Lost World: Discussion, Impressions and Fan Reviews

[Blue Blood]

Does the Wii U version have the option to switch camera angles?

This is something that has bothered me about allot of the newer sonic games, I enjoy the freedom of being able to look around.

 

Nope. The 3DS camera will auto focus behind Sonic if you press L or stand still for a moment.

Unless you like puzzles and parkour in your level design or you like Heroes.

I had this argument with Inidgo Rush in the statuses last night. If you're halfway through DR on 3DS and aren't enjoying it yet, you probably won't ever enjoy it. And again about the puzzles, there's nothing enjoyable about spending around 10 minutes slowly pushing balls into pockets and onto random switches. Edited October 27, 2013 by Blue Blood

[JezMM]

Which version are you playing? Cause for Wii U, you're fast approaching Tropical Coast, the best world overall in the game (though I think Desert Ruins 1 is particularly good too). If it's 3DS, well... you're completely finished with the good parts.

 

Really?  I found Tropical Coast to be like, THE most forgettable zone in the entire game.  Then again I've never found the Tropical trope very interesting, and they play it straight to Mario proportions.

 

Act 3 is of course, a breathtakingly beautiful exception.  Until the buzz of the music and visuals wore off I was booting up the Wii U version just to play it.  <3

[Blue Blood]

Really?  I found Tropical Coast to be like, THE most forgettable zone in the entire game.  Then again I've never found the Tropical trope very interesting, and they play it straight to Mario proportions.

 

Act 3 is of course, a breathtakingly beautiful exception.  Until the buzz of the music and visuals wore off I was booting up the Wii U version just to play it.  <3

Layout-wise I think it's the best on the whole. It's got 2 completely 3D full stages, and one half 3D, half 2D full stage. But the other Zone 1s are all fun too.

[SilentDoom]

To me 3DS LW really REALLY feels like a modified version of the Sonic Colours Wii engine.  Sonic's jumping is almost identical and it just... generally feels more like I'm playing as Modern Sonic with his boost taken away and replaced with parkour.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnhVB7_RGrI

 

Here's a perfect example of the kind of crazy stuff you can do with parkour on the 3DS version.  I tried to do this on Wii U and whenever I jumped off a wall, Sonic just lost everything (the best part is this sometimes happens even during wall jumping segments in 2D).

 

Another time I did actually pull off something a little lower scale than this, and was greeted with an invisible wall at the top.

 

Wii U just is full of areas where you can try to parkour but the game is like "no no, you're meant to have total freedom in these designated areas".

 

As you can see there is nothing up there at all on the area I showed off on the 3DS, but it sure felt good that they at least acknowledged that you can get up there by putting somewhere to run around on.

 

That looks very silly to be honest.  It doesn't really make much sense at all.  You began to run up the wall as you were coming down from your jump.  Looks less like parkour and more like anti-gravity.  One must of course suspend their disbelief to an extent for a Sonic game but that's just kind of silly.  Freedom doesn't need to come at the cost of sensibility.  The classics are proof of this.  

[JezMM]

The amount of times I felt good about saving myself from a fall due to falling downwards on a wall above a bottomless pit is unprecedented compared the the Wii U version where I feel like unsalvagable pit deaths are on par with Unleashed.

[Cortez]

Which version are you playing? Cause for Wii U, you're fast approaching Tropical Coast, the best world overall in the game (though I think Desert Ruins 1 is particularly good too). If it's 3DS, well... you're completely finished with the good parts.

I'm up to Tropical Coast now, still not enjoying myself. I don't know, I just want to love this game so much after hyping it up for all these months but I just cannot have fun with it. I'm so used to Sonic controlling a certain way and this just feels so unnatural to me, I cannot get used to how little verticle space is covered when I jump forward and Sonic's move set is unnecessarily complicated. I don't like that there are essentially two different versions of the homing attack and I'm finding myself constantly dying in sections that I'd have blitzed through under another game's engine.

Perhaps I'll learn to love it but right now I can't see me getting anything other than frustrated with this game.

EDIT: Cloud Sections are fucking annoying.

[Blue Blood]

That's totally understandable.

 

If there're any words that can be used to describe both versions of SLW, 'frustrating' and 'complicated' would be right at the top of the list. For a game that supposedly offers a lot of freedom in movement, you don't half feel restrained a lot of the time. The 3DS version is too far in the opposite direction in that Sonic feels completely out of control, but it does better get across the idea that you can run wild.

 

Also, you'll be exceptionally pleased to know that there's a third kind of homing attack in the game! And better still, you get no indication of when (or how) to use it over the other two.

[Cortez]

That's totally understandable.

If there're any words that can be used to describe both versions of SLW, 'frustrating' and 'complicated' would be right at the top of the list. For a game that supposedly offers a lot of freedom in movement, you don't half feel restrained a lot of the time. The 3DS version is too far in the opposite direction in that Sonic feels completely out of control, but it does better get across the idea that you can run wild.

Also, you'll be exceptionally pleased to know that there's a third kind of homing attack in the game! And better still, you get no indication of when (or how) to use it over the other two.

This game makes me feel like they've purposefully gone out of their way to create something that is nothing like any previous instalment in the franchise. It's just so alienating. I hate the Boost trilogy for being so shallow but at least there's some level of enjoyment to be had out of them. This... this is just something else. It's like they've read a list of everything wrong with the franchise and then tried to find solutions to every single problem without even thinking about how to make them work well together - basically 'they complained about that so take it out and put that in instead' if you get me?

I don't know, it's just such a strange bunch of ideas that have been meshed together. I've never seen a game look so fun in motion but be the exact opposite quite like this before.

Divisive indeed.

[Blue Blood]

That first sentence just sums it up completely. They focused entirely on making something totally different; a bold risk that didn't pay off. I still like SLWU though. I'm pretty used to it, and keep finding myself going back to stages like FF1 over and over. It's not as good as it could have been by a long shot, and I don't really think it should serve as a base for future games like Unleashed did. Only a few key elements need be adapted for the future. Parkour for one, but done differently to how it's done here.

[Soniman]

All of this just makes me more and more worried for when I finally do play it, lol

[Narukami07]

Love/hate it basically sums Lost World up. Straw Hat posted a suggestion of what Sega could do to improve Sonic in the next game without reverting back to the boost gameplay.

It's been said, but I really hope the next game Sonic Team kinda go back to how things were with Colors, where it felt like they were doing their own thing. The Lost World gameplay could work well for the next title, if they just make it a bit faster and tighten physics in a way even more similar to the classics. The run trigger could also be more of a "hold it down and keep moving to increase your speed" type of deal, instead of just "hold it down to run". Same with the Spin Dash. 

I think tweaks like that, along with a more Sonic-ish level structure could help this formula grow and improve a bit more next time.

[SilentDoom]

The amount of times I felt good about saving myself from a fall due to falling downwards on a wall above a bottomless pit is unprecedented compared the the Wii U version where I feel like unsalvagable pit deaths are on par with Unleashed.

 

Which is fair enough, but I feel saves should make sense in the situation.  For example, instead of running up the wall again when coming down from a jump, Sonic should grab the wall and start sliding down for example, giving him the opportunity to do a proper wall jump back up and away from the wall allowing to either follow up with another wall cling/wall jump or start running again upon transferring the proper vertical momentum (and if the run button is held of course).

 

Something for next time perhaps (if of course they keep the whole parkour mechanic)?

[Sonicka]

Which is fair enough, but I feel saves should make sense in the situation.  For example, instead of running up the wall again when coming down from a jump, Sonic should grab the wall and start sliding down for example, giving him the opportunity to do a proper wall jump back up and away from the wall allowing to either follow up with another wall cling/wall jump or start running again upon transferring the proper vertical momentum (and if the run button is held of course).

 

Something for next time perhaps (if of course they keep the whole parkour mechanic)?

 

Good idea, although I think that would only really work for the 2D levels, in 3D it would just make it more of a hindrance unless Sega opted for a 3DLand type camera.

 

Honestly though, the 'proper' momentum based stuff would probably just annoy the heck out of me more - I think they did right by the player in this version of the game with the Parkour controls, it lends a hand to the player to get out of tough situations and allows you a greater degree of fun exploration/exploitation. =) 

Edited October 28, 2013 by Son-icka

[TheDanimator]

Picked the game up at midnight and so far I have gotten to tropical coast.
For some reason the controls feel very natural to me.
The only thing that bothers me is how sonic loses momentum when he turns 

and the super peel out feels gimped.
I also wish when the game switched to 2d there was more momentum based physics
But so far im having great fun, there really are moments that feel like your finally playing what a 3d sonic game should feel like.
 

[Narukami07]

^Mmmm yes Divisive game indeed. Reminds me of Evqngelion 3.33. Where most loved 1.11/2.22 while others were split on 3.33 (half or most outright hating it).

[Emmett L. Brown]

I'm up to the fourth world of the 3DS game and for all its impressive innovations and great new ideas, I have to admit that I'm not having much fun playing the game. I don't feel fast, and I don't feel powerful. I keep having to stop constantly to struggle with the controls as Sonic insists on trying to run up every wall he comes across, and precision platforming has never felt this unprecise and slippery to me. Every time I tackle a group of enemies I end up getting hit with no sense of having done something wrong - even sometimes succesfully hitting a big enemy and then losing rings for no good reason anyway.

 

At around my umtpy millionth bottomless pit death I wondered why they took away those useful PIT HERE! warning signs from Colours and Generations. Then I realised that if they included those then they'd cover pretty much the entire map. I've complained about bottomless pits as proof of laziness in level design, and this is one of the worst offenders I've seen since the Nintendo 64 days.

 

The 2D levels are the worst Sonic levels I have ever played. They don't even feel like they belong in the same series, and being introduced to these things after the brilliantly fun 2D levels of Generations feels like a slap in the face.

 

I really do hope the Wii U version is better, but I'm not feeling any rush to try it.

[Tails spin]

So here is my take of Lost World 3DS so far. I'm up to Windy Hill Zone 3. Let me start off by saying: I HATE the special stages. I was lying on my bed when I had the option of playing a special stage. I ended up in my office chair spinning around and I still lost. There is absolutely no sense of direction, I will try looking at Jez's play through to see how to improve on that.

 

Now on to other aspects of the game. Yes the controls are a little rough to get use to. I had to switch to the D-pad controls cuz the circle pad felt a little awkward. I like the use of the R button for running. and I like the kick somersaults as well. I am enjoying the use of Parkour and love jumping from wall to wall as well as parkouring up the walls as well. Oddly enough I didn't see the asteroid wisp at all yet. Unless I missed something.

 

Although I lost a few times in Windy Hill Zone 2. I love this stage. Running around the tubes was very entertaining and well as the parkour moves on the walls. I saw at one point while I was parkouring on a wall that you can jump to some boost rings to the right. I really wanted to get to that but I need to practice parkour more before I move on to that.

 

Windy Hill Zone 3 is also becoming a favorite of mine. I love how that direction of the stage turns as you go through the stage. And I'm loving Zazz's encounters in this level.

 

Overall, I know I will continue to like this game and it will continue to be one of my favorite 3DS games.

Edited October 29, 2013 by Nightmare Luigi

[JezMM]

I've discovered through ATTEMPTING to play them in an office chair that Special Stages really are a go all the way or no dice case.  If you keep your 3DS locked at the same position distance from you the whole time, and move your body and head, it will work flawlessly.  Dare to even put a slight little hand twist on it in which the screen is no longer dead center to your line of sight, and Sonic will start going around at weird angles and the stage design becomes instantly non intuitive as previously horizontal patterns become vertical ones (or worse, diagonal).

 

Imagine the 3DS is glued to your arms, and your arms and wrists cannot move or twist, you can only move your whole upper body.  That should make controlling Sonic either.

[Emmett L. Brown]

Overall, I know I will continue to like this game and it will continue to be one of my favorite 3DS games.

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. I enjoyed Windy Hill too, but the following levels lowered my opinion one by one until I'm past the halfway point but with no gameplay enjoyement in sight.

 

You may still end up loving the game, and I'd be happy for you, but I wouldn't judge the whole package by the first world.

[Emmett L. Brown]

I've just spent the last twenty minutes pushing snowballs around to trigger switches while getting my ass handed to me by egg pawns, penguins and the unholy spawn of Shadow Mario and Frosty the Snow Man. I haven't been this close to rage quitting a Sonic game since freakin' Eggmanland.

 

Does it get any better? Right now I really hate this game, and that's amazing because the menial tasks it has me to do reach the goal are hardly any different from those in Super Mario Galaxy, yet those were somehow fun instead of infuriatingly tedious.

[Blue Blood]

I've just spent the last twenty minutes pushing snowballs around to trigger switches while getting my ass handed to me by egg pawns, penguins and the unholy spawn of Shadow Mario and Frosty the Snow Man. I haven't been this close to rage quitting a Sonic game since freakin' Eggmanland.

 

Does it get any better? Right now I really hate this game, and that's amazing because the menial tasks it has me to do reach the goal are hardly any different from those in Super Mario Galaxy, yet those were somehow fun instead of infuriatingly tedious.

 

Uhm...

 

Better? No... no. Though there's not too much ball pushing to be done any more. Mainly just fighting the awful controls in rubbish levels. Enjoy the Quake Wisp!

Edited October 29, 2013 by Blue Blood

[Soniman]

So as of now I'm at the Casino Stage in the Wii U version and I'm really liking this game. Apparently the game takes a nosedive around here so I better watch out I guess.

[Blue Blood]

So as of now I'm at the Casino Stage in the Wii U version and I'm really liking this game. Apparently the game takes a nosedive around here so I better watch out I guess.

 

Well you just did one of the crappier Wii stages, that being FF2. It's not too bad once you understand it, but it's still not great. Anyway, I think the following levels are the ones to look out for (spoilers if you don't know what levels to expect or what each act is like):

Silent Forest 2 (especially the last part with the searchlight)

Silent Forest 3 (ice and pits galore)

Sky Road 1 (parts when you have to completely stop to slowly beat enemies)

Sky Road 3 (crap)

Lava Mountain entirely (1 is a boss fight, 2 is hell, 3 is annoying but essentially fine, 4 is final boss)

Edited October 29, 2013 by Blue Blood

[JezMM]

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. I enjoyed Windy Hill too, but the following levels lowered my opinion one by one until I'm past the halfway point but with no gameplay enjoyement in sight.

 

You may still end up loving the game, and I'd be happy for you, but I wouldn't judge the whole package by the first world.

 

You're currently on the absolute worst level in the game.  It never really reaches Windy Hill 1 enjoyment again but if you've beaten Frozen Factory 3 you've got through the worst of it.

 

You'd be surprised how much of the level can be skipped though on replays, both with and without the Quake Wisp.

 

I find the puzzle levels on 3DS very comparable to the Unleashed HD Werehog - slow and endless first time, very speedrunnable once you know what can and can't be skipped.

Edited October 29, 2013 by JezMM

[Your Vest Friend]

Well you just did one of the crappier Wii stages, that being FF2. It's not too bad once you understand it, but it's still not great. Anyway, I think the following levels are the ones to look out for (spoilers if you don't know what levels to expect or what each act is like):

Silent Forest 2 (especially the last part with the searchlight)

Silent Forest 3 (ice and pits galore)

Sky Road 1 (parts when you have to completely stop to slowly beat enemies)

Sky Road 3 (crap)

Lava Mountain entirely (1 is a boss fight, 2 is hell, 3 is annoying but essentially fine, 4 is final boss)

 

That's over half of the rest of the game!