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

M

MoogleWizard

Member
I'm not a Sonic fan and I preordered this because it looked like a really fun homage to Mario Galaxy, and because the impressions were always positive. I don't care much for reviews, but these reviews aren't even mixed, it's basically getting universally panned, which is a good indicator of a game with glaring flaws.

What should I do as a non-Sonic fan that was expecting something on the quality level of Mario, send it back or give it a shot? I can't cancel anymore, my copy is probably already sitting in my mailbox...
 
S

Sendou

Member
MoogleWizard said:
What should I do as a non-Sonic fan that was expecting something on the quality level of Mario, send it back or give it a shot? I can't cancel anymore, my copy is probably already sitting in my mailbox...
Click to expand...

Burn it with fire. At least that's the image one could get from these reviews.
 
Z

Zalman

Member
The IGN reviewer is complaining about how slow it is. Apparently, it makes Sonic feel too much like a certain "Italian plumber"...
 
G

greg400

Banned
MoogleWizard said:
I'm not a Sonic fan and I preordered this because it looked like a really fun homage to Mario Galaxy, and because the impressions were always positive. I don't care much for reviews, but these reviews aren't even mixed, it's basically getting universally panned, which is a good indicator of a game with glaring flaws.

What should I do as a non-Sonic fan that was expecting something on the quality level of Mario, send it back or give it a shot? I can't cancel anymore, my copy is probably already sitting in my mailbox...
Click to expand...
Play it and judge it for yourself? There are quite a bit of good reviews.

At least 12 above or at a 7 so far.
 
K

KillerTravis

Banned
MoogleWizard said:
I'm not a Sonic fan and I preordered this because it looked like a really fun homage to Mario Galaxy, and because the impressions were always positive. I don't care much for reviews, but these reviews aren't even mixed, it's basically getting universally panned, which is a good indicator of a game with glaring flaws.

What should I do as a non-Sonic fan that was expecting something on the quality level of Mario, send it back or give it a shot? I can't cancel anymore, my copy is probably already sitting in my mailbox...
Click to expand...

I say return it, and rent it later if you are still interested.

I don't know why Sega didn't just make a Sonic Colors sequel, with better Sonic controls.
 
T

ThoughtsOfSpeaking

Banned
SpinDasher said:
Sonic 1 had the most solid platforming of the Genesis titles, imo.

Gametrailers said that this game does away with the cheap deaths, so...

opinions.
Click to expand...

If you followed my posts concerning Sonic, you would know I think the franchise is at its worst when it tries to be a traditional platformer.

Sonic 2 is the Classic game where Sonic developed his own playstyle and is still to this day the best Sonic game of all time. Sonic 3 & K was ok in comparison and Sonic 1 was just clunky.


Furthermore, this talk of cheap deaths in the boost trilogy always irritated me. Neither Unleashed, Colors or Generations had many "Cheap" deaths. They had plently places were you could die if you just held down the boost button and didnt look where you were going, if you took time to learn the level, no death was cheap, you execution was just off. Simples.
 
Yoshi

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
MoogleWizard said:
I'm not a Sonic fan and I preordered this because it looked like a really fun homage to Mario Galaxy, and because the impressions were always positive. I don't care much for reviews, but these reviews aren't even mixed, it's basically getting universally panned, which is a good indicator of a game with glaring flaws.

What should I do as a non-Sonic fan that was expecting something on the quality level of Mario, send it back or give it a shot? I can't cancel anymore, my copy is probably already sitting in my mailbox...
Click to expand...

Quality of Mario? Mario is the unreachable behemoth of gaming, so you will be disappointed. Do you want a challenging platformer with unusual, but sound mechanics that take some getting used to, fantastic level design and a lot of interesting and demanding content? Keep it. Otherwise send it back.
 
N

NotLiquid

Member
MoogleWizard said:
I'm not a Sonic fan and I preordered this because it looked like a really fun homage to Mario Galaxy, and because the impressions were always positive. I don't care much for reviews, but these reviews aren't even mixed, it's basically getting universally panned, which is a good indicator of a game with glaring flaws.

What should I do as a non-Sonic fan that was expecting something on the quality level of Mario, send it back or give it a shot? I can't cancel anymore, my copy is probably already sitting in my mailbox...
Click to expand...

How is it getting universally panned when a least five different publications have given it scores ranging from 7 and above? Is it because the big guns gave it mediocre reviews? It's still mixed reviews.

Get the game and form your own opinion.
 
D

Dang0

Member
Reminds me a bit of how divided reviewers were on Zombiu, not quite as extreme though, Zombiu scores were all over the place.

Still gonna pick it up, really hope I like it.
 
T

TheCongressman1

Member
Yoshi said:
Rings are not totally useless, there are Achivements about them and also (big spoiler)
you unlock Super Sonic
for getting all red rings,
so you need 50 rings to turn into Super Sonic and finally make this game fast :)
. But yes, it's a bit strange that rings do not give lifes anymore. It doesn't make this a worse game though. Also, what are cheap deaths? If you screw up, you die, what's wrong in that? I can't understand this demand for all too many safety nets among gamers :(.
Click to expand...

Being hard in one thing, screwing up is one thing, but these things should be balanced. Take the sidescrolling desert level with the worms that eat you. Why should this kill you? They could chew on you and your rings, spit you out, thus you fall down and have to do it again. That seems like a fair trade off. No need for it to take you back a couple of feet at the checkpoint and take one of your scarce lives away when you would fall back down anyway.

Believe me, I love to hear that a Sonic game is challenging, but I don't want it to be because of cheap deaths.

Also, red rings are not the same. There is incentive there, but normal rings are only used for health. So now that they don't give you lives, you really don't need to worry about getting any. An achievement's incentive doesn't stretch the entire game.
 
B

Box of Bunnies

Banned
MoogleWizard said:
I don't care much for reviews, but these reviews aren't even mixed, it's basically getting universally panned, which is a good indicator of a game with glaring flaws.
Click to expand...

A little more than half of the reviews in the OP are positive (7+ or "favourable"), how is that not the definition of "mixed"-to-positive? Pretty selective reading to get "universally panned" from them.
 
Yoshi

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
TheCongressman1 said:
Being hard in one thing, screwing up is one thing, but these things should be balanced. Take the sidescrolling desert level with the worms that eat you. Why should this kill you? They could chew on you and your rings, spit you out, thus you fall down and have to do it again. That seems like a fair trade off. No need for it to take you back a couple of feet at the checkpoint and take one of your scarce lives away when you would fall back down anyway.

Believe me, I love to hear that a Sonic game is challenging, but I don't want it to be because of cheap deaths.

Also, red rings are not the same. There is incentive there, but normal rings are only used for health. So now that they don't give you lives, you really don't need to worry about getting any. An achievement's incentive doesn't stretch the entire game.
Click to expand...

The big spoiler makes them a lot more relevant ^^. I don't see how this is cheap. Being eaten by an enemy usually means insta-death, even in such easy games as Yoshi's Story.
 
P

princemarth23

Member
Still renting. Gamespot's cons aren't that bad imo; I'm pretty sure they're just bad at the game. So many reviewers complained about TW101's difficulty and controls but it just boiled down to them sucking hard. 3D sonic games have been hit and miss with the controls, yes, but this game's controls don't seem bad at all based on videos and articles I've read. Borrowing heavily from Mario Galaxy isn't really a bad thing either. It's entirely possible I'm wrong, but it's just the way I see it right now.
 
I

Into

Member
Aostia said:
Wow, from 9 to 4. Only on Wii U!
how strange are Nintendo consoles' reviews...
Click to expand...

..What?

It happens on all consoles, all the time.


Beyond: Two Souls
100 from Digital Spy
40 from Videogamer

Oh look they hate Sony exclusives!
 
T

The_Lump

Banned
Nowadays unless you follow a particular reviewer who you know has similar tastes to you, reviews are pointless. A journalist doesn't automatically know more than all of us about gaming, so why put so much stock in their opinion - good or bad?

I'll get the demo and listen to friends (people I know) before buying any game. There are only 1 or 2 sites whose opinion I trust nowadays.

(Probably the wrong thread to say that, but the crazy range of "scores" really highlight my point)
 
K

Kouriozan

Member
Wow, I was setting up for a disappointing game, I'm glad I don't care about review score.
It's actually pretty good, a bit too fast for me (did the reviewer hold the ZR button?!)
Having fun exploring the levels.
 
Nico_D

Nico_D

Member
NEurope: 9/10 (why typing the name with a dash results only stars?)

A bit low on critique, though. As an ex-critic I like my critiques analytical, not praising or bashing.
 
S

Spinluck

Member
ThoughtsOfSpeaking said:
If you followed my posts concerning Sonic, you would know I think the franchise is at its worst when it tries to be a traditional platformer.

Sonic 2 is the Classic game where Sonic developed his own playstyle and is still to this day the best Sonic game of all time. Sonic 3 & K was ok in comparison and Sonic 1 was just clunky.


Furthermore, this talk if cheap deaths always irritated me. Neither Unleashed Colors or Generations had many "Cheap" deaths. They had plently places were you could die if you just held down the boost button and didnt look where you were going, if you took time to learn the level, no death was cheap, you execution was just off. Simples.
Click to expand...

I don't follow your post, but I do remember you shitting up Lost World threads with nonsense. Sonic had his own playstyle the day Sonic 1 was released.

There were definitely cheap deaths in Unleashed, there were less in Colors and Generations but they existed. The consensus so far on Lost World seems to be that they made it into there also, but with a select few saying that they are done away with.
 
A

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
Sendou said:
I wish this shit would stop.
Click to expand...

Into said:
..What?

It happens on all consoles, all the time.


Beyond: Two Souls
100 from Digital Spy
40 from Videogamer

Oh look they hate Sony exclusives!
Click to expand...

zainetor said:
yeah nintendo has no moneiz to buy them.
Click to expand...

You are right about Two Souls, I'd should add also Quantic Dream games
I don't see instead what Nintendo money hats has to do with what I've said

Am I the only one that had an hell of a time finding out precious suggestions from Wii games' reviews? I don't think so...

And, in any case, look at my likns, just to clarify what I think about this game ;)
 
6

69wpm

Member
Ugh, this confirms, again, that reviews can't be taken serious these days.

From Gamespot:

Way too much "dude bro" in the cutscenes
Click to expand...

Really GS? You love your dude bro everywhere except in this game? Get outta here.

KingSnake said:
Reading these reviews and after the W101 ones I just think I am too old for the gaming industry of today. I like difficult games, I like learning how to play differently, like in "the good ol' days".
Click to expand...

That's how I feel, too. If reviewers don't take their time to learn a game, and they should because they get fucking paid for it, who should? From now on I will never ever read a fucking review again. That's what I thought after TW101, I thought I'll give it another chance with this game, now I just don't care anymore. I'll trust my guts, in the worst case scenario I'll just sell the game I don't like.

I just wish reviewers would be more like Saur...
 
F

fabprems

Member
Morfeo said:
Is it the nintendo exclusive tax that docked zombi u and wonderbomba at work again?
Click to expand...

After reading some of these reviews I can't help but wonder the same thing...
Like, every exclusive on a nintendo system should be at least as good as nintendo games. This Sonic game seems to have flaws, but like the first Assassin's Creed for example, and but reviewers seems re really harsh and don't see any potential, just flaws :/
 
M

MoogleWizard

Member
Sendou said:
Burn it with fire. At least that's the image one could get from these reviews.
Click to expand...

greg400 said:
Play it and judge it for yourself? There are quite a bit of good reviews.

At least 12 above or at a 7 so far.
Click to expand...

KillerTravis said:
I say return it, and rent it later if you are still interested.

I don't know why Sega didn't just make a Sonic Colors sequel, with better Sonic controls.
Click to expand...

Yoshi said:
Quality of Mario? Mario is the unreachable behemoth of gaming, so you will be disappointed. Do you want a challenging platformer with unusual, but sound mechanics that take some getting used to, fantastic level design and a lot of interesting and demanding content? Keep it. Otherwise send it back.
Click to expand...

NotLiquid said:
How is it getting universally panned when a least five different publications have given it scores ranging from 7 and above? Is it because the big guns gave it mediocre reviews? It's still mixed reviews.

Get the game and form your own opinion.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the replies. Yeah, expecting Mario quality was really stupid on my part lol. I should have said good platformer with Mario Galaxy influences and more speed, at least that's what the game looked like and what drew me to it. I do like challenging games but I don't know, the control complaints sound bad, a platformer needs tight and intuitive controls...

I have a backlog on my Wii U, Wind Waker, W101, Earthbound and several other VC games are still waiting to be completed so it's not like I need something to play on the system. I guess I'll take a good look at the box and decide lol.
 
E

Eusis

Member
RobbieNick said:
No, no, no. There's been two very good Sonic games and this one that's got mixed to low score reviews due to the complex controls. If the next Sonic game is gets low scores too, THEN the cycle returns. That's how a cycle works.
Click to expand...
This doesn't even really follow the cycle pre-Colors properly anyway. The games look good at announcement, more details come out and worry mounts, then worry is ultimately justified as the game is uneven at best, outright atrocity at worst. This seems more like a sharp turn right into a wall of spikes instead of a gradual deceleration of hype.

Though we also had an awfully busy time for releases and there's been a generally negative Wii U sentiment going around, so I can any troubling previews getting lost in the mix.
 
T

ThoughtsOfSpeaking

Banned
SpinDasher said:
I don't follow your post, but I do remember you shitting up Lost World threads with nonsense. Sonic had his own playstyle the day Sonic 1 was released.

There were definitely cheap deaths in Unleashed, there were less in Colors and Generations but they existed. The consensus so far on Lost World seems to be that they made it into there also, but with a select few saying that they are done away with.
Click to expand...

Nonsense, but yet the game is getting mediocre reviews, pointing out the very things I was complaining about?

Yeah...
 
T

The Boat

Member
My review isn't done yet because I got the game late and life got in the way, but I'm contemplating a negative score honestly. Most frustrating game I've played in ages.
 
T

TheCongressman1

Member
Yoshi said:
The big spoiler makes them a lot more relevant ^^. I don't see how this is cheap. Being eaten by an enemy usually means insta-death, even in such easy games as Yoshi's Story.
Click to expand...

It's not because he gets eaten. They could have easily made the hazard something else, that doesn't matter at all. Usually instant death hazards are only placed one or two at a time. Crushing, pits, what have you. With this, there are like 4 in those rooms. With that much chance to die it doesn't make sense for you to have to start back at the bottom when you could get hit and fall back down there anyway. You would lose your rings, so if you do get eaten again, you would die. That's two hits if you can't get rings. It doesn't make it easy, it just makes it less harsh.
 
A

AniHawk

Member
Astrosanity said:
I thought Secret Rings was shit house at the time (mind you this was before I ever played Shadow/Sonic '06), so that's not a great sign.
Click to expand...

and i was on the other end, appreciating the new stuff and seeing some potential. i even replayed some levels a few months ago. while i completely forgot how to do anything in that game, i still had a good time.

i really wish that game had been expanded on further and it looks like lost world might actually be that, except with some colors thrown in for no particular reason.
 
cyberheater

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
Looking at the review scores. I think I might pick this up later in the year second hand. I'm not paying full price for this.
 
P

Peff

Member
TheCongressman1 said:
It's not because he gets eaten. They could have easily made the hazard something else, that doesn't matter at all. Usually instant death hazards are only placed one or two at a time. Crushing, pits, what have you. With this, there are like 4 in those rooms. With that much chance to die it doesn't make sense for you to have to start back at the bottom when you could get hit and fall back down there anyway. You would lose your rings, so if you do get eaten again, you would die. That's two hits if you can't get rings. It doesn't make it easy, it just makes it less harsh.
Click to expand...

Haha, it does feel like they're out to get you at times. One of the final levels is a 2D vertical scroller and it "locks" the camera every time you move it up, meaning if you fall down you die even if there were platforms just below the screen.
 
A

airmangataosenai

Member
The_Lump said:
So we should ignore all the positive reviews?

Sounds like a game which needs to be played to decide if it's any good for you - not read about.
Click to expand...

When it comes to reviews, not all sites and sources are created equal. If a consensus has formed between all of the more mainstream pubs, it's safe to say the game is probably a turd.

It's like saying something like Lair received mixed reviews.
 
D

DICKS AHOY

Banned
AniHawk said:
and i was on the other end, appreciating the new stuff and seeing some potential. i even replayed some levels a few months ago. while i completely forgot how to do anything in that game, i still had a good time.

i really wish that game had been expanded on further and it looks like lost world might actually be that, except with some colors thrown in for no particular reason.
Click to expand...
Well, I always felt Unleashed and to a lesser extent Colors/Generations came about by combining the gameplay of Secret Rings and Rush, so I don't think it was completely forgotten. Weird I like Colors/Generation's modern sonic stuff when I hated SR and while I like Rush enough, I do feel it's supremely overrated.

It's not the worst thing by Sonic standards, but it was the first major Sonic game I got after getting massively burned by Heroes when I was 12 (and this was during an age where I still loved the Adventure games) and felt totally suckered into it. Playing it around the same time as Galaxy certainly didn't help.

Always felt the people who gave it a pass did so because it wasn't the war crime Sonic '06 was and was a return to a more whimsical setting, along with being Sonic-only.
 
S

Spinluck

Member
I'm going to bed. Hope I wake up with the Lost World demo magically downloaded onto my Wii U.

Those that are down on the game due to reviews, I encourage you to try it anyway you can.
 
T

ThoughtsOfSpeaking

Banned
SpinDasher said:
Unleashed, Colors, and Generations got mediocre to average scores.. so what's your point?
Click to expand...


1) Unleashed got Mediocre reviews due to the warehog.

2) Colors and generations both will Score higher than this. Both are solid 7-8 out of 10 games. Far from average.

3) Many of the things people hated about the boost trilogy were evident from the first couple of videos, just like lost world.
 
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