Sonic Lost World - Previews

[Badnik Mechanic]

http://www.sonicstadium.org/2013/08/tss-preview-sonic-lost-world/

 

Off you go. I'll try to answer any questions I suspect will get angrilly thrown my way or something or other.

 

But do remember I do also put this in the preview.

 

So is this a bad game?

 

No… In fact there’s a lot here which makes this a very good game. [...] there really is an amazing Sonic game here, you can see it crying out for you to love it.

 

The main issue I have is that the game has such a high learning curve and some control choices are putting me right off from being able to enjoy it.

[Linkabel]

When I posted my views on the Lost World demon in the SDCC thread I mentioned that the controls for the wisp were hard for me (though I also acknowledged that it might up to me sucking) but reading this makes me wonder (and I also didn't know you could control the wisps another way) I'm going to have to disagree with Sonic controls though, he doesn't control as smoothly as everyone says but broken they are not (and this also coming from a non-Wii U owner that had to get used to the gamepad)

[PSI Wind]

http://www.sonicstadium.org/2013/08/tss-preview-sonic-lost-world/

 

Off you go. I'll try to answer any questions I suspect will get angrilly thrown my way or something or other.

 

But do remember I do also put this in the preview.

 

So is this a bad game?

 

No… In fact there’s a lot here which makes this a very good game. [...] there really is an amazing Sonic game here, you can see it crying out for you to love it.

 

The main issue I have is that the game has such a high learning curve and some control choices are putting me right off from being able to enjoy it.

Oh, well, that's good to hear.

[Doctor MK]

My second opinion for those who are too lazy to read through the whole article to get to it...

 

As a devoted Wii U owner as well as a huge fan of Sonic Colours, you’d think Sonic Lost World would be right up my street – and for the most part, you’d be right. I played Windy Hill Zone 1 and the first thing I noticed about the blue blur’s latest outing was just how good it looks. The colours are bright and vibrant, really capturing a classic Sonic feel that harkens back to the days of the Megadrive, yet still somehow managing to feel fresh and new. Not everyone will like the game’s more simplistic art style compared with the more detailed landscapes in Unleashed and Generations, but Lost World most definitely has a charm of its own and when you see it running in full motion, it’s hard not to be at least a little impressed.

 

The new control scheme for Sonic’s tweaked moveset also left me with a positive impression. If you’ve played the recent high velocity, boost-orientated games in the series then you’ll definitely need a moment to adjust to Sonic walking of all things, but holding down ZR to run and ZL to spin dash feels far more intuitive than it may initially sound. The twisty, tubular level design accommodates for Sonic’s new moves with plenty of opportunities for proper platforming (which the tight controls and double jump more than allow for), and pulling off a successful parkour trick is a very satisfying feat indeed. As far as gameplay is concerned I have faith that this is heading in the right direction, striking a balance between speed and precision that hasn’t truly been seen since the 16-bit era.

 

However, not all was well in the demo, by which I specifically refer to one very particular fly in the ointment. I may have loved Sonic Colours, but I am certainly not loving the way the Wisps work in Sonic Lost World so far. Put simply, trying to use the GamePad’s touch screen to activate the Cyan Laser Wisp was infuriatingly difficult. The aiming was imprecise and the quick flick used to activate the laser just would not register, however hard I tried. In the end I had to resort to the traditional stick and buttons combo – yes, you can actually use them, though you wouldn’t know it from the game’s instructions – but even then it was slower and more clunky than it was in Sonic Colours. It pains me to find fault with Lost World after it left me feeling so optimistic in every other aspect, but this is too big an issue to ignore. If the other Wisps control as poorly as this one does, the game could really suffer.

 

All in all though I had a blast with the one level I got to play, and I’m eager to get my hands on the finished product. If the few niggling issues that exist in the demo can be ironed out before release, then the future is looking bright for our plucky hedgehog hero. Roll on October!

[Narukami07]

My second opinion for those who are too lazy to read through the whole article to get to it...

 

As a devoted Wii U owner as well as a huge fan of Sonic Colours, you’d think Sonic Lost World would be right up my street – and for the most part, you’d be right. I played Windy Hill Zone 1 and the first thing I noticed about the blue blur’s latest outing was just how good it looks. The colours are bright and vibrant, really capturing a classic Sonic feel that harkens back to the days of the Megadrive, yet still somehow managing to feel fresh and new. Not everyone will like the game’s more simplistic art style compared with the more detailed landscapes in Unleashed and Generations, but Lost World most definitely has a charm of its own and when you see it running in full motion, it’s hard not to be at least a little impressed.

 

The new control scheme for Sonic’s tweaked moveset also left me with a positive impression. If you’ve played the recent high velocity, boost-orientated games in the series then you’ll definitely need a moment to adjust to Sonic walking of all things, but holding down ZR to run and ZL to spin dash feels far more intuitive than it may initially sound. The twisty, tubular level design accommodates for Sonic’s new moves with plenty of opportunities for proper platforming (which the tight controls and double jump more than allow for), and pulling off a successful parkour trick is a very satisfying feat indeed. As far as gameplay is concerned I have faith that this is heading in the right direction, striking a balance between speed and precision that hasn’t truly been seen since the 16-bit era.

 

However, not all was well in the demo, by which I specifically refer to one very particular fly in the ointment. I may have loved Sonic Colours, but I am certainly not loving the way the Wisps work in Sonic Lost World so far. Put simply, trying to use the GamePad’s touch screen to activate the Cyan Laser Wisp was infuriatingly difficult. The aiming was imprecise and the quick flick used to activate the laser just would not register, however hard I tried. In the end I had to resort to the traditional stick and buttons combo – yes, you can actually use them, though you wouldn’t know it from the game’s instructions – but even then it was slower and more clunky than it was in Sonic Colours. It pains me to find fault with Lost World after it left me feeling so optimistic in every other aspect, but this is too big an issue to ignore. If the other Wisps control as poorly as this one does, the game could really suffer.

 

All in all though I had a blast with the one level I got to play, and I’m eager to get my hands on the finished product. If the few niggling issues that exist in the demo can be ironed out before release, then the future is looking bright for our plucky hedgehog hero. Roll on October!

Very nice preview!

Btw, when you say that you can control the Cyan lazer Wisp with buttons...do you mean as in activating it or by aiming it at a viable precision?

[Doctor MK]

Very nice preview!

Btw, when you say that you can control the Cyan lazer Wisp with buttons...do you mean as in activating it or by aiming it at a viable precision?

 

You have to touch the GamePad screen to actually activate it (which is really awkward in itself as you have to take your eyes off the main screen), but you can use the control stick and buttons to aim and fire, yes.

[Narukami07]

You have to touch the GamePad screen to actually activate it (which is really awkward in itself as you have to take your eyes off the main screen), but you can use the control stick and buttons to aim and fire, yes.

Oh, thank god.....(which doesn't say much). How Sega couldn't give out that info is pretty sketchy of them. I wonder if this could work with the rest of the Wisps.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Narukami07

[Doctor MK]

Oh, thank god.....(which doesn't say much). How Sega couldn't give out that info is pretty sketchy of them.

 

Yeah, they really should have mentioned it. If it weren't for the touch screen controlling like absolute ass I wouldn't have even thought to test it out, but I'm glad I did.

[WhoWhatMan]

It doesn't matter to me if the game don't tell you about it, I just read the manual... Well, If I got it used and it don't come with a manual, then yea, I would be annoyed.

Edited August 13, 2013 by KaBlamJamDan

[Doctor MK]

It doesn't matter to me if the game don't tell you about, I just read the manual... Well, If I got it used and it don't come with a manual, then yea, I would be annoyed.

 

Though it's worth noting that most games these days don't come with a proper instruction manual. You might get a single sheet displaying a few basic controls if you're lucky.

[ArtFenix]

Oh wow, the IGN vid really used the new Dario mod footage with Classic Sonic in Sonic 4 xD.

 

The video commentaries were incredibly inacurate by the way. (or just incredibly subjective to the point of being inacurate)

Edited August 12, 2013 by ArtFenix

[Badnik Mechanic]

It doesn't matter to me if the game don't tell you about, I just read the manual... Well, If I got it used and it don't come with a manual, then yea, I would be annoyed.

 

The issue is, for the best part of... well.. 20 years? The Sonic series has been a game you can very easilly pick up and play. Exceptions to this rule might be Sonic 06 (due to Silver), and to a point, the werehog, especially due to how underpowered he is from a fresh game. Yeah you might die in a level or find something hard. But the act of actually picking up a controller and playing as Sonic for the best part of 20 odd years, very very easy thing to do.

 

The hardest thing in the classic era for many was the god damn bouncy barrel.

 

Lost World, for me at least, is so different and complicated with it's control scheme that you can't do that, you can't pick this up and enjoy it right away, or after a short while of practice, it's a very high learning curve.

 

It's not so much of 'RAWR I can't blaze through this stage on my first go and get an S rank!" It's basic questions like 'how do I attack the badniks? Why am I moving so slowly. How do I use the Wisps? Did I use it right? Why is Sonic attacking all those enemies but now he's only attacking one?

 

This isn't a side character or a secondary part of the game, this is the whole main game.

 

A lot of people have said they're waiting for this game or that this game will be their first Wii U title. For a lot of people, I think the reception of this is going to be very poor.

 

It's going to be a very dividing game. I suspect if someone bought me a Wii U and this game I would eventually learn the controls and beat it then probably praise it (maybe?) But from the first attempt at playing it, I just couldn't enjoy it because I didn't feel like I was able to play it due to how complicated the controls were and how the game offered me nothing in terms of aid or assistance when trying to progress through it.

 

And I really got sick of suddenly running up a tree when all I wanted to do was rocket through the Windy Hill zone.

[Soniman]

I didn't think the learning curve would be that high, considering all the other previews ive seen had people getting into it fairly quickly.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Soniman

[ArtFenix]

So after reading Hogfather's preview I'm starting to think that the last aspect that could save the game in my eyes from being total piece of garbage might be pretty bad as is the art direction and general tone of it for me. The gameplay - the thing that definitely MUST be enjoyable seems to not really be due to controls and Sonic being a slow turtle (something I've been saying since the announcement trailer while most of others were really excited and wouldn't agree that he IS slow or at least slower than in the rest of 3D games). That+basically what Hogfather has said: there shouldn't even be a "run" button. There should have been the "walk" button instead. It's a Sonic game so by default Sonic's speed should be fast and only if you want to slow down a little, you should press a button for that, not the other way around.

 

I was also saying that it looks like that game WANTS you to stop at times (often). Looks like it's true as well.

 

Not only that but I was totally calling for the physics being a mess.

 

The concept itself is flawed and desert ruins from 3DS just shows that. For some stupid reason Sonic can now run on a vertical wall without getting any momentum.

Basically, that's how it was before SLW and in this game.

That's a mighty huge step forward indeed. Definitely the pinnacle of physics perfection.

Now that someone with more authority has said the same thing peope finally started considering this issue being there.

 

I hope I didn't offend anyone here, cause you know.. People think I'm often being aggressive and rude towards others when in reality I'm just being upset by this game, that's all.

 

 

Thank you for the preview, Hogfather! That was a very useful read.

Edited August 13, 2013 by ArtFenix

[SilentDoom]

I believe I've said this before, but an extensive tutorial at the start of the game would really help communicate how exactly you play the game.  And they REALLY need to think through this carefully because of how different the control scheme is comparative to every other game.  As the preview is of a demo I'm willing to give it the benefit of a doubt for the time being, but if this persists to be the case then it will be a real issue in the initial stages of playing the game.  Sure, the game will eventually start making sense and everything will click after you've adjusted to the various mechanics, but it's pretty poor design if Sonic Team fail to acknowledge just how different this game is from every other Sonic game and fail to communicate the basic concepts of the game.

 

Something that I noticed though, IGN's newest video on Lost World claims the controls to be great, a complete clash to your views Hogfather (which I find quite interesting as despite the fact that you hadn't touched a WiiU before the Lost World demo, I trust you to be more of a hardcore Sonic fan than the guys at IGN).  I'm not discounting anyone's credibility (heck your opinion is more credible than most people's because you've had the opportunity to actually play the game), it's just rather interesting to see how vastly people's opinions can vary on a subject like this. 

Edited August 12, 2013 by SiLeNtDo0m

[TrueBlue]

So after reading Hogfather's preview I'm starting to think that the last aspect that could save the game in my eyes from being total piece of garbage might be pretty bad as is the art direction and general tone of it for me. The gameplay - the thing that definitely MUST be enjoyable seems to not really be due to controls and Sonic being a slow turtle (something I've been saying since the announcement trailer while most of others were really excited and wouldn't agree that he IS slow or at least slower than in the rest of 3D games). That+basically what Hogfather has said: there shouldn't even be a "run" button instead. There should have been the "walk" button. It's a Sonic game so by default Sonic's speed should be fast and only if you want to slow down a little, you should press a button for that, not the other way around.

 

I was also saying that it looks like that game WANTS you to stop at times (often). Looks like it's true as well.

 

Not only that but I was totally calling for the physics being a mess.

 

Now that someone with more authority has said the same thing peope finally started considering this issue being there.

 

I hope I didn't offend anyone here, cause you know.. People think I'm often being aggressive and rude towards others when in reality I'm just being upset by this game, that's all.

 

 

Thank you for the preview, Hogfather! That was a very useful read.

 

You don't offend me personally, but going "called it!" in response to a somewhat negative preview may irk others.

[Chaos Warp]

Well at this point I think I'm just going to disregard every preview on the subject of the controls and just wait to play the game myself, since that aspect seems to be very divisive. I'm sure the full game will include at least some sort of tutorial though: the 3DS version has one. And if not then it might just be a Wonderful 101 sort of game where it's hard to get the hang of but once you grasp it it works like a charm. 

 

I mean, one criticism I've always had with this game is how it'll probably be twitchy in terms of controls but I doubt it'll be something I can't get used too. 

[Stasis]

The demo contained a tutorial as I recall seeing someone playing and the screen freezes while the text boxes pop up, but during my go I didn't see a single one.

[Radrappy]

Hogfather, I played the game extensively at Sonic Boom and while I agree that the cyan wisp needs adjusting, I found most of your control complaints to be completely over-blown.  The game felt very nice in my hands and holding the r button to run felt fluid and natural.  The "mach speed" sequence also felt great.  I don't know what kind of games you are into or which games from this very franchise are your favorites but I can't help but suspect you went into the event with. . . well, a bad attitude.  

 

I did see some people at Sonic Boom get frustrated but when you're standing in a line of people itching to play the game and they're watching you foul things up, there's a lot of pressure to just give up.  It doesn't help that the members of this community (and possibly modern gamers in general) are EXTREMELY judgmental of how you play a game.  I actually heard the girl in front of me laugh and whisper to her friend when she watched the person playing die.   

 

The game is very different from any Sonic game thus released.  Don't you remember how steep Sonic Unleashed's learning curve was?  

[MegasonicZX]

So, really the only problem I see with this game so far is the lack of a rep being there to help you out with the game, you'd think that since this is a completely new type of sonic game, they would have someone there to help you out as you played but from hog fathers preview there doesn't seem to be one which is weird cause while they say this game will help wii u sales, it won't help anything if the general fanbase can't figure out how to play it which in turn makes people not like the product as a whole.

[edvedd]

I have a slight objection to the preview: The cyan wisp doesn't seem to be very well-implemented, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all the wisps will be as bad. It seems like we're writing them off too quickly because ONE of them is bad. Will the others be hard to control? I can't say without trying them.

 

As for the controls, there have been plenty of positive and a few negatives (Even the preview reflects this), so I'll have to play it myself to see how well it controls in totality. 

Edited August 13, 2013 by edvedd

[Octarine]

I've had a feeling the Cyan Laser was going to be kind of a disaster since even Aaron couldn't get the thing to work in that first level preview, but it was always likely to be the worst by far as touch controls go. Beat could be trouble, but Drill, Rocket, Asteroid and Eagle all seem like they'd only require one touch to activate (and not even that if there actually is a button). That's kind of hard to mess up.

[edvedd]

Beat will be tapping, I bet. That shouldn't be bad. 

[Crackerss]

The game is very different from any Sonic game thus released.  Don't you remember how steep Sonic Unleashed's learning curve was?  

 

That's pretty much what I was thinking as well, I actually had fun having to practice to get good at Unleashed. To be honest, it feels like many Sonic games can be difficult to just pick up, I mean you kind of have to practice to get good at the classics too.

 

Shame about the cyan wisp though! Here's hoping it's fixed...

[edvedd]

It's a good thing that the cyan wisp can be button-controlled. As long as they make it clear in game, we shouldn't have too many issues.