Sonic Lost World (WiiU) review

[The Mole]

Mario Galaxy style levels + the speed of Sonic is surely a great combo for a game, or so you would think. However in reality some bad choices in the level design let this game down down and just sap any enjoyment into frustration.

Frustration is something i have come to associate with Sonic games over the last few years, however Colours put a stop to that it seemed like the fans were being listened to and i was very excited to see the trailers of Sonic Lost World.

The game is best described as a hybrid of Mario Galaxy and Sonic Colours. Levels are built on spheres and involve the usual bits of platforming and remind me a bit of the bonus levels from Sonic 2. The game starts off well with a Green Hill style setting that suits the game well. The game is fast, frantic, and well designed and i felt in control. Great graphics, smooth frame rate and nice Sonic style tunes.... Why all the bad reviews???

That is when you start to encounter some really bad level design choices. You can be running along and the sphere you are running along will suddenly cut of plummeting you to your death, or spikes will shoot out from the ground where you had no chance of seeing them before you are on top, jumping to one sphere to the next can land you on a platform that decides to break not giving you enough time to react if you were not expecting it, even the jumping can be a bit weird, jumping towards a platform that looks far away and over shooting it or doing a short jump to what looks like a close platform only to fall short.

Deep down this game could have been fantastic and playing the first few levels i have seen glimpses of that and i can't fault the presentation or the thought of what they tried to do with this, the problem is not having a Miyamoto type figure overseeing the development, somebody who just gets design and platforming. Had that happened this game could have easily been been fantastic with a few of these small but consistent errors ironed out. Mario Galaxy this is not.

[cutmymilk]

I played the 3DS version for about 5 minutes and died about 10 times. Unplayable. The game pushes you into holes. Either that or I am teh suxxor.

[Neon Ignition]

Played the WiiU one and it starts okay but the second half in particular is a mess

[VR46]

Demo's of the Wii U & 3DS versions hit the eShop this Thursday afternoon.

[VR46]

Tried the 3DS demo last night, I've never been a big Sonic fan and echo the above comments really, looks nice etc, but poor level design and being able to just distances properly results in too many deaths. Such as wasted opportunity. Don't know if it plays any better on the Wii U.

[Jei]

Finally got around to playing this and was quite enjoying it once things got going.

Then World 6 came along and things started to go rapidly downhill. For some reason auto-locking onto enemy's started to become unreliable resulting in death and then the level design started to remind me of Sonic on the 360 as I was being directed to places where I uncontrollably plummeted to my death.

Needless to say I stuck with it and then World 7 just became twice as frustrating so I gave up. Rarely do I give up on a game so close to completion but in this case it really is a missed opportunity from Sonic Team. The second half of the game just feels like it was rushed for release before the Xbox One and PS4 releases which is a real shame.

[The Mole]

I decided to give this another rental now the free DLC is out all i can say is wow. The DLC is fantastic, it really shows that under all the issues a good game was lurking and certainly enfocrces the fact that level design is key for a game like this. Playing the DLC you would not know it is part of the same game. The Yoshi level is fully 2d and for this i thank the devs it just works and looks absolutely gorgeous using the epic yarn styling. Really looking forward to Yarn Yoshi now.

The Zelda level is a bit like a mini Hyrule, completely open world and takes the best elements of Lost World and morphs them well into something of its own. It even has its own dungeon, but this is more lost world style than Zelda. It has you running down the cylinder rotating it to progress, however it just feels right with the Zelda styling items and graphics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sXb0scN8eE

Does a good job of showing the zelda level

[The Mole]

Just wanted to give a warning to anybody that maybe getting this as a free Mario Kart bonus. I would only suggest doing so if you have or are not interested in Monster Hunter, Mario U, Wonderful 101, Pikmin 3 or Zelda.

I have been playing on with this today after the great Yoshi level and Zelda level. I have been confronted with a level that turns you into a snowball eliminating all powers making the game more Monkey Ball (and a bad version of it) than Sonic. However my main frustrations came from a level where you were trapped in a pinball/slot machine. You have to work your way up using the flippers but the level is so broken i found myself stuck several times.

After 10 fails i was given a get out via a white wisp which i had not ever seen in any level, did the developers know this level was broken so included it rather than fixing the problems?

I urge you even for free this game should not be on your radar when so many better choices are available

[sj33]

I've been playing both the WiiU and 3DS versions of this recently, and I actually really like it as far as 3D Sonic games go.

I actually hated the demos on both formats, and grudgingly bought the games recently due to being a Sonic completeist. The game is different on both formats, but are designed to be as similar as possible. The Zones are the same, the levels are different but the 3DS levels are clearly intended to somewhat mirror the WiiU stages. Ultimately though, they are different games.

As far as the positives go, the game is extremely polished. It is evident that a lot of thought and effort went into the game design, and some parts of the game are extremely original and imaginative. It often suffers from trying to emulate Mario Galaxy in ways because its not even in the same league as a game, but it gets a lot right. Gone are the bottomless pits of death from previous games. It takes a while to get used to the almost fish-eye approach to the stages. It adds a degree of exploration as you need to follow the different routes to find all the red coins.The game remains linear, but the spherical structure adds a level of depth that Sonic games typically lack. I always felt that the wisps in Sonic Colours was really good way of adding more depth to the basic Sonic formula without slowing the game down or complicating the otherwise-basic Sonic gameplay, so their return is welcome. And most importantly, i enjoy playing the game - it is fun, and I say that as somebody who disliked the demos.

As far as the negatives go, the jumping mechanism is somewhat pants. Far too floaty for a Sonic game. Collecting 100 rings no longer gives you an extra life, and exiting a level in mid-stage means you lose the lives and red coins you have accumulated, even if you have already completed that specific stage. The storyline is trash - which isn't particularly important, but they certainly are getting worse. It wouldn't be a Sonic game without some frustrating level design and this is certainly present, but to be fair it often genuinely feels like your own mistake rather than the game being broken.

Overall, it's worth picking up for cheap. Fairly enjoyable romp.