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Sonic Lost World Review Thread [Embargo Ends: Oct. 18th, 4:00 AM EDT]

Foffy

Banned
Another bad Sonic game?

hmmmmmmmmmmmm



rickgrimes7krgs.gif

He could be referring to the fact that Sonic 4 was successful financially. And, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Episode 2 pretty much a step in the right direction in almost every facet compared to Episode 1? Despite being lambasted in reviews compared to the first game..
 
I have to disagree with a lot of you. The original Sonic the Hedgehog is fantastic from beginning to end. Really, I love all the zones in that game. Its sequel, on the other hand, has a solid first half but inconsistent second.


Sonic 2 was too long for its own good. I agree that the front half is better, but it would've been much less noticeable if the game didn't start to drag on. The ideal scenario would've been splitting the game down the middle and adding 2 zones to each end.
 

Gunstar Ikari

Unconfirmed Member
He could be referring to the fact that Sonic 4 was successful financially. And, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Episode 2 pretty much a step in the right direction in almost every facet compared to Episode 1? Despite being lambasted in reviews compared to the first game..

I personally don't think so. Episode 1 was uninspired as hell, but I hated the ridiculously long bosses and forced tag segments in Episode 2.
 

Birathen

Member
Hnnng, so hard not dubbel dipping right now. Amazon shipped it today but its atleast another week befor it arrives. Reception on MiiVerse seems as mixed as the reviews but leaning more towards positive then negative (as with the reviews).
 

Daingurse

Member
Guess I'm not getting a Wii-U this year anymore, can't justify it for this title alone. Really unsure whether I'd dig this game or not, guess I'll see for myself whenever I pick the system up for Smash . . .

Even Sonic '06?

Play Magazine can burn in hell, they gave me hope.
 
I think that video just shown looked great, and made me excited for it.

I mean yeah, there's some really odd level design (what the hell is up with those boost pads? One set of them literally just shoots you into an invisible wall), but I think it looks great overall.

I am a big fan of Sonic, and slowing down the game I have no problem with at all.
 
Even Sonic '06?
Well, at least one reviewer was wrong about that game, yeah. Forget his name, but he gave the 360 version a 9.5 or some inflated score like that, only to change his tune suddenly for the PS3 one (which got a still-unreasonable score of 6 or so), claiming he was told "oh, we'll fix all those glitches before launch" and felt betrayed that they weren't.
 

NotLiquid

Member

Having finished these levels I can safely say that these were some of the most fun things I've experienced during my time with the game. It does feel a bit more like a Mario game but it's those segments that make it the most obvious where the game shines a bit more, and I still feel like the decent speed and moveset makes it relatively exhilarating. The first act in particular has a shit ton of alternate paths to explore and the second one is a really nice breather act.

Is it more like Mario? No doubt. But it's mostly just these levels and to be honest it doesn't stop them from playing really great. If you like both franchises I think there's a lot of fun to find in here.
 

Effect

Member
For anyone interested here is the tally of reviews from the opening post.

Wii U

Favorable total from scores out of 10 and out of 5 or worded ("good") = 26 reviews
Of that there are only 4 6's while everything else is a 7 or better or the equivalent on the 5 scale.
Negative scores out of 10 or 5 = 12 reviews

3DS

Favorable = 4 reviews
Negative = 4 reviews

There clearly seem to be more favorable then unfavorable. So perhaps the talk about it being a bad game or that you're disappointed, etc needs to stop. Especially when some of the negative reviews are questionable in their reasonings.
 
Wait, so you're saying that the game that looks like it's technically a generation behind the previous PS360 title and uses experimental gameplay by a dev like Sonic Team actually turned out bad? I am shocked!

No idea where the hype for this thing ever came from. Felt like leftovers Sega wanted to get rid off through Nintendo since the first trailer, so I hope they are still doing a proper sequel to Generations/Colours. These were the first decent attempts after what felt like a decade of bad Sonic games, so they shall be forgiven if they stick with that formula a little longer and go back to their usual production values.
 

The Boat

Member
Wait, so you're saying that the game that looks like it's technically a generation behind the previous PS360 title and uses experimental gameplay by a dev like Sonic Team actually turned out bad? I am shocked!

No idea where the hype for this thing ever came from. Felt like leftovers Sega wanted to get rid off through Nintendo since the first trailer, so I hope they are still doing a proper sequel to Generations/Colours. These were the first decent attempts after what felt like a decade of bad Sonic games, so they shall be forgiven if they stick with that formula a little longer and go back to their usual production values.

What the shit are you talking about?
 

RobbieNick

Junior Member
Jim Sterling's review is really one of the best one's out there.

JimSterling said:
In fact, Lost World has some of the best level design in the entire series, presented with a sense of cohesion and fluidity that Sonic Team has so very rarely displayed any aptitude for. Whether you're zipping along a series of tube-shaped worlds, navigating some tricky sidescrolling sequences, or tackling the Deadly Six in a selection of simple but energetic boss battles, there's a whole lot to love, provided you can get into the new way of playing.

And this is from the man who hated Colors.

Seems like the lower scores tend to be from reviewers who just couldn't grasp the new controls and didn't like the difficulty while the higher score reviewers got the hang of it and admired the game's level designs.
 
so I hope they are still doing a proper sequel to Generations/Colours. These were the first decent attempts after what felt like a decade of bad Sonic games, so they shall be forgiven if they stick with that formula a little longer and go back to their usual production values.


Lost World is way better than Generation/Colours, and in many ways feels the natural evolution of Colours formula
 

Spinluck

Member
Labyrinth Zone sucked.

But Sonic 1 is still really good. Fun fact, people like to say you can beat Sonic levels by just holding forward and jumping. Which was a common criticism among people who don't like Sonic. Yet the very 2nd Zone in Sonic 1 proves that you can't. Which is why Marble Zone will always have a place in my heart. Green Hill Zone is an extremely iconic stage, but the game gets far more interesting after that.
 

Gunstar Ikari

Unconfirmed Member
Well honestly it doesn't hold up nearly as well as 2 and 3&Knuckles.

Yeah, Sonic 1 is very inconsistent. Almost like they weren't sure whether they wanted to make a speedy game or a pure platforming game, and wound up alternating between both. Sonic 2 and 3&K, for the most part, have a pretty clear pace.
 

SCReuter

Member
Sonic 2 was too long for its own good. I agree that the front half is better, but it would've been much less noticeable if the game didn't start to drag on. The ideal scenario would've been splitting the game down the middle and adding 2 zones to each end.

Yep, the overall length is a problem. I'm usually burnt out by the time I reach Mystic Cave or Oil Ocean. An easy solution to this would have been to add a save system, as well as cut one of Metropolis Zone's three acts.

Well honestly it doesn't hold up nearly as well as 2 and 3&Knuckles.

The 1st is my favorite. >:|

Consistently good stage design and the best art and music.
 

Spinluck

Member
The 1st is my favorite. >:|

Consistently good stage design and the best art and music.

Yup.

There was more inconsistency in Sonic 2 than any other of them imo (although it's highs are arguably the highest). The inclusion of the spindash made some parts of the levels kinda funny. Sonic 3 is my favorite and it felt like they finally found a way to make the spindash work in most of its levels (they found a nice balance between 1 and 2 and had more interesting levels), but Sonic 1 had the best platforming in the series. Just the way it felt and played was good. Dat jump.
 
I agree with ThoughtsofSpeaking, it bugs the hell out of me that people seem to want Sonic to become more like Mario in terms of gameplay and platforming elements.
 

WolvenOne

Member
Dang, the variance on these reviews is absurd. 9's, 2's, 7's, and none of them seem to be an aberration.

Though honestly it doesn't matter much to me, I don't pay much attention to reviews anymore. Unless something's outright broken, whether you enjoy a game or not is mostly a matter of preference.

Still, sheesh!!
 

NTom64

Member
Just finished the 3DS version. Not only am I disappointed, but I find myself not remembering much about it.

That's not a very good combination.
 

weevles

Member
Jim Sterling's review is really one of the best one's out there.



And this is from the man who hated Colors.

Seems like the lower scores tend to be from reviewers who just couldn't grasp the new controls and didn't like the difficulty while the higher score reviewers got the hang of it and admired the game's level designs.


Interesting. I'm going to err on the side of positive. I'm open to whatever new things Lost World wants to show me, so I think I will probably like this. I have always thought that Sonic was a great character in an over-hyped game, so I don't have much to lose in giving this a go.
 
Yeah, Sonic wasn't that fast in the originals, and whenever his speed is overblown player control suffers. People generally tend to have an over the top idea about just how fast Sonic is supposed to be; I'm glad these designers finally understood that he needs to slow down just a bit.
 

NotLiquid

Member
Bothers me that there's people defending Sonic's new slower speed. His damn name is Sonic.

Sonic was nowhere near as fast in the classics as he is in the boost trilogy. Having more control in the Genesis games allowed for better level design where the speed was either set pieces or a momentary feeling of exhilaration once you masterfully cross an area. Even if speed was what Sonic was marketed with, that's not the sole reason why the games were good.

With Unleashed they turned that speed dial to 11 and made that what the entire fucking game is based around, with a formula that has remotely nothing to do with his roots where momentum was earned through clever designs.

Admittedly, Lost World could afford to be faster than it is, and it also has a formula not very rooted in it's original design ideology. But frankly there is a point when a game becomes too fast to have any sort of depth to it. The faster a game is the more details you have to sacrifice in design. Lost World has it's problems, and speed is not one of them.
 

Daingurse

Member
Wait so people are complaining that he's not fast enough?

Did they not play the original Sonic games?

I like the boost gameplay myself, Generations is simply a blast. This game does look slow to me, more like a Mario game, might just not be a game that appeals to me. Hell, Sonic 1 is easily my least favorite of the originals, because it's slower and more platforming heavy.
 
Bothers me that there's people defending Sonic's new slower speed. His damn name is Sonic.

I don't like that people equate 'fast' to speeds that are almost beyond playability. Sonic isn't about that. There's a reason the boost trilogy is filled with long hallways and stretches. You can still go fast in this game. However, what is undefendable is taking away the physics that made him so different.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
Interesting quote from Destructoid's review:

Sonic Lost World most certainly requires some acclimation on the part of the player. In fact, I despised it when I first started, and it wasn't until I got used to the subtle intricacies and replayed a few levels with a fresh perspective that I found myself having a ton of fun with it. Levels mostly work great with the new gameplay, boast excellent setpieces, and use speed as a reward to satisfying effect. Lost World is also pretty damn good as both a 3D and 2D platformer, with the controls and physics shockingly adept at both types of gameplay -- very useful, since some stages shift constantly between the two styles to great effect.
 

J@hranimo

Banned
Just finished the 3DS version. Not only am I disappointed, but I find myself not remembering much about it.

That's not a very good combination.

Come on Tom, it's Dimps! D:

but....after these reviews and jarring opinions it really intrigues me about how this game plays (where's the demo dammit?) so I'm gonna pick it up sometime within the next month or 2.
 

Neff

Member
A poor game will struggle to get 9s and 8s, and SLW has quite a few. Sonic Lost World isn't a bad game by any stretch. Honestly, I'd write off the 6s and 5s as indicative of the game unapologetically offering old-school challenge, in addition to the palpable journalistic snubbing of Nintendo's current antithesis of in vogue.

This is the game, more than any of late, that has shown to me that any kind of defeat or penalty is an affront to the modern player's fragile, impatient, unskilled ego.

It's actually really fucking good.
 
I find it odd everyone wants Sega to not make Sonic go so fast, so they slow him down and people complain he's too slow. Reminds me of that Miyamoto and Zelda meme.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
Btw, most of the complaints I've been reading about in the reviews seem to be the same as the ones I found in Colors on the Wii (apart from the stingy lives). Why was Colors highly regarded again? I personally played about 3-4 worlds of Colors and hated it. Or was the DS version the one everyone liked? I did play the first level of Sonic LW on the 3DS and liked that, and also liked the bee level I played on the Wii U version. I'm wondering whether these were some of the better levels or something...
 
I'll just wait until I actually play the game before passing any real judgement; from what I've seen so far, it's beautiful, the art direction's incredible, dialog actually engaging, and levels look like they can offer a lot exploration (at least ones like Windy Hill Zone 1).

I stopped paying attention to "professional" reviews a long time ago; most Youtube reviews and LPers of the game have been far more balanced in how they look @ it so I'd rather take them @ their word.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
I find it odd everyone wants Sega to not make Sonic go so fast, so they slow him down and people complain he's too slow. Reminds me of that Miyamoto and Zelda meme.
Everyone? I want Sega to make him even faster! It's just the vocal Classic Sonic fans (though I'm a classic Sonic fan, too, but not exclusively; Sonic 2 is one of my favourite games ever though) - who cannot be satisfied either way anyway. Other than remaking the exact first Sonic game, this group of fan couldn't be satisfied with anything. With Lost World, they should, though.
 

NotLiquid

Member
Btw, most of the complaints I've been reading about in the reviews seem to be the same as the ones I found in Colors on the Wii (apart from the stingy lives). Why was Colors highly regarded again? I personally played about 3-4 worlds of Colors and hated it. Or was the DS version the one everyone liked? I did play the first level of Sonic LW on the 3DS and liked that, and also liked the bee level I played on the Wii U version. I'm wondering whether these were some of the better levels or something...

Colors followed up on the Unleashed game play (even if it was slowed down quite a lot with not many opportunities of boosting) and was a relatively straightforward platformer without any crazy gimmicks or things to shake things up with. It was also an incredibly easy game. Design-wise there are only shades of Colors' design philosophy in Lost World, mostly the few-and-inbetween moments with the Wisps.

As for why these negatives are being pointed out here, Lost World its not only doing a new playstyle which is a bit awkward at first, there's a bit of a dip in quality design-wise mostly apparent in the later half of the game. It starts off really good after you get used to it, goes into some hiccups during the middle and ends up really frustrating near the end. The consensus I'm seeing is that it's a solid but flawed game.

For what it's worth, Jim Sterling, who trashed Colors and gave it the lowest review on record, gave this game a rather good score, so maybe you'll find something in the game to relate to.
 
You know what makes me laugh in this thread? People who on one hand dismiss the boost trilogy by saying that the games were cheap and it was very easy to die if you didnt memorise a level, indicating they have execution problems.

But then in the same breath bemoaning reviewers unwillingness to learn controls and step up to the "old school challenge" of clunky gameplay.

The hypocrisy is blatant and dripping. If you take time to actually learn how to play the boost games, especially unleashed, its an adrenaline ride that very few games can reach. It never has been simply push forward and press boost, infact that will get you killed very quickly on the later levels. Maybe thats what makes it "cheap".

To play the the boost trilogy properly you have to blend ring and boost bar management with drifting, lightspeed dashing, quickstepping, jumping, boosting, timing, execution and knowledge of the level. You have to be able to type the QTE's as soon as you see them and almost every turn there is something that can break your boost run.

This is not something you can do the first time you play and you have to die and restart levels alot before you get to that level of proficiency that you can comfortably say you "get" a level.

Even if you dont speed run, that is the depth in the boost games.

So stop complaining about the previous games having no depth. They most certainly do. And stop complaining about reviewers not wanting to invest time into games to grow skillsets, because if the feel its worth it they will.

Ultimately this thread is full of people who are upset that reviewers dont want to invest as much time and effort in the same skillset that they are most inclined to and excell at.

Its got nothing to do with bad reviews. As an action fan I can see exactly why TW101 got mixed reviews too. It was simply too obtuse for its own good. Its also the reason why I still havent bought it. I simply dont have the time to learn that combat system and its bells and whistles atm.

Back to sonic, Its also the reason you dont mind a franchise being butchered to be like more like a franchise you enjoy.

Stop the bullshit.
 
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