It's really difficult to review games like this. As you know, I never want to ruin story for you guys, I just want to give you enough information that might help you make your decision on whether you want the game or not.
I thought I'd do these games in a single review because, even if the stories differ wildly the core gameplay and ideas are the same. You have found a lost phone and you want find out more about who it belonged to, cos you're nosey like that.
Now, obviously, if you find a lost phone in real life this sin't what you would do. You would hand it in to the appropriate person - be it at a shop or a train station etc. - and go about your business as usual, never thinking twice about it again. But in these games you get to play out your nosey fantasies, deep diving into somebody else's phone, reading their emails and texts, scrawling through their pictures and even having a good ol' gander at their dating profile.
Now I played the first one way back when it was first released and I adored it. It felt so different to any other game available on the market and managed to paint a fantastic picture of a character, even though you never get the chance to meet them. It was unusual. The "story" - that is to say the information you find on the phone - was brilliant and it really did stick with me. Both games deal with difficult issues, but I think the first one in particular shone in this regard.
Now we all know that we should have pins and locks on our phones and these lost phones are no different. Luckily for us, there is enough content on these phones that isn't locked behind a pattern or code. But to progress you must find the Wifi password for the town, or information that will help you with the pin code on their profile for example. These were really interesting puzzles - nothing too difficult that you find yourself having to reach for an internet guide but certainly not always simple enough to feel like it was easy.
There is no part of me that wants to go back and play through these titles again, they were deleted from my Switch immediately after I finished to make way for other games. This isn't a bad thing, but obviously after you have cracked all the codes and found out who the phone belonged to, your drive to do it again is going to have vanished. You've done it. I have to admit, it felt nice to park a game quite so definitely. It certainly isn't something I generally do, I mean I have a very full 5tb drive on my Xbox One - just in case I ever feel the need to play that game for five minutes again one day.
I would say that if you're interested in trying out one of these games I would recommend A Normal Lost Phone more than Another Lost Phone. I felt like it dealt with it's own particular issue in a less clumsy and obvious way and the puzzles in general were just generally slightly better. Only slightly, obviously, because at their core these games are exactly the same. I just feel like there wasn't as much thought put into Another Lost Phone - the story felt rushed and the puzzles were a little too easy.
I do think that you should give one of these games a go at some point though, they really are interesting, though they do deal with subjects of a sensitive nature. This is done very well in both cases, but I definitely think A Normal Lost Phone shines slightly brighter than Another Lost Phone.
