Lost World: Discussion, Impressions and Fan Reviews

[Blue Blood]

Which only exist because they wanted to make him playable. It's nothing meaningful, just contrivances so they have an excuse for you to play as him.

Whether or not he's playable, he's there with Sonic in the stages and he's supposedly doing stuff.

 

To my recollection we don't actually see him do any of that, so it's essentially him saying "I'm going to go disappear for a while while you do things".

The thing is, it's still implied that he's making himself useful and doing something of assistance, instead of sitting there with his screwdriver waiting for Sonic the whole time. Him saying "I'll do this off-screen while you do other stuff" actually makes a difference to the portrayal of his character, especially when you compare it to recent games.

 

And what actually comes of this? What does it affect? Those are honest questions because I genuinely don't remember this, unless it's when he goes through Wave Ocean again for no reason.

This was that point in the game. I'll give you that it was likely shoehorned in just to make him playable; it doesn't actually anything plot-wise. But this is '06 we're talking about. It's notorious for plot-holes and things about it being incomplete in general. And the point is he did something. Both here, and at other points in the game. Right from his totally random introduction hang on wait why the hell is he even in Soleanna why is everyone suddenly there why why why God this game is fucking awful why am I suddenly defending a part of it I don't even know anymore Right from his introduction at the start of the game he's actively helping Sonic is his quest. I'm so much happier for Tails to tag along and have it implied that he's involved, rather than the way it's been managed in all the games since. "Hey Sonic, while you were gone I've been sat here on my arse and have a little more info. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got more sitting to do. Also I'm a genius who can do anything."

 

If you would like a better example (and heck, I'd like a better example), we have SA1. And just within Sonic's story, Tails helps him search for the Emeralds, is responsible for losing the purple Emerald to Eggman at the start, meets Sonic on Red Mountain to fly him to the Egg Carrier, saves Amy from an crashing Egg Carrier... Tails does stuff with more purpose there.

[Chaos Incarnate]

So, I got the 3DS version for my Birthday, and now that I completed it a few days ago, it looks like I can offer my thoughts on it.

 

So, Sonic Generations came out around two years ago, so when another Sonic title was finally announced, I was pissed that it was coming out for two consoles I didn't even own. Still, both versions looked fun, and seeing as how I was considering buying a 3DS beforehand, Lost World was the deal breaker for me. I may purchase a Wii U one day and play that version, but that's for another day. I suppose I'll break the game down into each category, so here it goes.

 

Story: I initially didn't have high impressions of the story when I heard the premise. *Yawn*, we all know Eggman will turn on Sonic, and the Deadly Six look like Skylanders Rejects. However when cutscenes were revealed over the month, it suddenly dawned on me: this could be much better than Colors' or Generations' plots. The dialogue seemed to be much better this time around, and the Deadly Six could be the best Villains in a while. So, now that I've played it, how does the story fare? Meh. The dialogue is much better this time around, and I quite liked the Deadly Six, but they ultimately have no motivation for what they're doing and come off as cliches, which is hidden by their humorous dialogue. Everyone is portrayed well here, but the cutscene where Tails gets mad at Sonic for seemingly trusting Eggman more than him is completely forced. Really Tails? Do you seriously think Sonic would trust his enemy more than you when Eggman has attempted to harness the power of monsters over several games, split the planet in several pieces, and kidnap other animals+Wisps to power his machines? Also, the ending is completely abrupt with no emotional payoff whatsoever, and comes off as extremely rushed. A good effort from the Colors writers, and I'm glad they were given more control over the plot this time around, but it really fizzles out and comes across as rushed in the third act.

 

Graphics: Dimps did not slouch here, or at least for the most part. The levels are incredibly colorful, but the textures on the character models look a little rough around the edges. Silent Forrest act 2 also looks like shit, which is odd since the rest of the game looks great for a 3DS title. Finally, the cutscenes are a bit compressed, but that wasn't too noticeable for me unless I turned up the 3D slider.

 

Music: *Sigh*.... This was easily the most disappointing aspect of the game for me. Tomoya Ohtani usually does such a wonderful job, so what the hell happened here? Wonder World, Windy Hill, Dessert Ruins, Frozen Factory, Silent Forrest act 2, and the boss themes are all great, but the rest of it is entirely forgettable. It's not too bad as a soundtrack on its own, but it doesn't feel very Sonic-y to me, if that makes any sense.

 

Gameplay: What a missed opportunity. Dimps clearly placed a lot of effort into this game, but there's a ton of levels I never want to replay ever again. Let's break it down, shall we?

 

Windy Hill: A really fun level overall, I enjoy every act and generally have no qualms with it. Can't say much for it, but it's easy to speedrun and doesn't overstay its welcome.

 

Desert Ruins: Act 1 and 2 are fine, but Act 3 really overstays its welcome.

 

Tropical Coast: More Wisp and Puzzle heavy, but Act 1 and 2 are fairly decent. Act 3 can go die in a fire though, the Drill wisp controls horribly in 3D and it goes on too long.

 

Frozen Factory: Starts off with two great acts although Lighting Wisp can feel a tad bit slippery, but three can go die in a fire and melt in the depths of hell. Seriously, the snowball can go fuck itself.

 

Silent Factory: Gyro Controls are not cool Dimps! Stop shoving it down our throats! The Quake Wisp ruins this stage, and Act 2 has the most dickish level design of any Sonic level.

 

Sky Road: Wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the Asteroid Wisp being mandatory, and Act 3 feels too trial and error.

 

Lava Mountain/Bosses: Most of them are fun, but Lightning in Zeena's boss is slippery as all hell, Zik is easy to get hit in, Gyro Controls can go die in a fire, and Zavok can be really cheap if you don't know what you're doing.

 

Final Boss: A major step up from the Time Eater, but it was way too easy aside from the cheap instant death portal near the end.

 

Overall: Sonic: Lost World is not a horrible game. The first half is really enjoyable for the most part, and I don't mind more emphasis on puzzles. However, with levels that overstay their welcome, and incredibly forced Gyro controls, Sonic: Lost World 3DS is a game I can only recommend to die-hard Sonic enthusiasts. 

 

6/10

[Junko]

Music: *Sigh*.... This was easily the most disappointing aspect of the game for me. Tomoya Ohtani usually does such a wonderful job, so what the hell happened here? Wonder World, Windy Hill, Dessert Ruins, Frozen Factory, Silent Forrest act 2, and the boss themes are all great, but the rest of it is entirely forgettable. It's not too bad as a soundtrack on its own, but it doesn't feel very Sonic-y to me, if that makes any sense.

Sky Road, Lava Mountain? Opinionnnns.

[Chaos Incarnate]

Sky Road, Lava Mountain? Opinionnnns.

You're right, and it's my opinion that the music isn't very memorable dude.

[Junko]

You're right, and it's my opinion that the music isn't very memorable dude.

Also, didn't talk about the controls in of itself?

[Chaos Incarnate]

Also, didn't talk about the controls in of itself?

Not sure what that has to do with the music, but the controls are pretty fine for the most part. Better than Unleashed and Generations when Sonic wasn't boosting, but the Homing attack targeting several enemies is a bit of a double edged sword, because targeting a lot of enemies can lead to unintentionally falling into bottomless pits. Aside from Gyro Controls and the occasionally slippery homing attack, the game controls fairly well for the most part.

[Junko]

Not sure what that has to do with the music, but the controls are pretty fine for the most part. Better than Unleashed and Generations when Sonic wasn't boosting, but the Homing attack targeting several enemies is a bit of a double edged sword, because targeting a lot of enemies can lead to unintentionally falling into bottomless pits. Aside from Gyro Controls and the occasionally slippery homing attack, but the game controls fairly well for the most part.

I know, I was just floating topics, you didn't really go over. Yeah, I heard the homing attack is pretty annoying at times.

Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio Z715e using Tapatalk

[MegaMan_EXE]

Look, I'm going to elaborate myself on Lost World. When Lost World was announced, and when I saw that gameplay footage, I got pumped for it. As time went on, I started thinking it was going to be a polarizing game, and sure enough, it is. However, I sometimes feel part of the hate comes from people's inability to handle the parkour mechanics. Look, on my first playthrough, there were times of me fucking up because of the parkour, but after I beat the game, I taught myself how to get the parkour down. Why did I do this?
Since LW's an experiment, I wanted to find its full potential. You see, a game like this has to be played multiple times in order to get the hang of it. Yeah, that does sound like a bullshit move, but honestly, since I play Sonic games to their core, I didn't mind doing that for Lost World. In the end, I got an enjoyable experience after a mixed experience. I know I'm being nice to this game, but as the first time they used this gameplay style, I wanted to see how far it got for its first time, and I would like to see this formula built upon later. 
In my opinion, it's still better than Adventure 2. That's a new catchphrase of mine.  

[Blue Blood]

Look, I'm going to elaborate myself on Lost World. When Lost World was announced, and when I saw that gameplay footage, I got pumped for it. As time went on, I started thinking it was going to be a polarizing game, and sure enough, it is. However, I sometimes feel part of the hate comes from people's inability to handle the parkour mechanics-

 

Let me stop you right there. The parkour mechanics are tough to get used to (especially with the games lack of any tutorial), but that completely aside they're not good mechanics at all. They're slow, underused in the level design, very limited in what they actually let you accomplish and are still cumbersome even when you are used to them.

 

I like Lost World. I can't stress that enough. Parkour is something I've wanted to see in Sonic since before parkour really became a buzzword. But it's done quite poorly. And when it's as one of many big shake-ups to the gameplay, I think it's perfectly fair that hate may stem from it. However most of the 'hate', or otherwise not-positive feelings, come from more than just the parkour system including the controls and movement in general.

[MegaMan_EXE]

Let me stop you right there. The parkour mechanics are tough to get used to (especially with the games lack of any tutorial), but that completely aside they're not good mechanics at all. They're slow, underused in the level design, very limited in what they actually let you accomplish and are still cumbersome even when you are used to them.

 

I like Lost World. I can't stress that enough. Parkour is something I've wanted to see in Sonic since before parkour really became a buzzword. But it's done quite poorly. And when it's as one of many big shake-ups to the gameplay, I think it's perfectly fair that hate may stem from it.

Hence why it's an experiment. Yeah, I'll agree that it wasn't implemented the way it could have been, but that's what happens when new gameplay styles come for the first time. Remember how bad Unleashed was? Not talking about the Werehog, the Day stages were absurdly linear, and felt like a straight line instead of an actual level. 

As for getting used to the parkour, it surprisingly didn't take me much time to get the hang of them. Yeah, I still died a lot, but it wasn't as bad as my experiences with Secret Rings, which I never got the hang of, for the record. 

[Soniman]

I don't really see how they're slow in an already slow paced game but most of the time they move at a decent speed anyway with the wall runs and wall jump, hell in fact it's usually faster then the normal running speed.

 

It's not a perfect mechanic but it's hardly anything bad. Like had little trouble with it when I got used to how they function, the only really issue stems from the level design which don't try and opt to use them most of the time and it's a shame.

[Blue Blood]

Hence why it's an experiment. Yeah, I'll agree that it wasn't implemented the way it could have been, but that's what happens when new gameplay styles come for the first time. Remember how bad Unleashed was? Not talking about the Werehog, the Day stages were absurdly linear, and felt like a straight line instead of an actual level. 

As for getting used to the parkour, it surprisingly didn't take me much time to get the hang of them. Yeah, I still died a lot, but it wasn't as bad as my experiences with Secret Rings, which I never got the hang of, for the record. 

 

Being an experiment doesn't give something a free pass. Unleashed daytime was much better and more refined experience than Lost World. Generations improved on the formula massively, but the foundations it had to  build on were already more solid.

 

Basically, Lost World to me is a failed experiment while Unleashed was a pretty successful one. I want to see something new and better next time.

[Doctor MK]

Sonic Lost World does get marginally more enjoyable once you master the mechanics - but the mere fact that you have to go out of your way to learn how to control things properly, and that the game never explicitly makes an effort to teach you how to do this (which given that it's a brand new control scheme is pretty unforgivable), is where the real issue lies.

 

The game is poorly designed in that sense because it's a problem that simply should not be there in the first place. The parkour does make traversing the levels more interesting after you discover how it works through trial and error, but the average gamer isn't going to have the incentive or patience to fiddle around with an otherwise clunky system to learn the finer details. That's the game's fault, not the player's.

 

I like Lost World, but jeez it really doesn't make itself user-friendly.

[pppp]

What i don't understand is how the fact that the game is an experiment somehow forgives that. Mario Galaxy 1 was trying a new style of gameplay despite Mario still controlling like he did before, and yet there was no need for me to play it multiple times to start enjoying it. Why can't Sonic Team just do the same?

 

Sonic Unleashed also suffered from being an experiment, but at the very least it explained its mechanics to us.

 

If Sonic Team is gonna screw alot of things up everytime they experiment, then they should hire better game designers, cause I'm getting tired of their experiments.

[Soniman]

Mario Galaxy is hardly an experiment, or if it is it's a very very minor one. Eveything done with the game was just a refinement on what 64 already layer down beforehand, the only thing you could call experimental was the gravity stuff, and even then it's not a major game changer to the Mario formula.

[Wraith]

I think that was his point Sega SHOULD have taken what they already had and looked for ways to make it more interesting, since it's actually a solid foundation, instead of shooting into the dark after they already found one that worked. 

[Kuzu]

Or maybe Sonic Team just need better developers. This isn't the first time they've done this either. Experimentation isn't, and shouldn't be, an excuse for shoddy design decisions. Even if its their first time dealing with a style, it should be refined to make sure there are barely any flaws in the final product. Seriously, we shouldn't have to wait 2-3 games for them to get stuff right they should have gotten the first time. Its partially why I have no particular faith in Sonic Team anymore.

[Sami]

Can't say I'm a fan of the "this is an experiment so please be forgiving that it kind of sucks" and "okay so we've finally got this formula down pat time to change to a radically different one and repeat this whole process" cycle we seem to be getting.

[Soniman]

Id say this wonky start would be worth it if it ends up getting a better potentially gameplay style that was leagues above what we had previously.

 

 

lets ignore that I think this experiment is pulled off better than what was done in Unleashed because that's obviously wrong I guess.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Yeah, the games not perfect, but its not broken either(least not at its core, wisps are questionable), all the levels are beatable, getting all unlockables are doable, and not THAT much of an ordeal(I got a ton of red rings on my first run through of levels... well cept for lava mountian)

 

The gameplay is relatively solid, and although it needs to be polished, it honestly it no worse than sonic one with the orginal gameplay style, even though its considered a classic, however its also lacks spindash(and this applies to the fact that gameplay is NEVER perfected first time around), it has a number of extremely difficult zones(Labrynith zone anyone?), and it had some sort of collection to get the emeralds, that is considered easy or hard depending on your viewpoint

Heck, if you want to do a comparison to unleashed, at least this has a good chunk more freedom of exploration, and in this case its about a fourth the game that is tough and gimicky, rather than a full half you have to constantly go back to

 

So yeah, for a sonic introducing a new gameplay style its not bad, also while the bosses are lacking, neither sonic 1's or CD's bosses were that great(like CDs self destruct boss?)

 

So yeah, its a solid game, and there is a lot they can do with this gameplay style

[Kuzu]

Nobody is saying the game is bad, but some shit just should not be there in the first place. And saying "well other games had bad starts too" only reinforces my stance that they should have the hang of stuff like this now, and yet they don't. Potential means nothing if it's in the hands of a developer who has no clue on how to use it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[azoo]

Id say this wonky start would be worth it if it ends up getting a better potentially gameplay style that was leagues above what we had previously.

 

 

lets ignore that I think this experiment is pulled off better than what was done in Unleashed because that's obviously wrong I guess.

 

Better concepts for a Sonic game or not, Unleashed to me was a much more polished/refined first try than Lost World. It had 90% reliable player physics (not regarding mechanics) and had a clear idea on what it was doing: fast race track / obstacle course mad dashes to the end.

 

Lost World can barely tell you what it's doing even if it tried. Is it Sonic? Is it quasi-Mario? Is it a puzzle game? Is it (insert generic Nintendo Hard platformer here)? Is it score based? Time based? What exactly is this? It threw ideas at the wall in every direction. The variety was good, sure, but it's over-abundance left me kind of unsure what I was playing, when I kinda just wanted to play a really good Sonic game.

[VGamer]

As a person who was REALLY excited for this game up until it was released, I honestly think this is a bad Sonic game. I feel like the only thing stopping people from saying so is that we just came off of Generations and Colors. Aside from the whole issue of lacking an identity, this game goes back to a time where Sonic wasn't about Sonic. This game doesn't feel like Sonic, especially the whole run-button idea. It sounds good on paper, but playing this game feels like Rayman.

 

If they're so reliant on giving us better control, I don't see how the Adventure control screwed that up at all (at least with Sonic and Tails in SA1). They never controlled badly in that game at all, and I never had the issue of coming to dead stops in that game (at least off the top of my head), so what's with the sudden need to change everything in the formula (AGAIN, might I add). The only reason you need parkour in this game is because the game requires you to use it. WHEN in Sonic Generations would you come to a dead-stop because something was in your way? Same goes for Adventure 1, and even '06 really. Building up speed and going fast that way is what Sonic is about to me, it worked in the 2D games, and it worked with Sonic and Tails in SA1 (some would even argue the same for Knuckles).

 

The run button and parkour honestly make this feel like Rayman Legends translated into 3D control-wise. I don't like the fact that I can speed up just by pushing one button, it feels boring to me. I thought it would be cool and that it would feel a lot like Adventure, but it doesn't. It was fun to experience the first few times, but I don't want this to return ever again in a Sonic game really.

 

The levels themselves are really bland as well. At least, the 3D levels. It's either tubular designs, or flat areas with nothing but stage hazards and enemies (Desert Ruins 1) that feels like it's some fan-made level with nothing interesting about it, created in some level editor. There aren't any hills, curves, loop-de-loops, twists, fun set-pieces (GUN truck chase, giant fish in GhZ, etc), their just levels with different looks to me. The 2D levels are actually fun (not including Silent Forest 4 and Tropical Coast 4), since they feel like an actual Sonic game to me.

 

The rest (Snowball level, all of Hidden World other than Act 2 & 3, Stealth, Skydiving levels, Fruit-Chasing levels, etc) are all boring and uninspired honestly.

 

Presentation is good though, looks are amazing especially with 60 fps, and the music is all something that I adore. Tomoya Ohtani and the other composers are amazing!

 

The game can be fun, only when it's trying to be a SONIC game, nothing else. I could literally go on and on about this game, but that's basically my general opinions in brief.

[Soniman]

Better concepts for a Sonic game or not, Unleashed to me was a much more polished/refined first try than Lost World. It had 90% reliable player physics (not regarding mechanics) and had a clear idea on what it was doing: fast race track / obstacle course mad dashes to the end.

 

A more free, if sporadically designed type of gameplay that I can play in a variety of different ways is more fun to me then "play the level this exact way all the time", even if it is more solidly built. It's like comparing pouring a glass of water to a margarita. Sure you can poor  a normal glass of water without a hitch, but at the end of the day it's still only water. As opposed to a Margarita which takes tons of different ingredients to get the best flavor, and the end result is much more satisfying, sure you may have flubbed a number of ingredients along the way but in the end it's till a decent mixture that's more remarkable then water. Others will see it differently, but that's my take on it.

 

 

 

Lost World can barely tell you what it's doing even if it tried. Is it Sonic? Is it quasi-Mario? Is it a puzzle game? Is it (insert generic Nintendo Hard platformer here)? Is it score based? Time based? What exactly is this? It threw ideas at the wall in every direction. The variety was good, sure, but it's over-abundance left me kind of unsure what I was playing, when I kinda just wanted to play a really good Sonic game.

 

While I understand the complaint I really think you're over-stating the sporadic nature of it. It's simply a game with sporadic gimmick levels that may or may not work in execution, other then that I'm pretty sure Sega knew what they wanted it to be graphic/extras wise.

 

 

 

As a person who was REALLY excited for this game up until it was released, I honestly think this is a bad Sonic game. I feel like the only thing stopping people from saying so is that we just came off of Generations and Colors. Aside from the whole issue of lacking an identity, this game goes back to a time where Sonic wasn't about Sonic. This game doesn't feel like Sonic, especially the whole run-button idea. It sounds good on paper, but playing this game feels like Rayman.

 

So ignoring that the game seems to be attain more infamy then straight up fans, the people who do like the game must obviously do so because Colors and Gens were good…games? That kinda falls apart as a theory when most people who didn't like this game want to go back to the boost era and let SLW fade into obscurity.

 

Also, reading through the entire post I can see "feels like" and "Sonic" about a dozen times and I have to wonder what IS Sonic to people anymore. Is running not Sonic? Is platforming not Sonic? Is parkouring not Sonic? You also frequently compare this to Rayman which makes no sense to me, 2D or 3D wise, as games like Origins and Legends play totally different from how they do in this game, just because they both have a run button does not strike an instant similarity.

 

 

 

The only reason you need parkour in this game is because the game requires you to use it. WHEN in Sonic Generations would you come to a dead-stop because something was in your way? Same goes for Adventure 1, and even '06 really. Building up speed and going fast that way is what Sonic is about to me, it worked in the 2D games, and it worked with Sonic and Tails in SA1 (some would even argue the same for Knuckles).

 

There was actually plenty of times in Gens that happened, like those gates in M. Sky Sanctuary, or those spin tops in the classic version. I guess it's somewhat easier to miss because you're plowing through most of it. And you bring up 06 of all games? The game where there was several instances of "kill x amount of enemies to progress" bullshit? Come one man not even SLW had anything like that, things in SLW stopped you because the enemies were, well…actually a threat, and learning to overcome them is half the battle when it comes to keeping a decent flow.

 

 

 

The 2D levels are actually fun (not including Silent Forest 4 and Tropical Coast 4), since they feel like an actual Sonic game to me.

Now see, that kinda just sends me the message that just because it's 2D, it's instantly Sonic. When in fact the 2D levels of SLW don't…..really have that sort of feel at all to them, at least when comparing them to the classic games. Levels like Desert Ruins 1 at least bothered to have dash pad-less ramps that you could actually pull off genuine momentum with using the spin dash.

 

 

 

The run button and parkour honestly make this feel like Rayman Legends translated into 3D control-wise. I don't like the fact that I can speed up just by pushing one button, it feels boring to me. I thought it would be cool and that it would feel a lot like Adventure, but it doesn't. It was fun to experience the first few times, but I don't want this to return ever again in a Sonic game really.

 

Again, just because Legends had the same very general control set up doesn't mean it's at all similar to how it is in SLW, especially considering its in 3D. Hell it's barely the same in 2D. I get why some may not have liked the idea of a run button, but it confounds me why people would want something like the parkour completely gone after just one game, I don't think people were this hard on the boost of all things. It offers more controls, gives Sonic more moves to play with, it assures that Sonic can be constantly moving in some fashion. Sure it's not perfect but I sure as hell wouldn't see something like genuine added control be gone from the series.

 

Potential means nothing if it's in the hands of a developer who has no clue on how to use it.

 

Considering we literally just saw that with the last to installments I have no real reason to think Sonic Team is an absolute failure of a developer.

[pppp]

Also, reading through the entire post I can see "feels like" and "Sonic" about a dozen times and I have to wonder what IS Sonic to people anymore. Is running not Sonic? Is platforming not Sonic? Is parkouring not Sonic?

 

Here's what Sonic is to me and alot of people: Speedy platforming with a bit of exploration.

 

The main theme of the Sonic series has always been speed. It's what makes it unique in comparison to other platforming franchises. Now before anyone yells "OH YOU JUST WANT TO MINDLESSLY BOOST NONSTOP", no that's not what i want. Sonic is also about platforming and minor exploration via alternate routes, but speed is the trait that gives the series its own unique identity.

 

A good Sonic game like Sonic 2 and 3 and Generations has design that allows you to complete a level as fast as your skills allow it. This is what makes them clearly Sonic games.

 

Lost World however takes its slower pace to a ridiculous extreme. Throughout most of the game, the level design has you doing things that completely ruin any kind of fast pace this game could have. Luring fruits into holes, Wisps that break the pacing cause of forced motion controls, even slower blocky platforming than in Colors, a snowball level that forces you to go as slow as possible cause it controls like ass, enemies that need a kick before being destroyed, etc.

 

The level design doesn't allow for much speed aside from a few exceptions, and just like IGN said "loses the breathless speed and fluidity that makes a Sonic game a Sonic game".

 

Oh, and Sonic's speed is so inconsistent. Why is he slower in 2D levels?