Sonic Lost World Demo Playthrough (2013, Sega/Sonic Team)
1Sonic Lost World is an action-adventure/platform video game developed by Sonic Team for the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PC platforms. It was published by Nintendo in Europe and Australia and Sega in North America and Japan in October 2013, and later worldwide for Microsoft Windows via Steam in November 2015. It is part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and was the first title in the series on an eighth-generation home console.
Lost World focuses on the efforts of Sonic the Hedgehog to stop the Deadly Six, an alien tribe that serves as the game's main antagonists, as they seek to siphon energy from the Lost Hex, the game's setting. Sonic and his long-time sidekick Tails must team up with Doctor Eggman, normally their enemy, to stop the Deadly Six, leading to conflicts among the three parties. While the gameplay is typical of the Sonic series in some ways, it adds parkour mechanics and features largely cylindrical level design with an emphasis on alternate pathways. The game also features the Wisp creatures from Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations as power-ups.
The game began development shortly after the 2010 release of Sonic Colors. It was designed to be streamlined, simple, and fluid in movement and design, using a novel tube-like level design style and a simple, bright color scheme. The game received mixed reviews upon release; its controls and the Deadly Six were frequently criticized, but its visuals and audio were seen positively. Downloadable content was released both alongside and after the game's release, adding features such as additional levels and a new type of Wisp power.
Sonic Lost World received mixed reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. During its opening week in the UK, Sonic Lost World charted at #11 on the All-formats chart for sales, but achieved the top spot on the Wii U chart and #4 on the Nintendo 3DS chart. As of the end of 2013, Sega had shipped 640,000 copies of the game. As of March 31, 2014, the game had sold 710,000 copies.
The game's presentation was well received. Chris Plante of Polygon praised the Wii U version's visuals and music as "arguably the best" in the series. Game Informer's Tim Turi wrote that "The orchestrated tracks evoke Mario Galaxy in the best ways." GameSpot's Mark Walton and Computer and Videogames's Chris Scullion singled out the candy-themed "Dessert Ruins" level as a visual highlight. However, Turi made note of "ultra-compressed" cutscenes in the 3DS version. IGN's Vince Ingenito was favorable to the "pleasant" art direction and stable framerate, but criticized the "subdued" color palette. Roger Hargreaves of Metro stated that the "imaginative" designs and "spectacular set piece[s]" kept him "interested to know what comes next." Chris Schilling of Eurogamer was even more effusive: "Blue skies forever!"