One of the biggest nosedives in quality in the second half of a sonic game maybe??? Even though Lost World takes away with the extravagant artsyle and ludicrous boost gameplay of the previous games, I think there IS enough polish in the first few worlds to still be pleased, but as soon as Frozen Factory hits, it is blunder after blunder. Mechanics stop being fun, frustration goes rampant, Sky Road is a Windy Hill reskin and Lava Mountain is just a boss gauntlet. Sigh.

There's a lot that goes unappreciated in this game sometimes. The soundtrack is severly underrated, the quality of the animations is pretty impressive, and there is real, genuine effort to give every stage something new and exciting to play with (Colors could really take notes on this apartment) but all of this is admitedly wasted on fairly unintuitive controls, really lame boss fights, and a staggering amount of levels that I could do without.

It is not the worst offence in the world, even less so 11 years later, but it is most certainly not very fun. 5.5/10. Also what the hell is going on with the trophies guys, not that I wanted to do them but this is insane.

Ich wollte schon immer mal wissen wie es sich anfühlen würde die wirklich grässliche Sonic 06 Steuerung in einem Spiel das 10mal mehr auf plattformen setzt zu spielen.
Zum Glück hat Sega mit Lost World diesen Wunsch erfüllen können 🥰
Zu dieser wunderbaren Steuerung kam dann noch die Entscheidung das man jede Wand gegen die man läuft automatisch hochläuft, welches im Spiel dazu führt das man nach 2 Leveln das Spiel schon wieder schließen will weil man einfach nicht vorankommt.

Das Level Design der ersten 3 Welten ist nichts besonders aber zum Glück auch nichts besonders schlechtes. Dazu kommen dann noch einige Perlen wie 2-2 und das Erlebnis ist trotz der... ausbaufähigen Steuerung (besonders durch die gute Musik) eine immerhin noch ganz nette Erfahrung.
Dann kommen die nächsten 3 Welten.
Diese... wunderbaren Geschöpfe Leveldesigns haben ungefähr einen gleichen Spaßfaktor wie wenn man seine Eier in einen Mixer hält.

Viel absurder noch sind aber eigentlich die Bosse.
Man muss sich vorstellen man läuft 10, 15 Minuten durch ein absolut schreckliches Level, will einfach nur das es aufhört und dann?
Kommt immer ein guter und unterhaltsamer Bosskampf
...leider nicht.
Stattdessen wird man abgefrühstückt mit etwas, und dass muss ich so drastisch sagen, Niveau technisch UNTER Super Mario 3D World Bum-Bum liegt.
Wie unfassbar einfach diese Bosse sind wird nur noch stärker in der letzten Welt aufgezeigt welche mit einem Bossrush bestehend aus ""schwereren"" Formen der ersten 3 Bosse startet.
Diese unfassbare Mammutaufgabe ist nach fast 10 Sekunden auch schon wieder vorbei, weil man fast alle der Bosse sofort angreifen kann und auch absolut alle der 3 Bosse quasi direkt sterben. Es ist wirklich unglaublich.

Zusätzlich kommt noch die (wie bei eigentlich jedem Sonic Game) für eine derart große Marke absolut lachhaft schlecht abgemixte deutsche Synchro, schreckliche neue Charaktere welche man alle mit einem Wort beschreiben kann, die Devs haben es schließlich exakt genau so getan sowie wirklich kurze Spielzeit (Welche ich gerade nicht mal negativ sehen kann, schließlich hätte noch ein weiteres Level wie 4-4 dazu geführt hätte dass ich das Spiel nie wieder gestartet hätte)
Normalerweise würde ich auf diesen Punkten nicht wirklich herumreiten schließlich "ist es nur ein Sonic Game, was erwartest du an Dialogen" aber es ist schon fast dreist wie eindimensional die Antagonisten sind. Es fehlte wirklich nicht viel bis der "Fette" einfach nur noch durchgehend "Ich will essen, Ich bin Fett, Ich will essen" in Dauerschleife wiederholt, nicht das die anderen auch nur irgendwo besser waren.
Alles in allem nicht das erste schlechte Sonic Game das ich blind am Stück gespielt habe, und wahrscheinlich (leider) auch nicht das letzte. Aber naja, was will man machen

3/10

People often refer to Sonic 2006 as one of the worst games ever. At least with that game, you can kind of see what they were going for. There's something beautiful under that mess of bugs. There's a world where it could have been great, a true Adventure 3.

There is no such world where a great version of Lost World exists. Clumsy level design, terrible dialogue and just plain not fun. This feels like it's trying to be what Sonic Xtreme would have been and in doing so, it accomplishes the impossible. It makes me glad Sonic Xtreme got cancelled. That's a damn shame.

Truly rancid.

Last time I played Lost World was back in 2015 at a friend's house, and I can't remember much about it beyond taking a while to get adjusted to the controls. I forgot I'd gotten this as part of a Sonic Humble Bundle some years until the other day, when NightlyComet mentioned it was one of her least favourite Sonic games and I became legit curious to see for myself.

Having played it over a couple days, I can definitively say that I think it's okay.

It's prolly the most experimental of the main Sonic games. Not just in radically changing the controls and overall gameplay from the last few games, but the way it's structured. How it changes level styles every stage and leans much more into an abstract sense of place, with floating tubes, planets and other bits of geometry lightly decorated with whatever theme that level wants to have.

Locales feel like the most general "desert/forest/sea" places with not much detail, to focus on more setpiece-driven designs that can completely reject the zone's established theme on a dime (e.g. going from desert temples to a candy void full of suspended cakes, sweets and liquorice). In a way it reminded me the Master System version of Sonic 1, which also leaned into "level 1 does X, level 2 does Y" stage designs - although that game managed to retain a sense of place in the level themes.

On the one hand, I kinda admire that as an excuse to let Sonic Team stretch its legs and throw whatever at the wall to see what sticks. It also that if you don't like the stage you're on, you won't have to deal with something like it again for a good while. But that abstraction means that level locales don't really matter like they do in other Sonic titles, to the point where Sky Road doesn't have a concrete setting and is just a bunch of random stages themed after earlier worlds.

Stuff doesn't build on top of each other either thematically or mechanically, and I think that causes the game to lose something. Sonic's wearing the skin of a more typical platformer, and it's a shame that the tube stages (its one distinct contribution) only appear occasionally. I can deffo see why Lost World tends to be remembered as more mediocre, while even more derided Sonic titles feel like they're trying to hit for something that's more distinct tonally or mechanically.

I thought it accomplished its intentions well enough, though I wish it controlled better so I'd feel more encouraged to enjoy the feel of moving around and want to revisit stages to try alternate routes (when they offer that anyway). I really dig the brassy, almost ska-like vibes of the soundtrack, I appreciate how easy and straightforward the bosses are, and I like that there's a Super Guide option to skip sections if you die too many times. The dub acting gives me hives though lmao.