After seeing the trailers and getting incredibly hyped for Sonic Lost World, I have finally beaten it. That means it’s time for a review! Before we begin, note that I’m reviewing the Nintendo 3DS version.

Plot:

I can’t say too much about the plot. It’s a standard Sonic vs Eggman with some extraneous other enemy thrown in. The Deadly Six are just, well…there.

Characters:

This part surprised me. The relationship between Sonic and Tails is actually very well done – at one point, Sonic recklessly kicks the device Eggman was using to control the Deadly Six without heeding Tails warning, and after running from the ensuing fight due to the Deadly Six controlling all of Eggman’s robots, he laments that he should’ve listened to Tails, and Tails almost replays with a sarcastic, “You think?” It’s cool to see that Tails has some backbone as opposed to other games where he just plays the sidekick. I was impressed. Even Eggman has some real personality when interacting with Sonic and Tails. It’s almost comedic.

On the flip side, the Deadly Six are awful. They’re one-dimensional and boring.

Gameplay:

Sonic Lost World really steps up the “Sonic Formula”. Instead of gradually reaching max speed, Sonic has two speeds – walking, and running. You simply hold the R button and you will always be traveling at max speed. It’s an incredible mechanic, allowing Sonic to blaze through the parts of the level where he should without gradually reaching max speed, and when he needs to platform he has the option not to go full speed and go for some precision. Switching between the two is seamless and – I must stress – quick. Accelerating to max speed takes less than a second, and it’s very satisfying to go from precision platforming to max speed so quickly.

Sonic still has his old tricks – spin dashing, homing attack, etc… but with some new twists. Sonic can now very quickly homing attack a series of enemies with the homing attack, making for a very satisfying string of enemies defeated. It’s very flashy looking.

Sonic has also acquired some new abilities, most noticeable his newfound love of parkour. Running up and on the side of walls looks very cool, and gives a more realistic way for Sonic to traverse the levels. A lot of animation videos of Sonic show him flashily moving around his environment with jumps, spins, wall kicks, and vaults, and while it’s not exactly parkour, the vaults and jumps that those who parkour utilize is definitely something Sonic should be using. I think this style is a step in the right direction, and I’d love to see Sonic start to free run.

He can also send a slice of air out by doing an aerial backflip. It’s mainly for combating certain enemies. He also has new “Color” powers, meaning new wisps powers to use. There are some classics like Lightning and Drill, with some cools one like one that lets you latch onto magnetically charged bars and enemies, one that’s literally a moving black hole, and one that turns you into a giant iron ball. They’re all really cool.

Atmosphere:

The levels are very well designed. I didn’t get bored once with them. As with many of these kinds of platforming games, you have your grass world, laval world, water world, desert world, etc…but what’s working for the levels are the Super Mario Galaxy-esque level designs. Although not as sharp as the aforementioned platformer, Sonic Lost World does a pretty decent job incorporating gravity into their levels. It’s an interesting experience after having played both games in the Mario Galaxy series, and I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed. It didn’t feel like some cheap rip-off design. There was definitely thought put into how Sonic world interact with gravity.

The music is surprisingly unmemorable for most of the game. I can recall only the first world’s music clearly. I’m a little disappointed; as a Sonic fan, I’ve played through some of the not-so-great games in the series, but there was always some really solid and memorable music.

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If you like Sonic games, you’re sure to love this. As with Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, this is a big step in the right direction for Sonic games, and I hope this uphill trend continues.

Score:

Plot: 5/10
Characters: 7/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Final Score: 7/10

Just sayin’