Sonic Lost World Reviews

[Nintendoga]

C'mon now, I'd like Lost World to get positive reviews as much as the next guy, but we can't keep blaming the negative scores on the sole basis that "They didn't get the controls. Too complex."

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/35746

9/10.

 

And the variety continues.

[Narukami07]

Oh god Zazz is going to bawl once he see's this in the morning, especially for the 3DS reviews.......jesus.....

Edited October 18, 2013 by Narukami07

[LATER BUDDY]

I think it could go any direction from here honestly. The reviews are literally all over the map right now. I feel like they could stick with the style and work on adjusting the flow/level design to make it SLW 2.0, I could see them just sticking to this gameplay type as a Nintendo exclusive (like an ongoing Colors feel), and I could see future games doing something completely new and/or going back to the boost gameplay (but probably tweaked to an extent to be unique).

 

Not sure really, I just hope to see more user reviews around the board in the next few weeks

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Sixth Axis http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/10/18/sonic-lost-world-review/ 7/10 review.

[Detective Shadzter]

GameSpot's video review was really bad. It looked like they did those problems, like falling on the crumbling paths on purpose. Why did they show Sonic skydiving when talking about the Eagle Wisp? 

[Carbo]

C'mon now, I'd like Lost World to get positive reviews as much as the next guy, but we can't keep blaming the negative scores on the sole basis that "They didn't get the controls. Too complex."

I generally agree but at the same time when you get articles like this you generally have to put into perspective why reviewers generally don't have the patience to get accustomed to new things unless it's not understandable right off the bat, mostly because there's a lot of distinction to be made with a game that controls terribly and a game which just takes a bit too much time to get used to. In Sonic's case, getting used to controls have almost never been an issue. The original game used only one button.

With that said the game does seem to be a flawed experiment, but hey that's good. It at least shows they were a lot more daring than having to stay with the same drawn-out formula that's already been dealt to death with. I'd rather take a unique flawed experiment than a run-of-the-mill but well executed one. Hopefully, Sonic Team can build upon the ideas. The game seems to have legitimately great ideas that just weren't up to snuff in execution.

[Blue Blood]

Average: 67.34

 

IGN 5.8 58

Digital Spy 4/5 80

Gamespot 5/10 50

Joystiq 2.5/5 50

Polygon 6/10 60

SixthAxis 7/10 70

CVG 7/10 70

Eurogamer 4/10 40

God Geek 8/10 80

GameTrailers 7.6 76

VideoGamer 5/10 50

Escapist 2.5/5 50

NintendoLife 7/10 70

FNintendo 7/10 70

GameInformer 5/10 50

The Guardian 4/5 80

GR Sweden 6/10 60

GR Norway 8/10 80

GR German 6/10 60

GR Portugal 8/10 80

Famitsu 36/40 90

NWR 9/10 90

Venture Beat 85 85

Edited October 18, 2013 by Blue Blood

[super saiyan weegee]

GameSpot's video review was really bad. It looked like they did those problems, like falling on the crumbling paths on purpose. Why did they show Sonic skydiving when talking about the Eagle Wisp? 

I noticed that too.

 

I honestly hope they weren't trying to imply to unaware individuals that the skydiving was the Eagle Wisp.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Haunted Haden

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/18/sonic-lost-world-review/ Venture Beat gave the game an 85.

[Narukami07]

With that said the game does seem to be a flawed experiment, but hey that's good. It at least shows they were a lot more daring than having to stay with the same drawn-out formula that's already been dealt to death with. I'd rather take a unique flawed experiment than a run-of-the-mill but well executed one. Hopefully, Sonic Team can build upon the ideas. The game seems to have legitimately great ideas that just weren't up to snuff in execution.

I still think this will force Sega to go back to Boost gameplay once and for all.

[KrazyBean]

I love how IGN hyped this game so much, and then utterly shat on it when it finally came out.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Average: 67.34

 

IGN 5.8 58

Digital Spy 4/5 80

Gamespot 5/10 50

Joystiq 2.5/5 50

Polygon 6/10 60

SixthAxis 7/10 70

CVG 7/10 70

Eurogamer 4/10 40

God Geek 8/10 80

GameTrailers 7.6 76

VideoGamer 5/10 50

Escapist 2.5/5 50

NintendoLife 7/10 70

FNintendo 7/10 70

GameInformer 5/10 50

The Guardian 4/5 80

GR Sweden 6/10 60

GR Norway 8/10 80

GR German 6/10 60

GR Portugal 8/10 80

Famitsu 36/40 90

NWR 9/10 90

Venture Beat 85 85

So it is better than Sonic Unleashed Wii, but worse than Secret Rings atm? Ugh. Would not want to be Sonic right now.

[Blue Blood]

EDGE join the 4/10 party... sigh.

[KrazyBean]

Average: 67.34

 

IGN 5.8 58

Digital Spy 4/5 80

Gamespot 5/10 50

Joystiq 2.5/5 50

Polygon 6/10 60

SixthAxis 7/10 70

CVG 7/10 70

Eurogamer 4/10 40

God Geek 8/10 80

GameTrailers 7.6 76

VideoGamer 5/10 50

Escapist 2.5/5 50

NintendoLife 7/10 70

FNintendo 7/10 70

GameInformer 5/10 50

The Guardian 4/5 80

GR Sweden 6/10 60

GR Norway 8/10 80

GR German 6/10 60

GR Portugal 8/10 80

Famitsu 36/40 90

NWR 9/10 90

Venture Beat 85 85

 

How many of those reviews count in Metacritic? We all know how people love that website.

[Ratcicle King]

Lets just hope that SEGA this time listens to the fanbase, and not the reviewers, I just hope this ''new direction'' includes better understanding that What Reviewers say=/= The opinion of everyone on the fandom about the game.

[Willsy]

http://www.n-europe.com/reviews/sonic-lost-world-wii-u

9/10.

[FourCartridge]

How many of those reviews count in Metacritic? We all know how people love that website.

 

It is currently waiting for 4 reviews. Apparently that large list doesn't count for some reason.

[Narukami07]

I love how IGN hyped this game so much, and then utterly shat on it when it finally came out.

Yeah, that was the most jarring part after i read their review. Like they were trying to save face until the last minute....

Gosh Iizuka must feel depressed as hell right now.....

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Holy freaking hell these reviews!

 

It's like you can't tell up from down with them this time. One loves it, the other finds it disappointing. Talk about a total marmite.

[Nintendoga]

I generally agree but at the same time when you get articles like this you generally have to put into perspective why reviewers generally don't have the patience to get accustomed to new things unless it's not understandable right off the bat, mostly because there's a lot of distinction to be made with a game that controls terribly and a game which just takes a bit too much time to get used to. In Sonic's case, getting used to controls have almost never been an issue. The original game used only one button.

With that said the game does seem to be a flawed experiment, but hey that's good. It at least shows they were a lot more daring than having to stay with the same drawn-out formula that's already been dealt to death with. I'd rather take a unique flawed experiment than a run-of-the-mill but well executed one. Hopefully, Sonic Team can build upon the ideas. The game seems to have legitimately great ideas that just weren't up to snuff in execution.

Understandable. Sonic games have always had the problem of getting the controls to work, rather than getting used to the controls. When you make a complex system out of a control scheme that was "flawed" to begin with, you're asking for trouble.

But no matter how the game comes out, I'm still glad they tried something new. Whether the formula works or fails, anything is better then Unleashed 4. In that sense, I gotta say "Bravo Sonic Team."

[azoo]

I like how all the big gaming review companies looked to have just given up after 5 minutes of playing and just said "oh whats IGN saying.. 5/10? Yeah okay, 5/10".

[Lady Soniko]

Soniko's Review Tiem. WARNING, HEAVY SPOILERS, if you didn't watch the stream from end to finish the other night, avoid reading this kthnx.

 

Having finished the game last night after work, let me put my thoughts down for you all.

 

Now, I generally thought my bias for this game will be through the roof for this game, because the game is so painfully akin to something of a Mario game (sigh, here we go again with the comparisons!!) that it's simply not "art direction only" it's also music, gimmicks and gameplay aesthetics that scream out that a modern 3D Mario player would probably enjoy this game also, mirroring what JezMM said in his review, the game sometimes doesn't even feel like Sonic with music in some stages sounding eerily familiar to stuff from the modern Mario games, hell Sky Road's 4th act sounds like a Boo House/Mansion stage on crack but seriously lets get onto my impression of the game...

 

Characters

 

The story is leagues above anything in recent years, far better than Colours too, it was legitimately enjoyable with great sarcasm moments, laugh out load moments and tense/ serious moments, the writers of this game really set out to define the new personalities for the characters, Sonic has toned down from his dorkiness and loud mouthed entity from Sonic Colours for a more "true to form" Sonic from the Adventure days, however he isn't just flawlessly cool and badass, the game sets a good point that Sonic acts before he thinks, or even listens for that matter as his actions put his friend's life and the fate of his world in peril, Sonic is legitimately flawed now and that's a GOOD thing,

 

Tail's has now become mature and snarkier than he ever was before, he know's he's a genius and doesn't hesitate to state his accomplishments whenever he can.

 

Eggman is a total and utter troll and  dick in SLW, he belittles and insults Sonic as much as he can for his actions and rash way of thinking, he also seems to have gotten past his anger induced rage quits when people out right insult him, he's more cool and reserved now but still cold and calculating,

 

Amy is typical Amy although her "tough girl attitude" is gone now, she's more of the "save them Sonic!" kind of girl now,

 

Knuckles is actually classic Knuckles, he's an arrogant self righteous guy who is constantly jabbing at Sonic at how inferior he is to himself, Knuckles claims he's slow and that he would have saved all the critters by now, he's just a meathead asshole again, but he's still sort of goofy but I can get behind that!

 

D6 are all respectively their own character, if not stereotypical tropes, Zazz is the crazy Schizophrenic Psychopath, Zomom is the gluttonous dumb guy who only thinks of food is ridiculously fat but incredibly strong, Zik is an old "sensei" prophet who is the father figure of the group and former leader, Zeena is a typical girly girl who talks of fashion and self appearance often, Zor is a typical defeatist who mopes and moans about everything and acts "emo" and Zavok is the level headed leader with a taste for world domination.

 

Story

 

The story in this game is leagues above anything we've had in recent years, and is much more enjoyable. The writers have toned down forced humour and made character interaction a BIG thing in this game, they emphasize on Sonic and Tails "bromance" a lot with duel digs at Eggman and how stupid he is, Tails bragging to Sonic that he is a genius to legitimately tense moments between the 2 when Tails brings up that Sonic trusts Eggman's ability to stop his machine more than him creating a tense moment between the 2, to fear and losing each other when the D6 kidnap Tails, Sonic beats himself up a lot due to his rash actions or simply "not being fast enough to save his buddy" and Sonic's interaction with the D6 are hilarious and really engaging, however the story has a sense of scale to it that fluctuates as time goes on, from light heartedness to severe dramatic times where the scene leaves the player wondering if Amy & Knuckles are dying from the life machine sucking up the planets life energy and colour, coupled with Tails being kidnapped Sonic is left feeling alone and alienated without his friends by his side, which emotionally effects him and leaves it as his only drive to continue being "the hero".

 

The story takes a complete U-turn when the ending falls flat of urgency, after Sonic dispatches the D6 Eggman takes up arms to fight Sonic in a mech, upon his defeat they simply restore the life back to the planet, with no mention of the D6, no heartfelt touching moment of Sonic being reunited with his friends, just a "return to norm" and typical cheesy ending of Sonic wanting to sleep on some nice green grass.

 

Overall the story and character interaction were amazing but fell flat with an anti-climatic ending with no real oomph, so much missed potential here that it was honestly almost a complete downer and effects the games score for me.

 

Story 7/10

 

Gameplay

 

Sonic's new parkour gameplay is both a blessing and a curse, the simple nature and execution of his new gameplay is both ideal and frustrating at the same time, with some serious knowledge of the levels, the player can used the new move sets to their advantage otherwise the parkour is clunky and actually quite often slows the experience down with slow vaults and ledge grabs breaking the flow of speed the game likes to tease you with so often, I often found myself trying to go for a ledge grab but Sonic would refuse to detect it and either fell through it or vaulted over it into death, the new double jump is also jarring and unpredictable on where you feel you are going to land, there's an instance in Silent Forest where you have to navigate over a bottomless chasm for a red star ring by doing super precise platforming on tiny stationary platforms, the amount of times I died there were downright insulting due to the new "back flip double jump" being hard to judge where he's going to land with his feet, often overshooting or simply landing too short of my desired position, saying that though if you really are patient with the parkour, it really comes together well and in the hands of an experienced player it is an unbelievable experience for speed runs and level exploration like never before seen in a Sonic game.

 

Right I just want to say if you don't think Sonic is responsive or is twitchy in this game to how he controls... Get.The.Hell.OUT.

 

Sonic's movement in all directions is fluid and smooth, it's not jerky nor is it disorientating, it's tight and responsive, all of Sonic's actions are with the exception of his messy parkour getting in the way with simple platforming, and despite what you think the game has a strong sense of momentum based physics, without some speed and weight behind him, Sonic can't make simple jumps, ramps carry Sonic's momentum forward when you spindash off them, and you can "roll" down inclines and continue to roll as long as there is some elevation beneath you.

 

6.5/10 

 

Level Design

 

 Level design in SLW ranges from blocky to well designed, however a growing concern from me with the main 3D stages.

Scale. They are SO big and SO intimidating you honestly have TOO much choice on how you want to tackle a level, the levels are huge but also feel kind of..Finicky? Most places feel devoid of anything and hardly ever amount to anything more than bland wastelands littered with enemies as the only interaction and filler, like there is nothing really memorable about any of the locales out side of "Desert, Snow, Beaches" etc. What I mean is, you go through all that trouble to parkour your way to that hard to reach spot, and there is nothing there worth your troubles of getting to that point, I don't inherently mean just give me a reward sort of deal, but I mean self satisfaction of achieving it... Like there was no point to that ledge, or there was no point to doing all that parkour to simply take "a higher path".

 

Each level comes with various gimmicks, nothing really new to gaming but it's definitely new to Sonic, things like guiding giant pieces of fruit to blenders to create apple/watermelon water ways to progress on, to ice skating and twirling through the air, to simply running around tubes to avoid giant boulders that home in on you, the game feels very "Mario" with the new gimmicks and I couldn't help but point out this fact every time something reminded me of one of the plumbers games "that is so totally mario" not that there's anything wrong with Mario! But the creative suit behind this game honestly will have used Mario as reference for the game, I swear it.

 

The game sadly for me, feels very Sonic Colours 2, the blocky platforming is still there it's just more bearable because of the parkour mechanic, there is no doubt though that the game's level of unique locales for every level is fantastic.

 

6/10

 

 

Music

 

The music in SLW is staggering and is a marvel on it's own, most of the music fit to each level's theme flawlessly, it's all very well composed and grand in scale, it is a fantastic composition but are we not surprised? Sonic games are notorious for good music and SLW is no exception, I mentioned before that some of the tracks sound so Mario-y though, not that it's a bad thing, it just makes things harder for SLW to stand on it's own as it's OWN game without comparison's to Mario.

 

9.5/10

 

Bosses

 

The bosses in SLW are some of the most diverse parts of the game, every encounter is different and even if they only require a handful of hits, it makes the game gel well together and I really, REALLY enjoyed fighting them, It feels so GOOD to fight actual organic enemies and not robots for once, and they all have amazing interaction and funny things to say, the bosses start out easy but later ramp up in difficulty, my only gripe with the bosses is Zavok seemed to be the only boss with a decent hit counter compared to the rest of D6 which was ideally about 10-12 hits with low powered homing attacks, the strategy on fighting them was well utilised as well, seriously this was one of the best things about this game, so much boss encounters that pushes the game along, some were underwhelming and pathetic though, Zor's second encounter was a fucking joke I swear, only hit him like 3-4 times?

 

8.5/10

 

Power-Ups

 

Power-Ups via the Miiverse is awesome, really cool feature to have, however the wisps are shoehorned in for no reason, they don't make a big deal about them they're just "there if you want to use them" often when you want to avoid BIG parkour sections, they throw in a wisp to bypass it all, lazy, cheap and unecessary to say the least.

 

Asteroid is only in windy hill, what a waste of a wisp design, hover is only in Lava Mountain *shrug*

 

4/10

Filler/Secrets

 

HOOOOO, THERE IS SO MUCH SECRET CONTENT ASDGHJKK

 

I can't spoil it for you, you'll have to see for yourself, but man it's some good throw backs ok??

 

9.5/10

 

Pros & Likes

 

• Parkour is fun to use when you master it
• Exploration is encouraged
• Music is eargasmic
• Characterization is starting to become a major thing for SEGA
• Knuckles is Knuckles again, I hope
• Genuine laugh out loud moments
• Snarky Sonic & Tails is awesome
• Level themes are gorgeous and inventive 
• An ungodly amount of enemies re imagined
• Flawless animation
• Great voice acting
• Bosses are rad
• It's difficult and challenging! 

 

Cons & Dislikes

 

• Amy's voice, eeeuuurgh...
• Anticlimactic ending
• Story suffers heavily from too many badly executed ideas
• Sonic Team playing it safe by giving it a soft ending
• Parkour is often a bitch and gets in the way of simple platforming
• Double jump can suck a dick for precise geometric scrolling platforming
• Levels are too big and are a bitch to find Red rings sometimes
• some bosses are too easy or lack enough hits to be called bosses
• Difficulty is frustrating in some areas
• checkpoint system sometimes too far or too few between
• learning curve is viscous
• final level can suck a dick too
• wisps, Y u in dis gaem!? 

 

Verdict

 

A good fun game with inherent flaws, but a fresh step in a new direction for future games, some ideas NEED to be expanded on, some need to be dropped entirely, it's not worth buying a Wii U just for it unless you plan on picking up later titles from Nintendo's library, it's clearly divisive but it's good enough to stand on it's own feet even with the huge comparisons to the Mario franchise.

 

7.5/10

[Blue Blood]

Metro: 4/10

NowGamer 5.5/10

 

I personally think the scores below 60 are completely inaccurate, but they're not exactly a minority. Such a let down...

[Narukami07]

The reviews of the 3DS version may also re-affirm my belief that Dimps should fuck off and stay away from Sonic entirely. This is the LAST straw and i was warning myself before that i'd stop buying their handheld version if this got low scores, terrible.