Sonic Lost World is one of the most mixed-up bags I’ve ever seen.
Sonic moves too damn slow, that much is true. His controls can be a bit clunky and the parkour is rarely ever required. The level theming is not just uninspired, but ripped straight from the New Super Mario Bros. games. Grass world, desert world, beach world, ice world, jungle world, sky world, and lava world. Am I playing Sonic or NSMB 2? The level design is so blocky and/or narrow that it can be a pain to try and pick up speed. On top of all that, there are some aggravating gimmick levels, like that one where you have to roll around in a snowball or that particularly infuriating rail-grinding one in the last world.
On the other hand, when the game works, it works well. While the parkour is very underutilized, you can do some legitimately cool stuff with it to skip massive portions of levels. The levels themselves are littered with alternate paths and secrets in typical Sonic fashion. And occasionally, you’ll be running through a level at top speed, plowing through enemies, loading up on rings, and you’ll think “Hell yeah. This is Sonic.”
The story and characters are meh. The cutscenes are well-animated, but too fast-paced. The Deadly Six, as a whole, suck. They’re meant to be the Sonic equivalent of the Koopalings, so like the Koopalings, each one has a defining character trait and nothing else to them. However, the reason the Koopalings work is because they’re only ever used in boss battles and appear sparingly, so their lack of personalities doesn’t annoy the player. The Deadly Six, on the other hand, have too much screentime, making it glaringly obvious just how shallow they all are, to the point that they become annoying very quickly. Zavok, at the very least, is decently threatening and taken seriously. Zoe’s excessive nihilism is unironically funny, especially at the end. The rest are just annoying as shit and I couldn’t stand them. Not helping matters is that Zavok is the only one with halfway-decent boss battles, while everyone else is piss-easy, which really diminishes the team as a threat. Like, really? These dumbasses are trying to destroy the world? Whatever you say. Even worse, the game never explains what they are or where they came from, meaning they don’t even have a place in the series’ lore. So yeah, that’s the Deadly Sux. Here’s hoping they never come back.
At the core of the story is the alliance between Sonic, Tails, and Eggman. I’m gonna go against the grain here and say that I actually like Sonic’s arrogant and snarky attitude in this game, as it contributes to an actual character arc for him and gives Roger Craig Smith the opportunity to show off his comedic timing. Tails… not so much. Tails spends much of the game upset towards Sonic for teaming up with Eggman instead of trusting him. The problem is that this game is like the fourth time they’ve teamed up with Eggman, and Tails has never had a problem with it before, so he just comes across as whiny and unreasonable.
Then there’s Eggman, who gets his own paragraph because he’s the best part of the game. The writers, unfortunately, failed to go in-depth with Eggman and his dynamic with Sonic and Tails in the way that Adventure 2 and especially Frontiers did. However, Eggman is still fantastic in this game. He’s treated as a genuine threat and there’s some moral ambiguity to many of his actions throughout the game (him not wanting to destroy the world, saving Tails, and allying with Sonic in the first place), even he’s still clearly a bad guy. We also get to see just how cunning and manipulative he can really be for the first time since the opening of Unleashed, which is a relief since he’d been treated like a complete buffoon for like 5 years by the time this game came out. Mike Pollock, as always, does an excellent job, especially in the scene where Eggman swears to strangle the Deadly Six to death and burn their world to the ground (this game is for kids).
The graphics are surprisingly good. The art style, while simplistic, fits the cartoonish nature of Sonic and friends in a very natural way. The music, of course, slaps my balls; we’re treated to an energetic jazz orchestra that successfully captures the game’s (admittedly uneven) tone perfectly. Gotta love Sonic music.
All in all, Sonic Lost World hits about as often as it misses, and is a disappointment after Colors and Generations. However, when taken on its own merits, it’s a fun time with some missed potential that doesn’t deserve the sheer level of scorn that the Sonic community levels at it, especially considering how awful some of the Blue Blur’s other adventures are. Sonic Lost World is just… fine.
Sonic moves too damn slow, that much is true. His controls can be a bit clunky and the parkour is rarely ever required. The level theming is not just uninspired, but ripped straight from the New Super Mario Bros. games. Grass world, desert world, beach world, ice world, jungle world, sky world, and lava world. Am I playing Sonic or NSMB 2? The level design is so blocky and/or narrow that it can be a pain to try and pick up speed. On top of all that, there are some aggravating gimmick levels, like that one where you have to roll around in a snowball or that particularly infuriating rail-grinding one in the last world.
On the other hand, when the game works, it works well. While the parkour is very underutilized, you can do some legitimately cool stuff with it to skip massive portions of levels. The levels themselves are littered with alternate paths and secrets in typical Sonic fashion. And occasionally, you’ll be running through a level at top speed, plowing through enemies, loading up on rings, and you’ll think “Hell yeah. This is Sonic.”
The story and characters are meh. The cutscenes are well-animated, but too fast-paced. The Deadly Six, as a whole, suck. They’re meant to be the Sonic equivalent of the Koopalings, so like the Koopalings, each one has a defining character trait and nothing else to them. However, the reason the Koopalings work is because they’re only ever used in boss battles and appear sparingly, so their lack of personalities doesn’t annoy the player. The Deadly Six, on the other hand, have too much screentime, making it glaringly obvious just how shallow they all are, to the point that they become annoying very quickly. Zavok, at the very least, is decently threatening and taken seriously. Zoe’s excessive nihilism is unironically funny, especially at the end. The rest are just annoying as shit and I couldn’t stand them. Not helping matters is that Zavok is the only one with halfway-decent boss battles, while everyone else is piss-easy, which really diminishes the team as a threat. Like, really? These dumbasses are trying to destroy the world? Whatever you say. Even worse, the game never explains what they are or where they came from, meaning they don’t even have a place in the series’ lore. So yeah, that’s the Deadly Sux. Here’s hoping they never come back.
At the core of the story is the alliance between Sonic, Tails, and Eggman. I’m gonna go against the grain here and say that I actually like Sonic’s arrogant and snarky attitude in this game, as it contributes to an actual character arc for him and gives Roger Craig Smith the opportunity to show off his comedic timing. Tails… not so much. Tails spends much of the game upset towards Sonic for teaming up with Eggman instead of trusting him. The problem is that this game is like the fourth time they’ve teamed up with Eggman, and Tails has never had a problem with it before, so he just comes across as whiny and unreasonable.
Then there’s Eggman, who gets his own paragraph because he’s the best part of the game. The writers, unfortunately, failed to go in-depth with Eggman and his dynamic with Sonic and Tails in the way that Adventure 2 and especially Frontiers did. However, Eggman is still fantastic in this game. He’s treated as a genuine threat and there’s some moral ambiguity to many of his actions throughout the game (him not wanting to destroy the world, saving Tails, and allying with Sonic in the first place), even he’s still clearly a bad guy. We also get to see just how cunning and manipulative he can really be for the first time since the opening of Unleashed, which is a relief since he’d been treated like a complete buffoon for like 5 years by the time this game came out. Mike Pollock, as always, does an excellent job, especially in the scene where Eggman swears to strangle the Deadly Six to death and burn their world to the ground (this game is for kids).
The graphics are surprisingly good. The art style, while simplistic, fits the cartoonish nature of Sonic and friends in a very natural way. The music, of course, slaps my balls; we’re treated to an energetic jazz orchestra that successfully captures the game’s (admittedly uneven) tone perfectly. Gotta love Sonic music.
All in all, Sonic Lost World hits about as often as it misses, and is a disappointment after Colors and Generations. However, when taken on its own merits, it’s a fun time with some missed potential that doesn’t deserve the sheer level of scorn that the Sonic community levels at it, especially considering how awful some of the Blue Blur’s other adventures are. Sonic Lost World is just… fine.