Sonic Lost World [Wii U + 3DS]

[Benoit]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

It wasn't superior.

Yes, it was. The day-time levels were better designed, the night-time levels were divided into more digestible chunks, there was a tutorial at the beginning that explained the gameplay that the game expected you to use immediately, and it didn't have any dumb fetch quests or food stores.

The daytime levels were essentially a rehash of Secret Rings/Black Knight's style.

Did you actually play any of them? Because my bullshit detector is off the charts.

Gamma's was fine, but Tails and Eggman's combat in Adventure 2 was not. The levels were far larger and they were much slower, leaving a mediocre 3d shooter that does not fit into a Sonic game.

I'll admit that they weren't as good as Gamma's, but I enjoyed them anyway.

[SilverSyko]

Here's the debut trailer folks! It shows a nice batch of gameplay with new mechanics:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/D-sIkDWfccU

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Honestly, it kind of looks to me like if you took Sonic Unleashed/Generations, Sonic X-treme and Super Mario Galaxy and put them in a blender, this would be the result.

The release date is Fall 2013. Looking very much forward to it.~

[Tyabann]

This actually looks good.
THE SONIC CYCLE IS BROKEN!

[MAX_COLA_POWER!]

Is it weird that while I was watching that trailer, I was fighting the temptation to sing Reach for the Stars?

[Alchemist007]

Level design looks awful. Like playing the entire game on one of these bloody things:

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

Level design looks awful. Like playing the entire game on one of these bloody things:

Those things forcibly rotated you around the cylinder, even when standing still. That's an entirely different issue.

[SilverSyko]

The level design compliments the game's apparent "centre of gravity" gimmick. So I'd say it's fine.

Quite a lot of people are speculating the canceled Sonic X-treme gave some inspiration for this title as well, and I can see why:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/wzvS_beXtXk

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[Alchemist007]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Those things forcibly rotated you around the cylinder, even when standing still. That's an entirely different issue.

Not all of them rotated. But unless you can jump off the shown part of the level and onto a flatter area, it looks and seems to perform similarly enough. And I hope it was only a part of a single level they showed and not the whole game that's like that.

[SilverSyko]

More details supplied from the press who got a look at a demo playthrough:

- Levels include ‘Wind Hill’ & ‘Desert Ruins’
- Desert Ruins consists of a Cake, Candy and sweet themed environment.
- Sonic builds up speed slowly, the player decides when he wants to go faster and then with another button decides when he wants to unleash the next level of speed.
- Parkour system, designed to allow players to navigate objects at speed without coming to a dead stop.
- Wisp’s are back, as are the wisp powers.
- 2 player “support” mode confirmed.
- Sonic is the only playable character.
- Tails, Knuckles & Amy appear in the story, they are not playable.
- The planet is called ‘Lost Hex.’
- Rescuing animals will influence various unlockable content.
- Red Rings are back.
- Gold cannons are used to unlock secret/alternative paths.

Since it seems that you can adjust Sonic's top speed with the press of a button, those who prefer a slower in-control style instead of just charging straight ahead will be able to do so.

[Tokkan]

... shouldn't it be called "Dessert Ruins" if it's cake themed?

[Benoit]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

This actually looks good.
THE SONIC CYCLE IS BROKEN!

It was already broken with Sonic Unleashed. Or Sonic Colours, if you prefer.

[SilverSyko]

Full play through of the current Wii U demo of the game. Gives a very good visual representation of what you can expect when playing:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/v7nweiUGh-g

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[takai]

I heard this is like Sonic CD. I'm not sure because I've never played CD.

Regardless this looks like a breath of fresh air in the Sonic franchise. But Generations was also a breath of fresh air too.

[Shadow5YA]

Did they remove the Turbo Boost?

That's quite a shame... it's possibly one of my favorite new modern Sonic powers. The parkour system also sounds like it's completely autopilot...

[Tyabann]

I heard people trashing this. It looks great!

[Shadow5YA]

They certainly said in the beginning of the IGN demonstration that they slowed Sonic down compared to past games to give better control. As for how much slower it is... we'll see.

[Kirito]

I'm really liking what I've seen so far with this game, but it's a bit too "platform" for me. I like the idea behind the parkour mechanic since it sort of reminds of of the Jump Splash or Splash Jump ability from Sonic and the Secret Rings.

I really hope that speed parts will be prominent while at the same time keep the platform aspect balanced at the same time. I think the speed is fine, but it has to be prominent and well implemented so that the speed fans, like myself, can be satisfied and content. I also want to see an ice theme level in this because Colors and Generations lacked that and I'm a big fan of those levels in Sonic games.

Overall, I'm impressed so far with the presentation of this game. Can't wait to hear more footage, news, or both at E3 next week.

[marvelB]

Been meaning to comment on this game for a while now. Like many others, I've had my share of issues with the more recent Sonic titles, though I felt that Sonic Team has been gradually improving since Colors. But this.... wow, I'm genuinely impressed. I dunno if the Sega guys got some coaching from some Nintendo vets or what, but the levels shown so far look great, IMO. And it's actually not a string of bottomless pits!? Well, color me shocked!



Anyway, I find it most interesting that this game seems to be modeled after the axed Sonic Xtreme. I also like the designs of the new villains, too (IMO, Sonic villains should always look goofy, for the most part. I have a real hard time taking "realistic"-looking villains seriously (like that evil genie from Secret Rings)). Really looking forward to more info on this!

[Shadow5YA]

Not sure I like those super slow platforming segments like that cloud hopping in Windy Hill, but Dessert Ruins 2 definitely looks appealing.

I also hope that Spin Dash is fast enough to make up for the loss of the Turbo Boost feature.

[Blue-kun]

Not really sold on it. I think Windy Hill has potential to be... something, although I'm not quite sure if enough to be as fun as the stuff in Unleashed/Generations were. Then... the second level they showed really, really irks me. It doesn't look like Sonic platforming at all, with all the bouncing upwards with those 'cannons'. It's like I'm watching a Mario fan-game, one with not particularly interesting level design.

Third one's okay, given it's the speed focused one, but it's also really slow compared to what we're used, not to mention more linear. I mean, people love to complain about Generations and Unleashed being "always straight-on, no looking back", but that level looked like a Quickstep portion of a Generations stage applied to a full area. It's... not very convincing for me.

Anyway, I don't know. Maybe I'm just stuck on Generations, but I thought they'd really found a way to translate Sonic into 3D there. The boost, which gets a lot of flak for no reason, was actually great in the hands of more experienced players, and the stage design had reached a level of maturity where they were pretty great at balancing out quick platforming sections and the more reflex based reactions in the 3D bits. Changing it all over again now, especially to something this different with different patterns of speed and parkour systems sounds a bit risky, as I'd have liked more of Generations-style gameplay.