Jump to content
Awoo.

Sonic Lost World Reviews


Tails spin

Recommended Posts

Some people still don't realize that you HOLD the boost button, instead of tapping it like a jump button.

  • Thumbs Up 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My friend had Unleashed for months before me and was tapping the boost button as well. I had to show the poor darling how it's done. It's such a weird thing to see people not understand the fundamentals of any of these games; are they honestly that difficult?

  • Thumbs Up 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not difficult, it's just that the average gamer that isn't into Sonic wouldn't have any idea that you had to hold the button down to boost. Sure, there are the question mark tutorial thingies but sooooome people apparently can't read. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They really aren't difficult to understand, but when a non-Sonic gamer gets a hold of the controller, they expect Sonic to go fast by running and holding forward, except Sonic doesn't hit top speeds by just holding forward and they can't seem to grasp that.

 

"What do you mean he doesn't go fast by holding forward?" "How do I make him go fast?"

 

press the button!

 

*literally presses the button for a split second*

 

"AAAAHHH TOO FAST, TOO FA- why's he going slow again?!"

 

...Can't you honestly put 2 & 2 together? It's incredibly frustrating to even get on the same level as someone not used to Sonic games, it doesn't help that SEGA keep changing the gameplay up every 3-4 games.

 

It doesn't matter if you have walls of text, tutorial stages or on screen prompts that you need to acknowledge before moving on, people still can't come to terms with basic controls in a Sonic game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm fairly certain that once we Americans can get our mitts on the game and things die down, Sonic Lost World will be seen as a good game. It may not be seen as an improvement over Colors and Generations, but I expect to be in a minority who feels that way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They really aren't difficult to understand, but when a non-Sonic gamer gets a hold of the controller, they expect Sonic to go fast by running and holding forward, except Sonic doesn't hit top speeds by just holding forward and they can't seem to grasp that.

 

"What do you mean he doesn't go fast by holding forward?" "How do I make him go fast?"

 

press the button!

 

*literally presses the button for a split second*

 

"AAAAHHH TOO FAST, TOO FA- why's he going slow again?!"

 

...Can't you honestly put 2 & 2 together? It's incredibly frustrating to even get on the same level as someone not used to Sonic games, it doesn't help that SEGA keep changing the gameplay up every 3-4 games.

 

It doesn't matter if you have walls of text, tutorial stages or on screen prompts that you need to acknowledge before moving on, people still can't come to terms with basic controls in a Sonic game.

Maybe thats the reason people hated fludd in sunshine *imagines everyone rapidly tapping the r trigger instead of holding it* yeaaaaaahhhhh.

 

But on a serious note it does kind of confuse me how simple concepts like these are hard to grasp, heck my two nephews (who were like 10 or something at the time) were able to get sonic rush's controls down easy (and yes I know its a different game but lets just use it as an example for now) and with good explanation learning these things in a sonic game should be pretty easy by now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the record, my friend has been a Sonic fan since Sonic Adventure 2, so she's not exactly a newbie when it comes to the franchise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Y'know, having a 63 on Metacritic with the spectrum dominated by "mixed to positive" reviews, I'm pretty sure that Lost World's not in that bad a state.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had people having trouble running in the New Super Mario Bros series, it's like they hold the damn run button and let go a few moments and I keep on telling them, hold the run button! I feel this will happen in this game when doing 2player mode. They would not survive.

 

EDIT: I think I should add this to the "Things that piss you off thread"

Edited by jordine
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Y'know, having a 63 on Metacritic with the spectrum dominated by "mixed to positive" reviews, I'm pretty sure that Lost World's not in that bad a state.

 

But people will be comparing it to Colors and Gens, which managed to get in the high 70s, so when you have a sequel that scores in the low 60s it causes some worry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But people will be comparing it to Colors and Gens, which managed to get in the high 70s, so when you have a sequel that scores in the low 60s it causes some worry.

Didn't you know? Anything below a 90 is crap! Al TRUE gaers know that!!

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and I want to ask you, the Sonic fans something:

 

Do you really think that most of these reviewers that you complain about (IGN, GameInformer, whoever) have a hate boner about Sonic and want to go out and destroy the Sonic franchise and his legacy or do you think there might be truth among the actual complaints because the developers/writers haven't changed much or worked problems through enough?

 

Because sometimes I think that the fans are just whining about the scores because they don't want to see their franchise get bad marks, and sometimes I see legitimate complaints from the reviewers - and also to cover all bases - legitimate complaints from the fans complaining about said reviewers.

 

I have been reading thoughts from people outside of the fanbase lately, and there are some people that still cringe at some of the newer dialogue and poke fun about how terrible the games do control (some of these people are old enough to have grown up with the series or they have grown up slightly before the series's debut and might currently also have children who play the games, or play the games themselves on a whim,) while others still admit that the series still has its flaws and needs a long way to come through, but nevertheless can be fun.

 

I want your perspective in this.

Edited by Scheming Minor
  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think that reviewers hate Sonic with a passion or anything, I just think they don't have a taste for more... complex platforming games like what the Sonic series has become. Considering back in the day, the Sonic series only required one button and the d-pad to perform actions, the newer games are much more complex in a way, making it harder for casual gamers and non-Sonic fans to get into the series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and I want to ask you, the Sonic fans something:

 

Do you really think that most of these reviewers that you complain about (IGN, GameInformer, whoever) have a hate boner about Sonic and want to go out and destroy the Sonic franchise and his legacy or do you think there might be truth among the actual complaints because the developers/writers haven't changed much or worked problems through enough?

 

Because sometimes I think that the fans are just whining about the scores because they don't want to see their franchise get bad marks, and sometimes I see legitimate complaints from the reviewers - and also to cover all bases - legitimate complaints from the fans complaining about said reviewers.

 

I have been reading thoughts from people outside of the fanbase lately, and there are some people that still cringe at some of the newer dialogue and poke fun about how terrible the games do control (some of these people are old enough to have grown up with the series or they have grown up slightly before the series's debut and might currently also have children who play the games, or play the games themselves on a whim,) while others still admit that the series still has its flaws and needs a long way to come through, but nevertheless can be fun.

 

I want your perspective in this.

 

Honestly? In Lost World's case I call bullshit on the reviewers, I couldn't care fucking less what a reviewer says about a game, providing there is truth among their brash claims, but everything, well pretty much everything the complained about in their review was blown so far out of proportion that it is literally dog shit in a bag on someone's porch.

 

The controls aren't bad, they are different from previous instalments. It's funny because IGN complained in Unleashed about Sonic being too fast to control, but in SLW he's too slow and that they crave for "speed" and they are denied it.

 

Strike 1.

 

Sonic's controls in SLW are apparently horrendous and jerky, literally weeks before their review, in their final preview of the game, they claimed the controls to be "great, with great level design, and Sonic slowing doing was a GOOD thing" yet what they complained about in their review, directly contradicts what they stated previously, like a completely change of face.

 

Strike 2.

 

I don't know about "conspiracies" or "out to get Sonic" but they certainly aren't helping the case when all they're doing is feeding lies to the drones who depend on their shitty articles and reviews to help them decide if they want to buy a game or not, complete and utter nonsense because what they complain about in their review, isn't even remotely anything like my experience with the game, first hand or not.

 

My problem with IGN, is they don't like Change, nor do they play something long enough to give it a fair verdict or chance during their reviews, hell it is evident enough that they didn't even play the game long enough to even know there was a Spindash or a Run button, because when he's talking about making "small gaps" you need to "double jump" because Sonic doesn't have enough momentum to reach them, when he CLEARLY does when you hold the run button, Sonic can clear a large gap with a run and double jump.

 

Hell Sonic can clear a CHASM with a Spindash leap.

 

So no I don't think they're out to get Sonic, I just think they don't like change and don't give new things a fighting chance.

Edited by Super SpOoOokio
  • Thumbs Up 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ddedb03c59308d5dfece53a011f22724.png

 

I don't understand...

Well obliviously they aren't going to post on there blog/twitter the review where the game is been trashed.

Edited by Dreamy Luigi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe not everyone who writes these thing is the same entity with their opinion randomly changing all the time.

 

People are naturally going to have different experiences with the game.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't you know? Anything below a 90 is crap! Al TRUE gaers know that!!

 

This is easy to mock, but let's be real here - $60 is a lot of money. Are you going to shell out your hard-earned cash for a game that's "just okay"? 

 

You can bet your ass I'm not going to sacrifice nine hours worth of work for a game I might not even like.

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

But people will be comparing it to Colors and Gens, which managed to get in the high 70s, so when you have a sequel that scores in the low 60s it causes some worry.

In that case, I will kindly remind them of how the transition of gameplay worked out for Unleashed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In that case, I will kindly remind them of how the transition of gameplay worked out for Unleashed.

 

There Werehog killed Unleashed, not the boost gameplay. The Sonic levels were almost unanimously praised.

 

Just saying.

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There Werehog killed Unleashed, not the boost gameplay. The Sonic levels were almost unanimously praised.

 

Just saying.

And nowadays they aren't so unanimously praised for various reasons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Though the scoring system will continue to frustrate me, I've gone through most of the reviews on Metacritic in an attempt to see the general ideas behind the game. All I've really found are complaints which confuse me to valid points which can be agreed with. 

 

Lost World is far from perfect, that's undeniable. Controls are always going to be a hot topic, some are going to want to be able to hold forward, run fast and win, but others are going to say that's far too linear and Sonic needs platforming. Parkour was, and still is, a smart move for Sonic to me, but I don't deny certain aspects look a little clunky and slow. This goes mostly for climbing ledges and vaulting over things. You'd think Sonic would athletically leap over these objects to keep momentum going as the parkour system aims to do, but they make him stop then slowly gain his speed again. This game's eager attempt to meld speed, platforming and exploration is unique for sure and is undoubtedly like Mario Galaxy, but what's mostly taken from that game is just the spherical level designs. Bright colours have been around for a hell of a lot longer than 3D Mario, critics.

 

It's unfair to say Sonic shouldn't be compared to Mario at all, given this game's design and their history, but Sonic is a different kind of platformer to Mario. And this game utilises this ideal perfectly with a run button and spin dash button. Sonic's regular jog is probably a little slower than Mario's dash, but his run speed is twice as fast as that, and spin dashing is like using the boost button, giving the player the option of how they want to play their first approaches to Sonic styled levels. While Mario has slowed down, smaller levels with a more singular path to get from point A to B, designers of those games fill point A to B with unique and creative ideas to keep the player interested. Sonic was a game where you have multiple ways to get from point A to B, with enemies and platforms being what mostly stood in your way. Mario levels can be approached and completed on the first go since the games give you the pacing for that, and the ability to approach them at your own confidence. This applied in a similar way to Sonic, but his ring system allowed multiple mistakes at the player's expense. So if you went wildly running at top speed into the levels without knowing what you were doing, you were gonna get hit. Mario's chances rely heavily on power ups which means the player has to be more careful in the way they approach, but Sonic gave you the benefit of the "one ring rule" meaning if you really wanted to you could finish the stage as blindly as you wanted. Then, you go back and play these same levels again and gain a better understanding, and your time and ring count becomes your trophy. This is severely noted because of one of the more negative reviews labelling the 3D ring system as "broken", when it's totally untrue. Rings aren't something you should expect, it should be your reward for learning these zones and the things they throw at you.

Either way I can't comment on the specifics of the tightness or clunkiness of controls as I'm yet to pick up the title myself - if now you're thinking about screaming at me for not playing it myself, don't bother. I'm not commenting on how the game feels and plays, this isn't a review of that sorts. I'm commenting on what I've seen and know about Lost World, and platformers in general as comparison which I have played. I've seen the entire game played through blindly by a veteran fan of the series.

 

I'm not going to deny however Lost World has some stupid difficulty spikes, and there's no point in having the run being optional when you force players to be constantly on their toes in certain situations. Certainly this can be more appreciated in later levels where the difficulty curve has naturally taught you the handle and feel, constantly testing and rewarding your experimentations and skills. Then there's gimmicky levels like Tropical Coast 3 and Frozen Factory 2. This are completely unnecessary, and I don't understand why the developers couldn't identify how they wouldn't sit well with their frustrating ideas (specific jumping to hit switches for gates whilst unstoppably moving, carefully navigating thin paths on super slippy surfaces) considering the reception to Sonic 4's mine cart fiasco. Sky Road 2, whilst being a later level, is still oddly placed difficulty spike, forcing the player to run or die, which on a first play is really unforgiving and aggravating, especially considering the games approach to controlling how you play. 

 

I feel like I'm kinda dancing around the subject so I'll leave it like this. Lost World isn't amazing. But for a lot of reasons the game was criticised, it's difficult to agree with fully as some don't seem to understand that not all platformers have to be like Mario, even with his design influence in mind. Lost World needs to work on the possible winning concept it has of constant player control and flow, while expanding on the elements of speed, platforming and exploration to a more creative degree. After the first wave of negativity, I got put off buying the game. But now I think I'll be picking it up at some point. I still think this game is going to be a radical shift in a lot of ways for Sonic, and I feel like I have to pick it up for myself to give a final opinion.

Also, lack of music appreciation by critics is insulting. Thank you Jim Sterling. <3

Edited by Spooky Symbotic
  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

You must read and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to continue using this website. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.