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Preview: Sonic: Lost World

We all know Sonic the hedgehog — the guy that makes speedy Gonzales look like regular Gonzales — is set to star in the upcoming Nintendo exclusive Sonic Lost World. I had some hands on time with the Wii U version during E3 to find out whether this would be yet another misstep in the Sonic legacy or if Lost World would finally be the blue mammal’s redemption.

Lost World sees Sonic running up and down huge cylinders suspended in mid air. These cylinders have an enormous amount of gravitational pull relative to their size, which allows Sonic to hurtle along them rescuing cute little bunnies at blinding speeds, all without falling to his doom. The first thing that came to mind whilst playing wasn’t Sonic, but his rival of old, Mario. Specifically the Super Mario Galaxy series. The level layouts are incredibly similar as they feature Sonic running and jumping from platform to platform with a reckless disregard for which way is up.

Impressive speeds are achievable — unless you don’t know the map very well — but I found myself stopped by several small steps littered throughout the stage which brought the pace to a grinding halt. This happened particularly during the “Windy Hill” stage on my first few runs. To be fair not everybody does very well attempting a speed run on an unfamiliar map in a game they have never played first go, but this is exactly what I wanted from this game as soon as I picked up the Wii U GamePad. When I play a Sonic game I want to blitz through the level, see what time I recorded and try and lower it on the next run. I found this hard at first with Lost World, but after getting to know the map a little better and knowing when an obstacle was coming up for me to avoid the gameplay began to accelerate.

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Lost World feels like a cross between old — 16 bit — and new — Adventure — Sonic games. The camera changes perspective on the fly and will shift from an aerial 3rd person view to a side scroller, all without disrupting gameplay. With the constant changing of perspective I was worried I would easily get disorientated, but most of the camera changes are done while during transitions in gameplay so as to avoid confusion.  The controls are simple, A to jump and double jump, hold RZ to “go fast” and LZ to stop and begin a spin attack. When approaching an enemy Sonic can jump and use his homing attack, sometimes chaining kills together to cross vast gaps in the map. He also has new parkour style tricks which allow him to run up vertical walls and lift himself up from ledges. I like this idea and in some situations it really helps, but it doesn’t work all that well if you want run as fast as you can through the stage.

The levels look fantastic and crisp and it was nice to see some inspiration from older titles in the franchise. Windy Hill — not set in Essendon —  for example looked like the classic Green Hill Zone firmly etched into my memory from childhood, except in full vibrant HD.

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I also had a chance to play the 3DS version and it was much of the same, albeit scaled down for the less powerful handheld. It looked very pretty for a 3DS title, but after playing the Wii U version in HD the winner — in my mind — was clear.

Sonic Lost World looks to be a step in the right direction for Sonic — as a character and franchise — and I look forward to seeing the rest of the game come release time.


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About the author

Shane Wall

I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe. A game geek turned audio engineer/musician. Shane's life is a delicate balance of video games, music and science fiction.