Sonic Lost World Reviews

[Sami]

It was never a racer. It was it's own beast, and it's fair to say you didn't like it, sure, but at least it was a unique style that really sets it apart from everything else. I'll take Generations over a flawed Mario clone any day.

[Kuzu]

I never said it wasn't unique, just not something I want the series to stick to. I liked playing Generations, a lot but I feel Lost World has more potential even if didn't start off on the right foot.

Even if they were praised, people still found problems in Unleashed's day stages and having played the game myself, I'm inclined to agree and fancy environments isn't going to make it play better.

[KrazyBean]

It was never a racer. It was it's own beast, and it's fair to say you didn't like it, sure, but at least it was a unique style that really sets it apart from everything else. I'll take Generations over a flawed Mario clone any day.

So if the tubular and floating planets were taken and the levels were more grounded, would it still be a Mario clone?

The point I'm making is that this gameplay style has a lot of potential...what Sonic Team needs to do is not take any more tips from Galaxy but keep the fundamental mechanics this game has and make Sonic faster. As much as I love Unleashed, I would like some more actual 3D platformers from Sonic in the future.

[Kuzu]

I do agree that the game is really trying too hard to be Mario and Sonic game at the same time.

[Sami]

I'd be cool with them taking tips from Sonic's gameplay in SA1.

You know, the one that was actually unique, fun to play, malleable enough for stage and character gimmicks, and not "please buy me I promise I'm like Mario".

Learn from others, don't try and fail to copy them.

I'd be cool with them taking tips from Sonic's gameplay in SA1.

You know, the one that was actually unique, fun to play, malleable enough for stage and character gimmicks, and not "please buy me I promise I'm like Mario".

Learn from others, don't try and fail to copy them.

Edited October 22, 2013 by Discoid

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I'd be cool with them taking tips from Sonic's gameplay in SA1.

You know, the one that was actually unique, fun to play, malleable enough for stage and character gimmicks, and not "please buy me I promise I'm like Mario".

Learn from others, don't try and fail to copy them.

I'd be cool with them taking tips from Sonic's gameplay in SA1.

You know, the one that was actually unique, fun to play, malleable enough for stage and character gimmicks, and not "please buy me I promise I'm like Mario".

Learn from others, don't try and fail to copy them.

I'd be cool with them taking tips from Sonic's gameplay in SA1.

You know, the one that was actually unique, fun to play, malleable enough for stage and character gimmicks, and not "please buy me I promise I'm like Mario".

Learn from others, don't try and fail to copy them.

And yet to this day, we have people who argue that SA1 was trying to be Mario 64. *Sigh*

[Sami]

And yet to this day, we have people who argue that SA1 was trying to be Mario 64. *Sigh*

That's such bullshit. They're nothing alike.

[JezMM]

SA1 clearly took cues from 3D platformer tropes that Mario 64 defined, such as the hub world, but I don't think it was actively trying to be like Mario 64 at all.

[Kuzu]

Yea that statement is bs. Sonic Unleashed is more like 64 if anything.

[JezMM]

Yea that statement is bs. Sonic Unleashed is more like 64 if anything.

 

Uhh... not... really... at all, though?  It locks levels behind collectables barriers but said collectables are nothing like Mario 64's star collecting.

 

 

The closest game Sonic Team have made to Mario 64 was Billy Hatcher, and even then that was closer to Mario Sunshine than Mario 64.  I don't think any Sonic game is even close to Mario 64.

Edited October 22, 2013 by JezMM

[Rayl]

I always thought that SLW is more like Sonic XTreme was going to be than anything else, i honestly can't see it any other way, to see people saying it's trying to be like Mario 64/Galaxy, well i just don't see it.

[JezMM]

I always thought that SLW is more like Sonic XTreme was going to be than anything else, i honestly can't see it any other way, to see people saying it's trying to be like Mario 64/Galaxy, well i just don't see it.

 

When you say you don't "see it" have you played it?  There's a ton of little gameplay "things" in the Wii U version that are literally lifted completely straight from Galaxy, like defeating all enemies on a planetoid to progress, or collecting stuff to make the next jump point appear.

Edited October 22, 2013 by JezMM

[Dejimon11]

I do agree that the game is really trying too hard to be Mario and Sonic game at the same time.

That's what happens when they try to appeal to Mario fans

[Rayl]

When you say you don't "see it" have you played it?  There's a ton of little gameplay "things" in the Wii U version that are literally lifted completely straight from Galaxy, like defeating all enemies on a planetoid to progress, or collecting stuff to make the next jump point appear.

 

I mean from what i have seen thus far, none of the gameplay footage i'd seen so far had anything of the sort but considering that you have played it and i have not, all i can do is formulate impressions based on what i have seen. Those are gameplay aspects granted but the core gameplay, to me, still looks more based on Xtreme than Galaxy.

 

That being the case that it has those gameplay aspects though, it would be more apt to say that it's Xtreme with Galaxy influences, no?

[JezMM]

The only thing it has in common with Xtreme is purely aesthetics.  Remember Xtreme never actually had any spherical gameplay, it just used a fish-eye lens that made a 3D envioronment LOOK spherical to turn low draw distance into an art style.  The perceived size of the "planetoids" Xtreme took place on were much smaller than the time it takes to travel round them from one "side" to another (if they even did loop round, I dunno whether they did).

Edited October 22, 2013 by JezMM

[Kuzu]

Uhh... not... really... at all, though?  It locks levels behind collectables barriers but said collectables are nothing like Mario 64's star collecting.

 

 

The closest game Sonic Team have made to Mario 64 was Billy Hatcher, and even then that was closer to Mario Sunshine than Mario 64.  I don't think any Sonic game is even close to Mario 64.

 

I was talking about in terms of level progression; mainly needing collectibles in order to progress. 

[Rayl]

The only thing it has in common with Xtreme is purely aesthetics.  Remember Xtreme never actually had any spherical gameplay, it just used a fish-eye lens that made a 3D envioronment LOOK spherical to turn low draw distance into an art style.  The perceived size of the "planetoids" Xtreme took place on were much smaller than the time it takes to travel round them from one "side" to another (if they even did loop round, I dunno whether they did).

 

That's exactly what i'm saying though, i'm not at all suggesting that LW works in the same fashion as Xtreme but with better graphics. It's simply the first thing that i associated it with rather than Galaxy.

[JezMM]

The game feel does a lot to perceive the aesthetics as being Galaxy-esque.  They both have that "if you don't have existing momentum from running your horizontal jumping distance is very sluggish" thing.  Spin-dash jumping around a mini planet is very similar feeling to long jumping around a mini planet in Galaxy too.

 

Stuff like this eliminates a lot of the Xtreme thoughts when playing, though there are certainly exceptions.  Frozen Factory 1 feels VERY Xtremeish.

Edited October 22, 2013 by JezMM

[MegasonicZX]

Its weird cause as much as I kind of hate the fact that the mario influence is so high I still really wanna play this and the game looks pretty cool too, I just hope after this sega can go back to doing their own thing cause if anything I will admit that one of the reasons why I love this series so much is because its not like a mario game, not that I mind the influence or anything but ive never particularly enjoyed many mario games myself.

Edited October 22, 2013 by megadude001

[Rayl]

The game feel does a lot to perceive the aesthetics as being Galaxy-esque.  They both have that "if you don't have existing momentum from running your horizontal jumping distance is very sluggish" thing.  Spin-dash jumping around a mini planet is very similar feeling to long jumping around a mini planet in Galaxy too.

 

Stuff like this eliminates a lot of the Xtreme thoughts when playing, though there are certainly exceptions.  Frozen Factory 1 feels VERY Xtremeish.

It's comments like these that are more insightful than most reviews as a whole these days, very enlightening. The handling isn't something i can comment on until i have some experience playing but if it's how i imagine it is from your description i can only imagine that this is a positive.

[azoo]

What would really make it not-Mario though? Adding more slopes, better flow/progression, going back to the previous art style (and grounded feel), and not make as much of a difference between the walk and run gears? Because that's definitely not enough to consider going back to the style we had before.

 

I definitely don't want boost gameplay again. Its all been done before. You play the game almost intending to speedrun it, borderline memorization is involved, everything is a closed-in obstacle course and then the 2D level design still isn't any good. Sure I want Sonic to be more like himself and not like Mario, but attempting to be more of a platformer again is a massive step in the right direction.

 

Then again, I'm the guy who just wants Sonic to play like Adventure but with a parkour button. :v

Edited October 22, 2013 by Aspoopkara

[Djawed]

A failed execution of a pretty solid concept and too much mario. Sonicteam seems incompetent in making new stuff working. Boosting gameplay only started to feel right in generations, and that was after how long?

 

Boost gameplay has become kind of stale though, so i'd rather them trying something new and fail at first instead of putting another booosting game out there that'll start to feel the same apart from structure and aesthetics. I don't see much possibilities to add enough variety with that type of gameplay anymore.

 

The real problem here is simply the team's incompetence imo. And I know saying things like that is wrong(because who am I to say that), but I really feel that's where it comes down to. SEGA needs to consider reforming ST otherwise they'll have 0 strong iconic IP's left here in ze west, and that would be sad

Edited October 22, 2013 by Djawed

[Nepenthe]

Boost gameplay felt fine in Unleashed and was kind of jerked around for its last two outings, mainly because it had more appropriate level design for said gameplay.

 

Regardless, I second another Adventure-esque game if it meant they took some of the cues from their old level design methods, in that each area felt unique yet appropriate within the confines of the controls and the level's narrative significance. I kinda thought we'd be getting glimpses of that in Lost World with the whole "kitchen sink" approach to things, but people have apparently been decrying the variety so I dunno.

[azoo]

Regardless, I second another Adventure-esque game if it meant they took some of the cues from their old level design methods, in that each area felt unique yet appropriate within the confines of the controls and the level's narrative significance. I kinda thought we'd be getting glimpses of that in Lost World with the whole "kitchen sink" approach to things, but people have apparently been decrying the variety so I dunno.

 

If they can do this while being more open and navigatable like SLW's level design then I'm all for this.

 

On another note, this game seems to still feature so many areas where potentially interesting level design (see: loops, downhill areas, ramps, etc) have dash pads all in front of them. Why are they so afraid of taking advantage of that stuff? They've been doing this since 2006 (technically 1998, but it wasn't nearly as bad then) and since they're much better at making games than they were in '06 this design decision still baffles me.

[MegasonicZX]

Boost gameplay felt fine in Unleashed and was kind of jerked around for its last two outings, mainly because it had more appropriate level design for said gameplay.

 

Regardless, I second another Adventure-esque game if it meant they took some of the cues from their old level design methods, in that each area felt unique yet appropriate within the confines of the controls and the level's narrative significance. I kinda thought we'd be getting glimpses of that in Lost World with the whole "kitchen sink" approach to things, but people have apparently been decrying the variety so I dunno.

I see what you mean here, though the question is how sega would go about making new levels and the like without doing something that's been done before. Sure another adventure-esque game would be cool with parkouring and some other new mechanics but what kind of levels could they make at this point that haven't already been established in the games.