Sonic Lost World on 3DS has always been such a fascinating release to me. I’ve never played this game until recently, but I always found it a kinda neat novelty just for being a 3D platformer release on the Nintendo 3DS, which surprisingly has actually very few proper 3D platformers, despite the large amount of 2D ones on the system. The reputation of this game too is also something that's kinda been interesting to me, as I’ve heard a lot of people say its a legitimately way better game than the console game (which I absolutely despised LOL) but also, I’ve heard other people call this one of the worst 3D Sonics, being even worse than the console version somehow, which had me really curious on what this game would be like for me.
After playing through a decent amount of it, my thoughts are pretty much a mixture of these two opinions. When the level doesn’t have anything in the way of dumb gimmicks, or moments where the game suddenly stops you to fight enemies or do puzzles, then yeah! I think it's honestly pretty fun, and honestly way more interesting than the console game! I like the more compact level design in these sections, and I feel like this game uses the parkour system much more effectively and interestingly, as in the console version, the parkour was pretty much optional most of the time, and the general level design was overall just not really as fun. The bosses are also way more interesting too, as they actually have strategies behind them as opposed to dying in 10 seconds! But then, when you get to a level where the game introduces some sort of gimmick, forcing some obnoxious, hard to control wisp power, stopping you to complete some really dumb and slow paced puzzles, or has you needing to beat waves and waves of enemies on end (sometimes not even telling you HOW to beat these enemies), the game drags so fucking much. These gimmicks are the most pace breaking things ever, and as the game goes on for longer and longer these gimmicks creep in more and more. I think the worst aspect though, is the special stages. These stages are so fucking bad, as for some reason, in order to play them, you need to use the 3DS gyroscope??? What??? Why??? It controls so awfully, there’s no real way to calibrate the controls if it feels off sync, and since it requires full 360 movement, you need to constantly be moving the 3DS and your face around. This always get so annoying, especially if I’m playing the game in public as I pretty much have to close my 3DS and wait till I get home because no fucking way am I doing that in public lmao. By far the worst special stages in the entire franchise bar none lmao.
Also beyond this, even if the level design was more consistent, at the end of the day, this is still Sonic Lost World at its core. This game still has some of the worst story and character writing in the series, the level environments are just the most generic NSMB esque environments ever, the deadly six are still my least favorite villains in the entire series, just being one dimensional archetypes with nothing else behind them, and I’ll never understand why, after finally finding a gameplay formula that people actually liked and enjoyed, they decided to abandon it in favor of this style, which people didn’t enjoy nearly as much as Generations, Colors, or even Unleashed nowadays.
If the game didn’t have these awful gimmicks, I’d probably rank this higher than console Lost World and give this a D-Tier ranking, as again, with levels not using those gimmicks I did legitimately enjoy myself with the game. But god those awful gimmicks drag this game down so much, and honestly has me considering placing this game lower than Forces. Forces is one of my least favorite Sonic games, but at least that game was consistent in its quick and shitty pace lmao. At least Forces didn’t have moments where the game would suddenly stop and have you defeat waves and waves of enemies, or require you to complete some really slow paced and obnoxious puzzles, the levels were way too short for something like that to happen lmao. By far one of my least favorite sonic games, really only being just barely better than stuff like Rise of Lyric or Free Riders cause I mean like. At least this game isn’t a buggy and boring mess? Idk.
https://www.backloggd.com/u/Zaylok/list/unfinished-franchise-ranking-sonic-the-hedgehog/
(My personal Sonic Franchise ranking. Everything after ROL on this list is something I haven't played yet)
After playing through a decent amount of it, my thoughts are pretty much a mixture of these two opinions. When the level doesn’t have anything in the way of dumb gimmicks, or moments where the game suddenly stops you to fight enemies or do puzzles, then yeah! I think it's honestly pretty fun, and honestly way more interesting than the console game! I like the more compact level design in these sections, and I feel like this game uses the parkour system much more effectively and interestingly, as in the console version, the parkour was pretty much optional most of the time, and the general level design was overall just not really as fun. The bosses are also way more interesting too, as they actually have strategies behind them as opposed to dying in 10 seconds! But then, when you get to a level where the game introduces some sort of gimmick, forcing some obnoxious, hard to control wisp power, stopping you to complete some really dumb and slow paced puzzles, or has you needing to beat waves and waves of enemies on end (sometimes not even telling you HOW to beat these enemies), the game drags so fucking much. These gimmicks are the most pace breaking things ever, and as the game goes on for longer and longer these gimmicks creep in more and more. I think the worst aspect though, is the special stages. These stages are so fucking bad, as for some reason, in order to play them, you need to use the 3DS gyroscope??? What??? Why??? It controls so awfully, there’s no real way to calibrate the controls if it feels off sync, and since it requires full 360 movement, you need to constantly be moving the 3DS and your face around. This always get so annoying, especially if I’m playing the game in public as I pretty much have to close my 3DS and wait till I get home because no fucking way am I doing that in public lmao. By far the worst special stages in the entire franchise bar none lmao.
Also beyond this, even if the level design was more consistent, at the end of the day, this is still Sonic Lost World at its core. This game still has some of the worst story and character writing in the series, the level environments are just the most generic NSMB esque environments ever, the deadly six are still my least favorite villains in the entire series, just being one dimensional archetypes with nothing else behind them, and I’ll never understand why, after finally finding a gameplay formula that people actually liked and enjoyed, they decided to abandon it in favor of this style, which people didn’t enjoy nearly as much as Generations, Colors, or even Unleashed nowadays.
If the game didn’t have these awful gimmicks, I’d probably rank this higher than console Lost World and give this a D-Tier ranking, as again, with levels not using those gimmicks I did legitimately enjoy myself with the game. But god those awful gimmicks drag this game down so much, and honestly has me considering placing this game lower than Forces. Forces is one of my least favorite Sonic games, but at least that game was consistent in its quick and shitty pace lmao. At least Forces didn’t have moments where the game would suddenly stop and have you defeat waves and waves of enemies, or require you to complete some really slow paced and obnoxious puzzles, the levels were way too short for something like that to happen lmao. By far one of my least favorite sonic games, really only being just barely better than stuff like Rise of Lyric or Free Riders cause I mean like. At least this game isn’t a buggy and boring mess? Idk.
https://www.backloggd.com/u/Zaylok/list/unfinished-franchise-ranking-sonic-the-hedgehog/
(My personal Sonic Franchise ranking. Everything after ROL on this list is something I haven't played yet)