is actually the older game, with a prototype being created at the Global Game Jam in January 2016.
I must start by making a statement: while this game is available on iOS and Android, I am playing the PC version. These different versions all play the same, but the nature of the game means that it feels as though it should be played on a smartphone. A Normal Lost Phone replicates a modern smartphone operating system, clicking away on my laptop doesn’t feel that natural, whereas tapping away on the keys on an actual smartphone would’ve drawn me into the game much easier. A Normal Lost Phone’s design takes a much more artistic approach than SIM. Where SIM attempts to actually recreate a realistic operating system, A Normal Lost Phone has a hand drawn, almost cartoonish style to it. The system itself and all the photos and pictures within the phone are all drawn too.
The style of the game, whilst beautiful, I found slightly off-putting. A Normal Lost Phone should be drawing me into the game, convincing me that I am pouring through the messages of a confused young individual who has since gone missing, but due to the art-y graphical style I remained continually aware that I wasn’t searching through a real phone. SIM wasn’t a realistic game at all at times, however it created an uneasy feeling and made me feel like the phone I was looking through wasn’t mine to look through. Another issue that caused me some distraction was the translation.
Now, that’s not to say the translation is bad, in fact the translation is perfect, almost too perfect. The translation appears to be directly translated from the French, and although it was translated and touched up so it makes sense for the English language, it doesn’t sound right at times. During a text message from a predatory friend of our main character Sam he reveals that a girl he’d took to a party hadn’t ‘gone all the way’ and said this:
“I went with her and she got all nervous told me to go and then she left I fucking had condoms man!!! It was going to be ‘fun’ and we were both into it!!!!!”
While it’s all perfectly fine and makes complete sense in conjunction with the plot, it doesn’t come across quite right, perhaps it’s just me, but for me this sort of message doesn’t ring true as a genuine text.
A Normal Lost Phone also is very much just that. A lost phone. Whereas SIM had the impossibly intelligent IRIS personal assistant app that would guide you through the game, A Normal Lost Phone tries to remain more grounded in reality and doesn’t guide you at all. While it’s nice that the game lets you discover its mysteries all by yourself, on a number of occasions I felt that I’d missed something and had to reread various text message conversations, some of which are quite big and detailed – it sometimes felt like a bit of a chore.
Where A Normal Lost Phone shines is its plot, focusing on Sam, our missing lead character who has recently turned 18 and a secret that he doesn’t seem to want anyone to know. I can’t say much more on the plot, but it’s easily Lost Phone’s strongest point.
A Normal Lost Phone is a good attempt at making a game revolving around the act of searching through a stranger’s phone. However, it doesn’t have the pacing to draw you in, the plot doesn’t hold you as it should, and the whole game feels a little bit directionless at times.
Review copy provided by publisher
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