Dimps' Last Stand | Sonic Lost World (3DS, 2013) Review

 NOTE: This review is part of a retrospective of the Sonic franchise. Feel free to read the other Sonic reviews I’ve done here - https://expithecat.blogspot.com/search/label/sonic%20retrospective

Well, we’ve done the Wii U version, now let’s see what the 3DS version is like!

Background & History

Once again, I can’t… really find much information about this game’s development. Development began not long after the start of the Wii U game’s development, and like the handheld equivalents of Sonic Colors and Generations, the 3DS version of Sonic Lost World was handled by Dimps, with entirely different level design with gameplay mechanics created around the 3DS’ features. Development on the 3DS was difficult, however, due to the system’s limitations, and as such there was a greater amount of work involved in its creation.

The game, like it’s Wii U counterpart, received mixed reviews at release. There were, and still are, people who liked it more than the Wii U version, but on the other hand there was also a lot of criticism towards the game’s level design especially, often coming off to people as being too long or tedious.

Personal Experiences

I sort of already went over this with the Wii U version, but to recap - when Sonic Lost World first came out, I didn’t have a 3DS or a Wii U, so I didn’t really have a chance to play either version. However, I did end up getting a 2DS the year after for Christmas, and for my birthday in 2015, I asked for and received this game. I played the demo of it beforehand, and did enjoy it, and it seemed like the best Sonic game for the system since Shattered Crystal just felt dull when I played that game’s demo and Sonic Generations 3DS was just kind of shallow.

I do remember playing through Tropical Coast, but after that I kind of just… fell off of it. In a sort of similar position to, say, Sonic Heroes, I didn’t beat this game until, well, just before writing this review, as a result of being addicted to ROBLOX and the game just kicking my ass. So, I ended up starting over with this playthrough and… I kind of understand why I fell off this game.

Story

The story is pretty much the exact same as the Wii U version. Only difference being that a few of the cutscenes are missing (particularly the ‘Act 2’ ones in the Wii U game) and that, presentation-wise, they play in a very crisp, high quality 240p. Which I guess I can’t complain about, considering the 3DS’ limitations, but I mean, it’s still funny. Either way the story is just as bad as it is in the Wii U version just with added compression so… yeah.

Presentation

As far as 3DS games go, this game looks… okay. It isn’t one of the 3DS’ best by any means, however - Super Mario 3D Land looks a lot better than this game when it comes to it’s color palette and environments. One major issue with this game is that there’s a ton of pop-in, in some ways being worse and more noticeable than in Sonic Colors Ultimate. There were a number of times where I didn’t even know I could jump to a certain place because certain elements just… didn’t appear. Frozen Factory Zone 3 is one level in particular where I had to traverse through a hole in the ground, but it just looked like a bottomless pit because of the level design just… not appearing. I get that the 3DS did have limitations even if it could handle 3D better than it’s predecessor, but again, Super Mario 3D Land didn’t have this issue, and the field of view feels a little too short.

I should also mention that the camera is also pretty bad. In 3D, it often feels like it gets stuck behind objects  - a problem that existed in Super Mario 64 and Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 which I figured they would have solved by now but I guess this game proves me wrong. You can at least center the camera behind Sonic by pressing the L button, but even that doesn’t always help when certain things come in your way. And sometimes when I would turn around and/or make quick movements it feels like it just goes completely all over the place. 

But in 2D especially it becomes an issue, because for some reason in most levels it zooms in on Sonic and ends up creating an obnoxious amount of screen crunch and giving you little room to see what is ahead of you. For the most part at least the 2D level design isn’t *too* bullshitty or anything but that still serves as a weird quirk of this game.

Other than that, it’s okay as 3DS games go, but definitely not to the system’s full potential, and I don’t really have much else to say about it other than… that. The environments look decent (pop-in aside), Sonic’s model looks pretty good, but there’s not much else to really talk about.

The music… well, it’s pretty much the same as the Wii U version, can’t really say much new about it. The special stage theme, which is exclusive to this game from what I can tell, is pretty catchy.

Gameplay

Something I’ve sort of hinted at up to this point is that Sonic Lost World 3DS technically serves as the first 3D Sonic platformer on a handheld. Granted, it still is a hybrid game, having a mix of 2D and 3D level design like the Wii U version and the console versions of Sonic Colors and Generations, but since the game does still have a lot of 3D sections, it can be said that this is the first attempt at a 3D Sonic game on a handheld. And for the time being, unless you want to count games like Sonic Forces, Sonic Colors Ultimate and the upcoming Sonic Frontiers on the Switch, it’s the *only* 3D handheld Sonic game.

And as probably expected, this game also incorporates many of the concepts and mechanics found in the Wii U version. The parkour system is once again at play in this version, as are a lot of Sonic’s moveset with his multi-homing attack, ability to climb and run along walls, and so on. One thing that a lot of people tend to agree on as a positive of this game is that the parkour system, to some, is handled better than in the Wii U version. And I can understand this mindset. For one thing, there’s some minor additions that actually end up adding a layer of depth to the controls. In particular, you have the ability to spin dash once when running up a wall to gain a bit of extra speed - a minor addition, sure, but it does make a difference especially with some of the level design.

Some movements also feel a bit more intuitive to pull off. I feel like the side jump particularly feels a lot snappier and understandable than the Wii U version, plus has more uses in general. 

On that note, I do feel like certain levels take more advantage of this system. Frozen Factory Zone 3, in particular, has a pretty neat skip towards the start that allows you to push the snowball into another section without having to return to the “main” portion of the start. Unfortunately that’s the only positive thing I can say about that level but, y’know, we’ll get to that.

So I can’t really deny that in some ways the parkour system is an improvement over the Wii U game. That said, I… do have some complaints. I feel like when it comes to Sonic’s overall control in this game, there’s just a general feeling of clunkiness in everything. I’m having a hard time putting my finger on it, but for one thing, Sonic feels really slippery in this game. Sometimes it does benefit the levels somewhat, but other times, it can be kind of annoying with how it feels Sonic sort of jets off in any direction you go in. A lot of people did complain about Sonic feeling slow in the Wii U version, but here, I feel like it’s the exact opposite problem. 

Jumping also feels pretty floaty, and overall, I feel like when it comes to Sonic’s core movement, it definitely doesn’t feel as smooth as the Wii U version does. Making precise movements and jumps feels especially clunky, and it does occassionally affect the parkour system being otherwise improved in this version. I also noticed that this game shares a similar issue I had with the Wii U version where it feels like Sonic often grips to a wall whether you want him to or not, and in some ways it’s even more noticeable here.

The homing attack also feels a bit clunky. It shares the same multi-homing attack that the Wii U version, but sometimes it either feels too sensitive - to where I somehow manage to lock on to something offscreen - and other times it feels like the reticle just doesn’t appear regardless of how close I am to an enemy. When it works, it works, but it feels finicky in this game.

I think another issue I have with the parkour system in this game is more related to the level design than the mechanics themselves. When the level design is designed around the controls, it works really well, but that becomes an issue with how… mixed this game is in terms of level design. 

I’ll be quite frank here, this game’s levels range from being good fun with a good amount of replayability, to just being kinda dull, to being outright annoying. I did mention how the Wii U version at it’s worst can be pretty frustrating and tedious, and with this game, that feels even moreso. With the Wii U version, I didn’t really feel frustrated with many levels until the last couple worlds. I guess trying to get one of the red rings in that game’s Frozen Factory 3 was a bit annoying, and of course there’s some gimmicky levels that feel weird, but in general, I didn’t really feel like I hit it’s biggest lows until I was in Sky Road and Lava Mountain. 

And while this game has a really good start with Windy Hill, it was by the end of Desert Ruins I already began to feel… sort of tired of this game. I have to be honest, pretty much every issue I had with the Wii U game’s levels… feels turned up to 11 here. Levels have a tendency to just feel like an outright slog to play through, and often contain gimmicks that are somehow more annoying and obnoxious than in the Wii U versions’s gimmick levels.

And here’s where I get to talking about Frozen Factory Zone 3. This is probably the most notorious “bad” level in this game, and it’s definitely for good reason. The level contains two major gimmicks that really slow down the level and make it tedious to play - having to push snowballs into holes to unlock paths, and having a sentient snowball with a face follow you while you push those snowballs into holes - freezing you if you touch it and destroying your snowball. Which, let me add, sometimes you have to roll the snowball enough so it grows in order to fit into certain holes.

And boy, it’s just outright annoying. I did mention this level having a really neat skip that utilizes your wall-running ability to skip a minute of going back, and I stand by that, but that’s only well designed thing about this level. Otherwise, it feels like an outright maze towards the second half with a gimmick that further bogs down the gameplay, and even when I tried to replay it with a better understanding of the level, it still just feels like a level with a bunch of different concepts mashed together and things getting in my way.

There are times where you need to get the sentient snowball to follow you and stun it when it’s on top of a switch. But although the snowball follows you everywhere, when you try to get it to follow you it feels like it just does whatever it wants. Sometimes it goes in a completely different direction, and trying to get it into precise positions feels like pulling teeth out. And I haven’t even mentioned that the first time I played this level, there was an instance where it just… got stuck and rolled in place. No matter what I did, it just stayed rolling in the same place. I tried walking a fair distance away from it to get it to teleport, and eventually it worked after, like, 10 tries. I’m still not even sure what I was doing wrong.

And maybe I just don’t understand what I’m doing in the level, but my issue with that is… what AM I supposed to do? Every time I replay this level I end up running into similar issues that frustrate me and just lead to me quitting mid-playthrough, and the game pretty much does nothing to help you understand this gimmick. I’ve tried so hard to understand the level and what I’m supposed to do, but each time, I just come off feeling empty or frustrated. I’m sorry, this is not a well designed level, and you can not convince me that it is.

And the worst part is… I’m still not even sure if that’s my least favorite level in the game. There’s the first two acts of Silent Forest - Act 1 relying on the Quake wisp with some really obnoxious and repetitive level design, followed by Act 2 having clunky platforming and annoying rail sections, and Acts 2 and 3 of Sky Road - the former once again being repetitive and gimmicky, having a section that’s nothing but floating platforms over a bottomless pit that you have to maneuver over with the Asteroid Wisp, and Act 3 having you jump from rocket to rocket to reach the end of the level and just feeling like total trial-and-error.

But okay, I’m getting a bit angry. I will say this - at it’s best, the game can arguably rival, even top, the Wii U version in terms of level design. Windy Hill Act 1 is a really good introductory stage that really takes good advantage of Sonic’s movement and mechanics, and Frozen Factory Act 1 also serves as a decent stages that, some dull puzzles aside, allows for different means of traversal with Sonic’s mechanics and moveset in addition to the Lightning Wisp. I just wish the game had more levels like them, but as it currently stands, most of this game’s levels just sort of range from being dull with uninspired, blocky platforming to just being outright obnoxious to play.

I should also add that I mentioned earlier that Dimps wanted to take advantage of the 3DS’ features, and I can kind of see as a result that… this game has a fetish for gyro controls. I mean, seriously, there’s so many parts of this game that rely on gyro for one reason or another - the Quake wisp, the battle against Zor, the Sky Road rockets, but most notoriously of all… the special stages.

This game’s special stages… are ass. You basically have to control Sonic with the 3DS’ gyro controls and capture enough orbs to unlock the emerald. But not only are the gyro controls annoying to use, they also feel extremely imprecise. You basically either have to be standing up or sitting in a swivel chair to play these, and turning around especially feels like a tank. If you manage to miss any orbs, you have to turn around, and with how slow and clunky it feels, I just end up feeling like I’m wasting time. And the later special stages especially feel cumbersome with the amount of blocks that you can hit that take time away from you or just have a lot of orbs in general.

The rest of the game I can’t really say much about. The bosses… they exist. The final boss is actually pretty similar to the Wii U version, arguably a tad better by adding a few creative changes instead of just being a straight clone of the Nega Wisp, but it still isn’t much to write home about.

Conclusion

Whoo boy, I am… not entirely sure how I feel about this game.

Truth is, Sonic Lost World 3DS… isn’t a bad game. Some of the levels are really solid, and the controls, while not perfect, do incorporate things like the parkour mechanics even better than the Wii U version. But this game also has pretty frequent, low lows - definitely moreso than the Wii U game.

Now, keep in mind, these ultimately are just my first impressions, and maybe I’ll go back to the game in the future, and like it more. But as it is, I can’t really say I feel much desire to go back to it at the moment - a lot of the game just feels tedious and leaves me frustrated by the time I’m done with it.

The least I can say is that I’d recommend it at a cheap price. According to PriceCharting, physical copies of the game go for about $15-$20, and you can still buy it off the eShop for $20 until March 2023, which I think is a decent enough price for this game. Just be warned that this game doesn’t really leave the best first impression and in my opinion does come off as a mixed bag overall.

Before I conclude this review though, I did want to say that I plan on taking a break for this retrospective. I’m not sure for how long, maybe at least a month or two, but I’ve started to feel like I’ve become sort of burned out. I haven’t really been too pleased with my most recent reviews (this one included) and I’m starting to feel like the cycle of playing and reviewing games is starting to wear on me. I may do some other game, or even cartoon, reviews in that time, but I figured it would be best to take a break from the Sonic series so I can have some time to recharge.