Sonic Lost World (Wii U) Second Opinion Review

Oh, well, plenty, actually. For instance, when released, Sonic Lost World could garner some of the worst reviews a big budget game has ever received: IGN an 5.8, GameSpot a 5 out of 10, Edge a whopping 4 out of 10. In reality, that is exactly what happened. Reviewers roasted it for a number of issues, inconsistencies, and control issues…which brings events to the present, and another review to throw on top of the Lost World pile. Following on from Cubed3's positive review of the 3DS version, the question now is "Were the first Wii U reviews a kneejerk reaction, or is there nothing salvageable in Sonic Lost World?"

Sonic Lost World could be called a tale of two games - the first story is how the game starts: exciting, different, fun, fast, and full of attitude. It features an inspired art style featuring stylised diamond-shaped grass and blocky trees that are as unique and interesting as anything that has ever graced a video game. It is a compelling visual approach that, at times - if it had been carried through on a grander scale - would stand as an achievement in design.

It is a story of racetracks in the sky, fast and fluid levels that fly by with a good deal of player control and many alternative paths. They are levels that sometimes reach heights of brilliance - the type of gameplay that builds gaming empires. It is a story of music that beats on the eardrums with heart thumping brain bending goodness. It is liquid techno orchestral goodness that grabs players' neurons and makes them say "YES!" It is a story of everything every Sonic the Hedgehog fan has been hoping for over the past 10+ years: the triumphant return of the blue blur.

However, there is another story to consider - a much darker one focusing on cameras that shift suddenly, causing jumps to overshoot their mark. It is the fetid little tale of boss fights that lack distinctive tells, leading to frustrating, unfair deaths and the dark yarn of sudden cliff drops, leading to more upsetting deaths. There is even a nasty subplot of edge detection and ledge grabs that seem a bit wonky. Don't forget some frustratingly out of place special colour powers whose controls are far less than ideal either!

This second story has an art style that, inexplicably, falls into mundane doldrums, obvious but pale imitations of other games (Donkey Kong Country Returns, New Super Mario Bros., and so on). The level design ranges from mundane to bad in places, and in this dark tale, Sonic Lost World can't decide what kind of game it wants to be and instead tries to be every game, constantly changing its level design, from flying level to rail grinding to 2D side-scroller to 3D platforming to pinball…

In this ugly fantasy, Sonic assaults the gamer's senses with horrifying cut-scenes - unimaginably bad cut-scenes at that - mind blastingly bad cut-scenes, even! In these, Sonic does his best imitation of a character that nobody anywhere could love: rude, insulting, and just an outright jerk, even to his sidekick friend. These cut-scenes play every single level, before the level or after the level, or sometimes both.

What is frustrating is that this second story isn't separate from the first; they intertwine. While the first 2/3 of the game are mostly good and only a little bad, the next 1/3 is painfully frustrating. With increasing numbers of unpolished sequences, it almost seems like the game was rushed to meet a holiday deadline.