I'm definitely in the minority for giving Sonic Lost World a 4/5 but I don't know...I just really enjoyed this one.
I went into the game with the lowest of low expectations, and honestly, I was presently surprised with how well done so many of the levels and ideas are. It feels like a Mario game (something I've seen used as a point against this game for some reason) with how each level introduces a single idea and greatly expands on it, or the many branching paths that encourage mastering the "parkour" system. While it was a bit finicky, that added movement and maneuverability to levels with the added "parkour" system is something I really want to return.
Yeah, the story isn't amazing (though seeing a more toned down and thoughtful Eggman was a welcome surprise), the Deadly Six were super bland, and a lot of the Wisp powers felt unnecessary, but I think it's overall a good time that I'd recommend to anyone looking for a solid 3D platformer. Just don't expect high-speed boost gameplay, because this is far from that.

Even more of a wasted potential than the average Sonic game.

If you look at me and say the Sonic game where he has a sword is garbage, or the one where the main gimmick is you play with your own OC, I'm gonna be like "well, what did you expect??"

But this one looks so cool! The stages are so interesting, and beautiful! The potential is galactic! And yet, is pure garbage. SEGA has no idea how Sonic is even supposed to control.

You know how some games are labelled "precision platformers"? This is the opposite, an imprecision platformer. The game designers didn't know how to make Sonic gameplay feel good at slow speeds, so they made all the slow parts almost unplayable. This way, people will forget any notion of exploration and just kinda "press forward to win". They made you want to go fast by making you REALLY don't want to go slow. It's a shame, because otherwise the game is beautiful, and had almost as much potential as its clear inspiration, Mario Galaxy.

Really enjoyed my time with this one.
Controls really well. The double jump is the best in the series and being able to homing attack multiple enemies at once is very satisfying.
Not a big fan of the parkour in 3D, but there was only 1 time where it was necessary so it's not a big deal.
Level themes are the generic, grass, desert, ice, lava, themes you'd see in a Mario game, but they're way more visually interesting here.
The story is really bad though. Not a single character in this game is likeable.

Coming off of Generations, this is one of the most disappointing Sonic games I've played. The series was really going places, just for it all to be thrown away for some weird experimental title. This is where the rut Modern Sonic is currently in started. It's a shame this game is not so great, because the parkour system is actually really interesting and could be a neat mechanic in future games. Everything else weighs the game down, though, which doesn't give the parkour system any room to shine.

This game was very disappointing, mainly because the idea of reworking the 3D Sonic formula was very appealing to me. I like a lot of aspects of the 3D Sonic games, but I can't really say I enjoy playing them that much, and this game seemed like it would align more with my 3D platformer sensibilities. Unfortunately, while there are moments of fun and interesting concepts, it all ends up going nowhere with poor level design for a speed-focused platformer, or just any platformer, controls that become confusing and inconsistent, and mechanics that are never explained well and also work inconsistently. Every time I started to enjoy the game a new flaw would show itself until I went from trying to S-rank every level to just rushing to the end of the game. The new villains are immediately grating and unremarkable, even Sonic 06's main villain was more entertaining and memorable. Story features weird conflicts and turns that feel completely arbitrary, and I know story isn't a big deal for a game like this but when playing it is bad having a dull story like this just makes it worse.

The music, though, like all Sonic games, still stands out as great, and I will again say that there are good levels, and those levels highlight how a game that improves on and learns from the mistakes of this one could actually be worthwhile, which just makes this game even more of a disappointment, since it seems the lesson Sonic Team took from this game is to simply keep making the same kind of game they've made before instead of something new.

You can really tell the confidence in the game designer's mechanics when they don't teach you the most interesting parts of it until halfway through the game.

I do, genuinely, admire Sonic Team's push to try something different within the confines of their mascot. That's really what brought my attention to playing this at all, as well as some friend who was really adamant about this being the secret underrated classic that people didn't like cuz it was different. But this is a token effort, the design here actually manages to be incredibly safe despite being mechanically different from the series. The game constantly, disgustingly, switches back to the slow very bog-standard 2D mode for a good half of its levels, with most of those even being auto-scrollers so speed isn't going to save you. Most of its levels are built around railroading you just to make sure that you please don't have a bad time :(

It's really disheartening, because I do think the parkour is actually genuinely good... whenever you get the opportunity to use it much at all. Being able to conserve your speed while jumping off walls in 3D at just the right time to speed towards the goal is really interesting, and there's good music and decent-looking areas too. I just wish the game actually focused on that instead of being the hollow product it really ends up like.

I think this is enough to put the whole team on ice, because nobody there knows what's special about their work anymore. I know Forces was already the mask-off to where all good will just kind of left the atmosphere, but this conglomerate of half-baked feelings and mishmash passion (seriously, even the Happy Tree Friends writers are just phoning it in now) is really the be-all end-all of Sonic Team.

Not worth your time.

This game has the least amount of identity of any platformer I've played in recent memory. The levels you have are green hill 3.0, boring desert, and all the standard New Super Mario Bros aesthetics which takes away one of my favorite aspects of Sonic The Hedgehog. Even if you dont like the other games you've got to admit that the stage aesthetics were consistently top notch. Chemical plant , Hydrocity, stardust speedway, emerald coast, radical highway, egg fleet, kingdom valley, rooftop run, planet Wisp, and countless other stages all ooze charm.

The parkour system introduced in this game is just not utilized very well in the level design as its primarily optional and kind of jank to get working at certain times which is uber irritating. So all I'm left with is the base level design and the controls and one of the few positive things I have to say about the game is that the controls are very good. I think its standard for sonic to have tight controls and while this may not be the best he's controlled it's still excruciatingly accurate but one thing that puts this lower on the end for control is that moving sideways cuts sonic's speed by so much and this applies to the 2d sections as well so I'm left baffled by this choice. And the level design is just bare bones all around its comical. Going from SA1 and 2, heroes, etc then going to this is the closest I'll feel to being an old school paper mario fan if that makes sense. The game has fine ideas and mechanics in concept it just doesnt do a thing with them and all I'm left with is a boring package.

Also SEGA fire the writers for this game and remove the deadly six thanks.