Though not chronic, Lost World also suffers from exasperating death pits and cruel tricks, complaints common in many Sonic titles. The Wisp powers play their part, too, but are very rarely mandatory, often passing a level by powers that enable you to fly and chain musical notes, for example, do deserve credit for utilising the GamePad motion controls and touch screen reasonably well. These moments of flexibility aren't as common as may be expected, but are fun when they arrive and add spice to proceedings. While that's an option, it's often the case that after a fairly brief bout of exploration you find yourself ploughing on at high speed, especially when you hit a key spring and the game takes over, with Sonic dashing forwards and acrobatically flying through the air without, sometimes, any input from the player.Īs an idea, however, these new stages are reasonably well applied and add welcome diversity to the level design, with a number of occasions when you can choose from a variety of options such as platform hopping, attempting to reach a wisp - special powers first seen in Sonic Colours - or wall running to the next platform. These levels will be a particular treat for those that love to collect every red coin, for example, as on an initial play through it's possible to miss the vast majority. The circular stages that have dominated attention come in various forms the principle is that, in certain areas, you can run around a 360 degree area and explore. With reasonable CG cutscenes and enthusiastic voice acting, this is a solid effort from SEGA in playing up the cheeky Sonic, innocent and clever Tails and the slightly exasperated genius of Eggman, with cameos from the likes of Knuckles the Deadly Six villains do a job, but they're generic enough to be unmemorable in comparison to the main stars. It's not exceptional or fascinating to our jaded sensibilities, but to young gamers it'll likely play out rather like a decent cartoon plot, and the fact that Sonic and Dr Eggman (give it up, Robotnik fans) have to work together sets up some good lines. The yarn spun here isn't a simple "bad guy has stolen this / kidnapped X", but attempts to weave in relationships, humour and the occasional twist.
In terms of setting its tone via storytelling, Sonic Lost World undoubtedly targets a new, younger audience as opposed to older gamers with misty-eyed recollections of days gone by. Sonic Lost World attempts a further evolution of its own, ignoring the option to rinse and repeat recent formulae ad nauseum the results are mixed. His home console exploits have been showing positive trends, however, with Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations helping deflate the cynical outlook many have had for the direction of SEGA's best known series.
Every new release starring the mascot comes with a significant weight of expectancy, and the evolution from his 16-bit 2D heights to a current-day franchise hasn't always been straight-forward or successful.