Sonic Lost World 3DS is an interesting game to say the least, this game had interested me for several years and I’ve been able to play it recently and just finished it, what do I think of it? Well, it sucks. To explain why I think this way, I’ll explain why and try to go in depth as to what I think.

To start off, the Controls are an absolute mess, both on the Ground and in the Air Sonic is a mess to control for how hard he is to handle. I can’t begin to tell how many times I’ve died because of how difficult it is to control Sonic in the air and on the ground because Sonic is so slippery, it becomes incredibly frustrating and annoying.

Next up, the Level Design, the game starts out…….. fine I guess in terms of Level Design, however even then it’s far from what Sonic can truly do at it’s best, but as the game goes on the issues with the Level Design itself get more and more apparent and the game gets worse and worse as you go on. If it’s not through the Levels being unbelievably long like in Frozen Factory Act 3, it’s the amount of hazards these levels are plagued with like Spikes, Enemies, or BOTTOMLESS PITS. Bottomless Pits that are plagued throughout levels so unbelievably much like Silent Forest Act 2 and Sky Road Act 3 get the worst of it all, where the smallest mistakes can lead to the biggest of impacts. This game is also riddled to the brim with Gimmicks, if it’s not the Gyro Controls used for several things like CONTROLLING the Wisps, by this I mean the Quake Wisp, you literally cannot move this Wisp around with the Circle Pad, and are required to use it by tilting the 3DS around, this is so clearly a tacked on gimmick, and it doesn’t even stop at the Wisps, how about the Special Stages that require you to turn around all over the place with the 3DS, or the Cannon in Zor’s Boss Fight, or the Rockets in Sky Road Act 3, etc. Why couldn't we just use the Circle Pad to solve all of these problems? Wouldn’t that make the most sense? Nope! Apparently not to this game's designers.

Another thing to mention, the Camera is so bad. There’s been a plethora of times where I’ve tried to look around my surroundings or see where I’m going and the camera simply does a bad job at giving me a good view because it’s all over the place and gets stuck on things a lot.

The Parkour is fine, I think it controls better and is far more utilized than the HD Game, which is something I’ll give credit to this version for, however a fine Parkour System cannot save this game from the many overwhelmingly negative aspects about it.

This game absolutely blows, it has a plethora of major issues with it from the terrible Controls, awful Level Design, poor Stage Length, etc. In conclusion, this game sucks.

I FUCKING HATE WISPS!!!!!!

WHY HAVE THEY BEEN A MAJOR GIMMICK IN EVERY SONIC GAME FOR THE PAST DECADE??
I CAN'T ESCAPE THESE CHICKEN LITTLE ALIEN REJECTS EVEN BY PLAYING HANDHELD VERSIONS OF THE CONSOLE GAMES!!

WHO TF AT SEGA THOUGHT WISPS WERE THE THING PEOPLE LOVED ABOUT COLORS?? WHO CARES ABOUT THESE THINGS??? HAHA YEA YUJI NAKA SIR DA WISPS NEED TO STAY!

[YUJI NAKA PRISON VOICE] WELL SHUCKS, MAYBE THIS IS WHAT I DESERVE FOR HAVING A WISP FETISH 😓

WHY WERE THEY LAZILY INSERTED INTO EVERY GAME SINCE, MAKING COLORS HAVE EVEN LESS IDENTITY THAN IT ALREADY DID??
WHY DO THEY ALL SUCK ASS TO USE AAGGSHHD THE AWFUL STONE GYRO CONTROLS ONE IN THIS GAME IS ESPECIALLY ASS!! THIS GAME REALLY THINKS UNLOCKING WISPS FOR EARLIER STAGES IS GONNA ENCOURAGE ME TO REPLAY THEM🤮

MAYBE SONIC BOOM IS SECRETLY THE BEST MODERN GAME CUZ IT DOESN'T HAVE FUCKING WISPS!!!

Also maybe the worst special stages in the franchise? I can't recall ever getting motion sickness from playing a game but these almost did it good lord. But more importantly, actually playing them makes me look like a complete retard.

PENSA NUM JOGO FELA DA PUTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Lost World de 3DS é um saco gigantesco, um amontoado de fases genéricas com duração ENORME, e nelas estão top momentos mais frustrantes da franquia. Plataforma terrivelmente impreciso? sim. Puzzles chatos e demorados? Sim. BOTÃO PRA FODENDO CORRER QUE ATRAPALHA MUITO? (principalmente na posição que é no 3DS) SIIIIIIM.

Eu não aguento mais, só de pensar nesse jogo eu fico maluco. Literalmente não vou tocar no meu 3DS por MUITO TEMPO por culpa desse pedaço de bosta.

This really feels like a Sonic Heroes situation. A game that I initially didn't like but on my second playthrough I began to appreciate more and more. While I didn't outright hate the 3DS version of Lost World I still considered it middle of the road material and worse than the HD overall. However, upon replaying it and even going for time trials something in this game clicked with me the same way something clicked with me for Heroes as well. I don't think it's amazing by any means but it's overall a solid experience and a genuinely underrated Sonic game all things considered, and is definitely overall superior compared to the Wii U version.

In terms of controls, Sonic has like...actual movement options. His movement is fluid in 3D and not stiff and herky-jerk like in Wii U, he has actual air control and his speed is MUCH faster overall compared to the HD counterpart, whether it be parkour, being in the air, running or spindashing. It's arguably a lot more unwieldy but once you get it down Sonic has a sense of fluidity that is simply not there in HD and can be very fun to control. In general, there are a lot of nuances to his moveset that give subtle hints of speed focused design, like how he always thrusts forward when climbing up a ledge, keeping the pace going. Nice little touches like that are present all throughout his moveset. It can be overly slippery to some but like with Heroes once I got the movement down the stuff I could pull off was crazy. The shockwave kick actually has purpose in gameplay as opposed to the nonsensical kick attack the Wii U version had. During things like homing attack chains, this move disarms things that Sonic's homing attack normally would be bad against, such as electric spinners, and allows you to safely target them in a reaction based manner. The homing attack on the other hand I'm less of a fan of, as often it seems to have a mind of its own and locks on and leaps to targets waaaaay off screen that I haven't even considered targeting. Nothing that got me killed but it was still a bit of a nuisance regardless.

Level design, despite certain levels being a mixed bag, is still way more fun than the Wii U version. The game often has fun skips integrated in the levels themselves and are rewarded via good experimentation. For instance, with Desert Ruins act 1, after you use Asteroid to wipe out a bunch of tornados you then need to quickly platform up a vertical structure. If you manage to do this with Asteroid still active, you get to keep the orbit around you and beat the giant worm instantly, allowing for faster clear time, as opposed to getting asteroid again and building it up from scratch. I'd say the levels begin to test my patience in specific circumstances. The entirety of Tropical Coast kinda blows and Silent Forest act 1 is the opposite of fun. All the 2D levels have the issue of having the camera zoomed in WAY too close to the screen to the point where they're kinda unenjoyable unless you've memorized every single detail. I've seen people complain about the stage length being an issue but even the """"infamous"""" Frozen Factory act 3 I managed to beat in like 6 minutes on my first playthrough (and the level breaks in half even MORE when you unlock quake). I think in general the long level complaints are kinda overblown as most stages at MAX barely clock in over 5 minutes.

Parkour gets used to better degree way more often than in Wii U, different varying parkour pathways with reaction based hazards aplenty, on top of parkour experimentation in 3D spaces often netting beneficial results. Wisps are far better than in HD and are for the most part great fun to use. Asteroid has actual platforming and actual mechanics outside of glorified Frenzy, Lighting has quickly become one of my favorite wisps in general, and while Quake sucked the first time I used it, when you only need to use it to hit switches or travel in a straight line, it's not that bad.

In general I think the one of the main issues I have with Lost World 3DS besides the 2D stages are the overreliance on gyro controls. It kinda feels like EVERYTHING is done with gyro: quake, Zor's boss, the special stages, the rockets in Sky Road, even the dang credits are gyro controlled for pete's sake. I don't really know why these specific options couldn't have also been done with buttons and the circle pad/dpad, but speaking of which:

yeah the special stages blow. No surprise there, but I find making a big deal out of them to be kind of weird. Like yeah they suck but they're also completely optional. If you're not into getting Super Sonic then what harm do these really serve in general?

Despite these oddities Lost World 3DS surprisingly managed to be a solid well-made title and a very unique fun addition to Sonic's library overall

I have a pretty interesting connection to Lost World (Only the 3ds version), because on the same day I got this game, I also learned that night that if you break your arm to the point that it’s facing the wrong direction, you will still feel your arm in the place where it’s supposed to be.

Playing a 3ds game with a cast on in a hospital room while constant doses of Tylenol sapped at my energy wasn’t my most satisfying gaming experience, but even after my recovery, I can’t say this game is anything more than mediocre. Sonic is fine to control, and the first moments of the game are pretty fun, but the level design really starts to become beyond asinine a little before the halfway point. I don’t want to talk about that snow world ever again.

Still, as per usual with mid sonic games, the music carries. Windy Hill’s theme distracting from the dull pain my arm felt makes it one of my favorite vg tracks of all time, so the game gave me that at least.

I decided to do a second review of this game since I wasn't too happy with my first and feel like I could've done a better job articulating why I didn't like this game.

To sort of recap, the Wii U version of Sonic Lost World was a game that while definitely far from the best 3D Sonic game, was an overall solid time. The actual platforming was solid enough though the game did have a fetish for weird gimmicks and I did like the parkour system though it could've definitely been fleshed out quite a bit more.

As for the 3DS game, truth is it wasn't a game I wanted to dislike. I got the game for my 14th birthday and I do remember liking the first few levels back then albeit never went past the first act of Frozen Factory. Still, even if I didn't like it as much as the Wii U version, I at least was expecting an overall solid companion title with its own take on the Wii U game's core gameplay.

Unfortunately I can't say that was the case. Frankly my first playthrough of Lost World 3DS was one of the most frustrating experiences with a video game in general and after the third world I straight up just wanted it to be over. I have since attempted multiple times to go back to the game and utilize any of the skips and stuff but even then my opinion of the game has yet to change.

A common argument I've seen regarding this version against it's console counterpart is that the parkour mechanics are more intuitive and better utilized in this version and to be entirely fair here I can understand where this sentiment is coming from. At the very least this game does a better job of making the mechanics themselves easier to grasp and understand. Plus the spin dash actually feels pretty good to use.

I just wish the game's actual movement was better.

I’m sorry but this game’s controls did not jive with me. I wouldn’t say that the console version was a bastion of great controls or anything either but they felt solid and ‘smooth’ enough so that they didn’t usually get in the way of my enjoyment to a great extent. In comparison, this game’s controls just feel awkward in a way I can’t even figure out a way to describe. Sonic feels way too sensitive and fast when holding down the run button, yet he feels extremely sluggish when not holding it down, on top of not really feeling like I have full analog control despite this being the 3DS and a thumbstick being available. These issues make doing any actual platforming in this game just feel overall clunky, especially when the game seems to make it pretty hard to recover from a bad jump.

Plus I can’t help but feel like there’s some jankiness with the homing attack and any related abilities (like for the lightning wisp). There’s several times in this game where it feels like the homing reticle just doesn’t show up when it’s supposed to and it’s actually screwed me over a few times (especially in the Frozen Factory boss).

The game also uses the gyroscope at various points and in extremely gimmicky ways - most notoriously for the special stages, which I gotta say... might be one of if not my least favorite special stages in a Sonic game, and that's saying something. The gyro controls just feel extremely imprecise, and just trying to turn yourself around and position yourself correctly feels way harder than it should be, on top of just being unintuitive.

But what really kills the experience for me, more than anything, is easily the level design. Windy Hill is admittedly pretty solid overall, and the game does have some decent moments later on, but for the most part it just feels like every issue I had with the Wii U’s stages is increased tenfold here - feeling extremely blocky and gimmicky, and whereas I could at least tolerate most of the Wii U game’s gimmicks… here it actively feels like they get in the way and slow the game down. The worst of it being easily Frozen Factory Zone 3, which is littered with unfun, repetitive snowball puzzles and ended up taking me like half an hour or so on my first run (also there was one moment where towards the end of the stage - the snowball that’s supposed to follow you so that you can position it and use it for puzzles literally just stopped moving for no reason)

Even with these gimmicks aside, there’s also the other problem where it feels like some of these levels drag on for longer than necessary without really offering anything that makes the levels feel not empty. Plus in true Dimps' fashion the level design is full of bottomless pits which isn't exactly helping things at all.

And yes, I am aware there are ways to beat most of the game’s stages in just a few minutes (including Frozen Factory 3) especially using various skips and exploits, but again, even then I’m just left with stages that just leave me feeling ‘whatever’ without any desire to return to them. Also I’m sorry but it doesn’t exactly reflect well on the level design if most of the fun I can have with it is literally skipping past everything.

The 2D stages especially just feel extremely dull in this regard - just feeling blocky and uninspired on top of the design just not complimenting the game's control and movement well at all. Also, I gotta ask, who decided to have the camera zoomed extremely close on Sonic in these stages?

I do want to make it clear if you enjoy this game, more than the Wii U version - more power to you, and I respect that you see something about it that I’m just… really not. But no matter how much I try, even as someone who does enjoy the Wii U game from time to time, I can not for the life of me find much to enjoy about this.

Fue una grata sorpresa ver la versión casera de este titulo en Steam y es que, a nivel jugable, mecánico y de dificultad este es uno de los títulos mas balanceados del erizo al irónicamente ignorar casi todo lo concerniente a la jugabilidad con la que se asocia al Sonic moderno.
Si, la velocidad sigue siendo una prioridad pero con un diseño de niveles que te obliga a explotar las nuevas habilidades del erizo con las cuales los actos ya no son solo ir de punto A al B con tu boost de siempre, se manejo un diseño tan solido que cuesta creer que se trate de un juego post-generations.
Sus unicos flaqueos (algo severos) serìa la re-implementación de los wisps, que ya cansan a este punto y unos jefes realmente mediocres y que tiran el pico de dificultad por la borda.
Aun con eso, se mantiene como un plataformero solido.

THIS is the worst Sonic game ever made. 06, Shadow, Secret Rings, Forces, none of those even come close to reaching the level of sheer incompetence that this game has.

The others I listed I find fun to play, this game doesn't not carry that luxury. It removes everything great about what a Sonic game is, instead making a half-assed Mario Galaxy rip-off with some utterly bizarre level design choices.

This is what happens when you pander too much to the Classic Sonic audience, you get atrocities like this. I think the 3DS version is worse than the Wii U one, so I got the shittier end of the stick. Lucky me.

I'll admit, the first world is fine and a few odd levels are decent, but apart from that, everything sucks or is incredibly mediocre, which is worse than sucking.

But as bad as this game is, it reaches new heights for Sonic game writing. I genuinely laughed at the dialogue, though most of my chuckles weren't with the game.

For a positive at least, I don't mind the Deadly Six. If Eggman wasn't involved, they could have been decent one-off villains.

I've beaten this game multiple times, and I still really like it.

The mechanics of this game are quite deep, there's a spindash, but you can use it infinitely if you know its secret. The run button is used for short distances. The kick is used to neutralize enemies and bosses to attack them in a more powerful way. The homing attack can be charged up and used on multiple enemies. The wisps are back, better than they ever have been, they can be used for shortcuts and skips, it's awesome. The best mechanic is the parkour, you can accomplish an insane amount of things with it, it's my favorite part about this game.

The level design may seem slow and generic on the outside, but utilizing Sonic's moves allow you to beat these levels lightning fast, I only spent more than 5 minutes on just a couple of levels. It's, so, so, so, much fun.

The boss fights are standard fare, except for the final boss, which is the best variant of the Colors final boss, it's quite challenging and fun.

The special stages are fun, though gimmicky, you use the 3DS's (or Steam Deck's in my case lmao) gyro to guide Sonic through orbs. There's a decent challenge, though you might break your neck. The gyro is used a lot in this game, but it never takes away from anything.

The music and story are standard Lost World fare. Though the tracks are switched around for some odd reason, the story is just as meh as usual in 2010s Sonic. The game looks and runs very well for a 3DS game, it looks like a 6th gen game.