So Sonic Lost World was one of the 3 Sonic exclusives for Nintendo systems back during the Wii U era. Remember this one? The one that looked like Mario Galaxy?
Based on its poor reception, I never felt like getting back around to it until recently. So I just literally played this with my 6 year old daughter as my wingman and I found it to be... alright? Neither particularly special nor particularly horrible. Like a C+ or even B- kind of game. It's definitely not a classic, but it was entertaining enough.
Here are my random impressions (with spoilers, so stop now if you haven't played it):
-The Deadly Six aren't as bad or boring as their reputation had led me to believe. There is an attempt to give them basic characterization throughout which I didn't expect considering Sonic fans seem to consider them flat stock characters. The voiceovers during gameplay do a good job of giving me an idea of what they're all about. They aren't as memorable as Eggman, but they already have more characterization in this one game than the Koopalings have had in about half a dozen. A few of them - Zor and Zik in particular - have potential for further development. Zavok himself may be a bit of an ersatz Bowser - and I'd probably agree with whoever said that their designs are a bit too much like rejected Skylanders villains - but I genuinely enjoyed his boss battles. And I do think the Sonic series can use a set of villains unaligned with Eggman.
-The biggest complaints I have are the unusual controls. I've just finished the game and I feel like only during the final fight with Zavok did I get a good handle on what the parkour system was trying to do. I'm not sure I even hate the parkour system so much as I never quite understood it and just avoided using it whenever possible. If SEGA was coming to me for advice, with only a few months left until release, I would say scrap the circus bonus stages (which feel Atari-esque, but not in a good way) and replace them with optional content built around the parkour system. If you can have extra content that's a stealth tutorial for that system, I think it'd feel less awkward when you were required to use it.
-I do like the extra homing kick move, which I believe is introduced here. It made a couple of the boss fights a little of a "paper, rock, scissors" to figure out the best strategy, which was a little frustrating at first but something I eventually grew to like as the game went on. Particularly after playing Sonic Forces, which felt a bit like "repeatedly press A to home in and kill everything" Lost World feels like there's a bit more strategy at play.
-The cylindrical level design is ok for a one-off. I think the biggest problem with it is that, while it sometimes gives you fun alternate routes, it's not as satisfying to "find" alternate routes when it's just a case of running around to the other side of a cylinder and seeing what's over there. Compared to something like Generations, that's pretty unexciting.
-The Mario Galaxy influence is undeniable, so much so that it almost feels like the original plan was to actually use Bowser and the Koopalings. Not a far stretch, considering the exclusivity deal. That said, apart from a few mechanical things like fire bars, canons and those small moon boss battles, it didn't really feel much like Mario Galaxy.
-I'm not a big story guy. I like my games to be games, not 10 hour movies. This story was fine - probably a bit more sensical than Sonic Colors but not quite as much fun. Eggman had a few absolutely ruthless lines, which were kind of the highlight for me.
-Ultimately, I recommend Lost World for Sonic fans or Wii U owners who are looking for a platformer that's a little experimental. It's not a must own game and it'd be a poor place to start with Sonic, but I think it's still a worthwhile project, all told.
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