Back in 2013, a unique Sonic game was released as a Nintendo exclusive for both the Wii U and 3DS. Sonic Lost World took inspiration from the Wii's Super Mario Galaxy to invite players to the intriguing cylindrical and hexagonal world of Lost Hex, where the new threat of the Deadly Six were found. As these Zeti villains could control all robotics, Sonic Lost World takes a turn early on, and its up to Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Eggman to team up to save the day.
While the landscape of Lost Hex was both unique and familiar at the same time compared to usual Sonic environments, the obvious Mario inspiration served as one of the many things that left Lost World to receive mixed reviews and become one of the lowest selling games in the series' history. However, 10 years later, there's a different perspective to Lost World that even Sonic Team itself seems to have taken to help decide the franchise's future.
Sonic Lost World Found a Balance Between Exploration and Speed
Sonic Lost World has a number of release dates, all coming out during the later half of October 2013. European countries got it as early as October 18, while it was made available to North American fans on October 29.
One big criticism that Sonic Lost World faced when it came out was the fact that the blue hedgehog's trademark speed was kept on the low end compared to other titles such as Sonic Unleashed. However, this served an important purpose in terms of the game's control scheme. Taking advantage of ZL and ZR on the Wii U gamepad gave players the ability to control Sonic's spin dash and running speed at will, which led to a much more controlled environment to play with.
While the hedgehog may feel slower, it led to a great deal of freedom to the player with responsible controls that made it harder for fans to fall off ledges because of Sonic's fast pace. This in turn goes hand-in-hand with the cylindrical shape of Lost Hex, which offered multiple paths on the sides of the platforms that players could pick and choose at any time through the Parkour mechanic, triggered by holding down the ZR run trigger. This type of control scheme would persist beyond Sonic Lost World through Sonic Frontiers likely for this reason.
Sonic Lost World Metacritic Scores
3DS | 59 Based on 34 Critic Reviews |
Wii U | 63 Based on 64 Critic Reviews |
PC | 57 Based on 5 Critic Reviews |
Via Metacritic
Yet, again, it's worth repeating that perspective has changed since the launch of this title. While it is not a "redeemed" game by any means, its attempt at new things has informed newer games like Sonic Frontiers.
The Level Design in Sonic Lost World Wasn't Afraid to Branch Out
Not only did the unique control scheme and perspective on speed help set Lost World apart, but so did its level design. Mostly known for its tube levels that make up a majority of its gameplay and maps, the setting was used for other interesting set pieces like circular caves to run along the walls and ceilings, segmented hexagonal structures used to encourage side-stepping during auto-running segments, and entire planets would be used as boss battling grounds, much like Lost World's inspiration Super Mario Galaxy did within its own galaxies.
The ideas didn't at all stop there as many of Sonic Lost World's levels tried something different from one to the next, with the cylindrical lay-outs being the most common. While this is another big criticism of the game, it keeps players guessing and offers interesting new challenges every step of the way. It may say one thing about Sonic Team's commitment to level design, but it says another for how much the studio loves to experiment.
Sonic Lost World may be a small footnote in the franchise's lengthy history now, as Sonic Frontiers has marked the new era for the blue blur going forward, but it brought concepts and lessons that are definitely being carried to the new foundation of the next decade of Sonic, according to Sonic Team. This new direction, which has begun with the newest best-selling 3D Sonic game, carries the torch from the title that was once Nintendo-exclusive in many ways, which means that Sonic Lost World won't be forgotten as the series keeps running faster.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is a prolific game franchise that started life on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Covering both 2D and 3D iterations through the generations, Sonic is known for speedy movements and interesting platforming mechanics.