Ah, to see Sonic being touted as a Nintendo machine exclusive. We may believe that we will get used to it, as long as we have known the 16-bit generation, it always makes a little twinge in the heart... Well, if it allows the mascot of SEGA to continue, why not. After Sonic Colors in 2010 and Sonic Generations in 2011, we thought he was on the upswing. Good, even very good platform games that bode well for Sonic: Lost World, which has benefited from two years of work by Team SEGA. And the first contact with the title is frankly gratifying. We will pass over the story, which has never really been at the heart of the series and which still serves as a pretext: Sonic will have to save Hexamonde from the clutches of the Dreadful Six, creatures initially allied with Eggman, before that -it does not lose control. It should be noted, however, that the cut-scenes are well done, funny (even if they will only make children smile) and are available in Japanese. MLet's get to the point: Sonic Lost World is a platform game combining 3° 360D gameplay phases à la Mario Galaxy, whose influence is more than obvious, with more classic phases in side view . On one side or the other, we can only appreciate the care that has been taken in the production but also in the artistic direction which makes Lost World a title that is both very pretty, very fluid and faithful to its origins. from the Serie. The tributes and winks are numerous, we are surprised to see old acquaintances reappear among the hedgehog's adversaries and a good part of the game's levels will seem familiar to you... If we add to that a frankly excellent but a little redundant (we would have liked to have longer songs to avoid repetitive loops), we can say that the packaging of Sonic Lost World is really successful.Sonic Galaxy
On the gameplay side, it's already less of a party... Without really being a disaster, an unplayable thing that will make you throw the controller against the walls, Sonic: Lost World suffers from quite disturbing flaws, especially in the 3D passages, and which prevent you from reaching the level of a Generations for example. First thing, Sonic: Lost World has downright annoyingly inaccurate movements. Whether in jumps and double-jumps (which an approximate management of depth does not allow to apprehend at best), or simply in movements (which a very particular inertia weighs down considerably), it is necessary in all the case learn to compensate. If there are often several paths to follow in a level, the sometimes poorly oriented camera will prevent you from going back, otherwise you will eat obstacles that you have not seen. Too bad because at times we really find the nervousness and the enjoyable side of speed that made Sonic famous, but the pace of the courses should have been less jerky to take full advantage of it. That's why the best levels are those where Sonic has no choice but to sprint. Another major problem is the lack of clues or explanations on how to proceed. In addition to a tutorial that scatters a little bit, Sonic: Lost World does not manage to teach the player how it works, its mechanisms, which is however essential not to leave him in a dead end. Thus, we logically say that enemies with no quills or other defenses that would serve as a foil should be eliminated without too much difficulty by a Homing Attack. But that's not the case, and some opponents will make you pass away without you really understanding why... allows to send the enemies ball away, does not do much...
Once you have liquidated your lives, you will have to restart the level from the beginning. And possibly lose them again on a banal obstacle crossing.
If Sonic: Lost World does not impose an extraordinary difficulty at the base (on the contrary, the game is rather easy), it is these annoying gameplay flaws that will make things worse. Certainly, the checkpoints are more numerous than before, but once you have liquidated your lives, you will have to start the level again from the beginning. And possibly lose your precious lives again (collecting rings no longer gives you any more) on crossing an obstacle that is banal but made thorny by the maneuverability criticized above. Strange fact: as if they were aware of the problem, the developers offer the player a bonus allowing them to directly access the next checkpoint (and therefore avoid a headache) after several failures... Result, the game more or less involuntarily gains in life (unlike your nerves) and it will take you quite a few hours of play to get the five red stars of each level, free as many small animals as possible and do the best time in mode " Against the watch". The two-player mode offers a friend to control a small vehicle that can give you a hand in clearing enemies from your path, nice when you have a less experienced player at your side (asymmetric gameplay is in fashion). Finally, on the side of useless features, we note the Colors bonus, completely uncontrollable, as well as the possibility of receiving objects from the Miiverse.
