Sonic Lost World (Wii U, 3DS, PC) Megathread

Spoiler

So the final boss is Egg Nega Wisp and the final level is rising lava volcano World 8 from New Super Mario Bros. I really hate to say this but I think that some of Sonic 06's level design is better than a lot of the level design from Lost Worlds. and...the *smooth 3d to 2d transitions that Unleashed-Generations tried so hard to make are gone.

 

Spoiler

About the transitions being gone, I'm willing to bet they did that to avoid 3D in 2D section and vice versa glitches, as well as the occasional extremely abusable glitches found in Generations and Unleashed speed runs. I mean, 3 games with that formula and they never figured it out, so it was probably for the best from their end, hell in Generations you could manage to get in 3D in a classic Sonic section, that doesn't even make sense. At least the transitions aren't Sonic 06 kinds of awkward

 

5.8 on IGN. I say its well deserved for what it stands for: Only a bit better than average, could stand to be a lot better. Reviewer picked the game apart for the wrong reasons though as per typical game journalism.

 

It's not sounding very good right now, I'm hoping I enjoy the game, I should have it through my door shortly.

 

Games Radar 4/5

Gametrailers 7.6/10

Joystick 2.5/5

Polygon 6/10

Gamespot 5/10

EDGE 4/10


Basically a mix of:

-Too Mario
-Really shamelessly takes Mario but isn't great
-Not fast enough
-Level design sucks
-Story sucks
-Game has a learning curve
-3D is different and hard to control
-The game is too hard
-Level gimmicks aren't fun

Most of the stuff sounds like they can't play at the game since it is challenging, but that's also a fault of the level design and the many ways you can die without warning. Many of their criticisms are valid.

I'll agree that the game is a bit better than average but had so much potential to be a hell of a lot better with more traditional level design with the new Parkour system.

 

I'm now in a level being chased by a giant snowman head that freezes you when it touches you, trying to bounce up to a higher place. Fuck this game and everything to do with this game.

 

Welp. Since the review scores for Lost World are incredibly disappointing, my friend who owns a Wii U might not even get the game now. Guess I won't be experiencing this game anytime soon. Not to mention its mediocre to bad reception means the game is unlikely to get ported to other systems. What a disappointment.

 

Jim Sterling likes it! Also Nintendo paid for it. Its not coming out on any other console any time soon. Even then it would Nintendo only consoles probably.

Eurogamer - 4/10
Destructoid - 7.5/10

 

Jim's review is probably the most constructive and accurate viewpoint of the lot. This game's main problem isn't the core gameplay, but Sonic Team's inability to stick to a core gameplay concept and make it work on its own merits out of fear that there isn't enough 'variety'. While it was justified Unleashed and its ilk, which had as much gameplay depth in 3D as a kiddie pool, Lost World's mechanics could be refined and its level design focused around those mechanics, and we could get something magnificent out of it.

 

I was surprised by the Destructoid review. It definitely gave me more hope for the game. Since I don't own a Wii U, it's not really my choice if I get to play it or not. I personally think the game still looks worth playing, though I'm really curious about the future of the series now. I wonder if the writers will get replaced or if Sonic Team will go back to having little emphasis on plot. :/ Also wondering about the future of wisps since they were badly received with this game.

 

This. Really. Why did they spend all that effort making boring minigame acts and gimmicks when all people want to do is play decently designed Sonic levels? I'm just so confused about what this game is trying to be.

I hope they get the correct message with this. The new movement system is ace. The lack of enforcing it or using it at all in traditional level design seems like they built the system for no reason whatsoever.

 

Jim's review seems oddly fair and accurate this go around (score's too high though). Currently this game has a 60 on metacritic, so from what I got from some levels it sounds about accurate. Not god awful but definitely not the series savior some thought it'd be due to the hype train.

Please learn from this sonic team, for there is potential here. There, you had one game where you threw all your ideas to a wall, now take a look back and take away what worked. And for fucks sake remove all the Mario elements. If you try and imitate Mario and can't do it as well you're going to get screwed over.

Also of cannot remember another game with such variety of scores. It's basically everywhere between 2 and 9

 

It would definitely be a good idea for the next game to be less like Super Mario Galaxy. I can't find a single review that doesn't mention the Super Mario Galaxy games which just makes the game look like it wants to be Super Mario Galaxy, but fails at it. :/

 

There are some things I just can't wrap my head around, like (all right maybe this isn't big but) why don't you get a life when you collect 100 rings? What's the point of having more than one ring with you then?

 

Bothered me a bit. It doesn't help with ranks because those are gone straight to time trials. The rate you lose lives you'd think the 100 ring life net would be a better balance. The animals are the stage unlocking mechanism even.

 

Let me put it like this whenever I see a review slam a game for cheap difficulty.

Metal Gear Rising, this generation, was panned for being very difficult by the mainstream reviewer-sphere. Wasn't fun, game was poop, typical Platinum garbage, etc.

Yet it easily holds for me the best final boss this generation for actually challenging the player, mixed in with a very suitable arena, the boss' raw desire which he says, "You know what? Fuck this war. I just want you dead."

Mind you, the title for best boss of this generation isn't a very contested one when you have Halo 4's final boss as a one hit kill QTE... or Tomb Raider doing the same thing... or utter HP sponges like in most RPGs (who don't even go beyond the whole corrupt God or shade of gray villain.)

I'm sure some of you are rolling your eyes, and hell I'm sure there are better bosses out there than Armstrong. The point is, I like difficulty when it's an actual challenge. From the speedruns of the game I've seen, there seems to be very little problem with Sonic's controls themselves. I'll trust Tim when he says that most of it comes from later levels just being plain dickish, but that type of dickish is what also gave the classic Donkey Kong Countrys some notoriety back on SNES.

Brambles, guys.

 

It does get kind of up there with the spike at Lava Mountain and some retarded shit in Sky Road. The myriad of ways Sonic can die as easily as DK or Rayman feels off as this sort of platforming design was never the case in any previous Sonic game.

But yeah after Wonderful 101 got blasted for being "too difficult" when the game has one of the most rewarding and deep combat systems in years and people or whining about Duck Tales being "archaic" for a game over booting you back to the start of the stage...it is starting to get grating. It's annoying as hell listening to these people review games when they clearly can't play them and things like Bioshock Infinite's poor gunplay can squeak by with a 10/10 without mention because you can't really fail at the game is irritating.

 

Which reviewer-sphere are you talking about? Because last I checked, Rising was critically-acclaimed all-round.

 

I've noticed that and given this game's difficulty in places that should have been in there. Really bad move. This game seems to be a fine example of the case to remove lives to be honest.

Also does anyone know what that patch did? Did it maybe fix some problems controlling the wisps or something?

 

The Sonic formula is always changing. There is no constant other than that, and like it or not, this is how the cycle usually goes. The Unleashed/Colors/Generations gameplay was fun while it lasted (for what it was), but it's time for something new. Sonic 06, which crudely mimicked Sonic Adventure 1's gameplay, has taught Sonic Team not to stick to any one particular formula for long, and that's why we're suddenly seeing a crazy new formula like this. At this point, I'm just going along for the ride.

If they do carry on with this playstyle, it'll only be for the sake of refining and perfecting it for a few years, before moving on to something else that is, yet again, wildly different.

To be honest, this game reminds me of Sonic 1. No, not just because of the visuals or whatever... but because a lot of people tend to say that Sonic 1, while great, is still the worst of the classic series because, well, it's the least developed, the most "rough around the edges"... and look at how amazing and refined the later genesis games are.

Same thing happened with Unleashed, even for me. Granted, I hated the game for different reasons than most people seem to, but I loved Colors and especially Generations because they refined the gameplay, whipped up more interesting level designs an' all that.

I think this could go similarly. Lost World is admittedly clunky, but hey, it's something new.

I'm still excited as heck to play this game. It just has so much of what I've been asking for. Platforming, exploring, and Sonic doesn't control like a car on ice skates (at least, it doesn't look like he does).