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Bear with me as this is going to be a long review.. despite me only giving it a 7 out of 10. I say that because this game could easily be an 8 out there for some people.. or just far lower and avoid it at all cost. For me, it has become a ''love to hate'' game.. but at the same time a ''hate to love'' game. There is one main ''problem'' that plagues the entire franchise, and that is a total shift of gameplay instead of improving on what previously worked very well (the boost formula). I should mention beforehand that I am a huge Sonic fan, but even I know that Sonic Team is not competent enough to keep introducing new gameplay styles because often when they do that, the first game fails before they improve it in later games. And what do you know, the gameplay introduced in Lost World has not been revisited while it has so much potential. Let me start off by saying that I greatly appreciate the team trying to make Sonic the most agile he can and should be. He can run at three different speeds and run up or across walls. Sonic is probably the most versitile he has ever been in his own franchise. Some wisps even make a return, though the Bomb and Magenta wisps have absolutely no reason for existing and are downright horrible. Unfortunately Sonic Lost World does an exceptional poor job at explaining.. well, anything to you. This game originally launched on the Wii U where it had a touchscreen tablet for multiple options such as the bag for items or the omochao missions screen. In no way is it told how to access these menus on PC, which could be easily fixed by putting a small image of which button to press on said menus. One of these menus is the hint/tutorial menu, which should explain Sonic's new mechanics. Not only do I have no idea on how to access said menu without my mouse, but I have to physically stop moving and then press whatever button to see the hint. This could have easily been solved with the hint being displayed in game like how previous Sonic games did it, or an actual tutorial. Due to that, I had a miserable time the first few stages. Jumping is affected by your run speed for example, which is especially apparent in 2D stages. Or the worst part for me, the new parkouring mechanic. Not only do I sometimes attach to a wall and sometimes not, but in one of the very first stages it introduces corners. I legitimatly had to look up a guide on the internet on how parkouring works, because Sonic Lost World refuses to teach me. And this habit of not explaining anything remains throughout the whole game. It is not helped by Lost World taking on a wide variety of gameplay styles. First you're in a tubular level, then suddenly in a 2D stage, an auto-runner, a sky level with awkward controls and a pinball section that is mandatory and results in lost lifes if you fail. Though I do have to mention that most of the levels in Sonic Lost World were really fun.. just not the first time due to the game not explaining anything. When I learned how the stages worked and aimed for completion, I had a much better time going through them and legitimatly enjoyed my time. Sonic Lost World is a fun game when you know how it works. Another hit-or-miss feature is the Omochao missions system. I had a lot of fun doing them after I had finished the game due to me revisiting stages and actually enjoying them. I am not completely sure if the missions are given in a random order but if they aren't, they're given in a pretty bad order. I got most of the ''kill xxx enemies'' or ''Get xxxx rings'' near the end and that just meant I had to grind a lot while I technically had done everything there was to do in the game already. This could have been done better, but it's completely optional. The missions reward you with power-ups that you can activate at any time in the stages. I very often forgot to use them though, since they're yet again in a menu you won't access very often, and you can only carry five power-ups at a time. Since it's optional I can't really complain about it, but I do feel the mission system could have been implemented better. I could complain about how terrible the Deadly Six are but eh, I've gone on for long enough and want to get to my final verdict.
Sonic Lost World is not a bad game, not at all. But there is one main problem you have to get past before you are able to enjoy the game to begin with. Sonic Team has made a lot of innovations for this game, most with good intentions. But there are some problems with the new controls (jumping with different speeds and parkour), and Lost World's UI and an exceptionally weak introduction to these controls make the first time you play probably very frustrating, and that's a feeling that won't leave you till long after you have played the game. I do recommend this game still, but it is a soft recommendation. You will either enjoy this game, or you won't.
7/10
