Sonic: Lost World (Wii U) Review!

After writing my top ten Wii U backlog list last week i decided to play one of those games, after all the large open world games i had recently played i decided on  the seemingly forgotten exclusive Sonic game Sonic Lost World and as it turns out... i can see why no one talks about it.

First of all i must say that the presentation is fantastic. Lost world is a bright and colourful game that oozes the cheesy charm that Sonic used to have. It Runs perfectly well on Wii U too and the music is great which is standard for the series. A few of the worlds are beautifully designed too, Windy Hill Zone, Tropical coast and Frozen factory in particular are so great to look at and provide some of the more fun high speed platforming action. It also contains a few really interesting pieces of Free DLC in the form of a Yoshi's Island world and a Legend of Zelda world. These worlds are super cool and are arguably the best parts of the game!

Now for the bad..... the game just doesn't feel right. It's hard to explain but it feels like 3 different games mashed together and it just doesn't work. Firstly the controls are strange. Sonic now runs while you hold the ZR button which feels unnatural, Sonic just doesn't pick up momentum in a way you would expect, this caused me to fly off the edge of platforms or be unable to change direction as quickly as the level required.

The second part of the control woes is the parkour. look, it felt like every game tried to do this at the time and it does LOOK cool but it just doesn't translate to fun. The amount of times i had Sonic running half way up a wall by accident, failing to jump or again flinging himself off an edge was insane. Couple this with a completely random level design structure (some levels are like Mario galaxy, some pull the camera way back almost like its open world and others are super close behind Sonic in a cylinder) and its a recipe for frustration.

The final and crucially worst part of the game is the damned wisps. Oh my god these things barely work. They almost all required some form of motion control with the gamepad and again do not work as intended and feel shoehorned into the game.

Overall this is sonic Lost World's biggest problem, it just doesn't know what game it wants to be. If they had gone all in on the parkour, fixed the wall run and not used the Wisps i feel like this game could be something special. It looks great, Sounds great and even the new characters are fun... but its just not fun to play.

Its better than Sonic Boom though.... so there's that.

My Top Ten Backlog Games On Wii U (2019)

Hey so it's 2019 and i am still playing Wii U! Although i have talked AT LENGTH about Nintendo's most underrated console (Don't @ me) there is still actually a sizable amount of games i own that i haven't played or finished and sit on my dreaded backlog.

So today i sat down, looked at my game shelf and compiled a list of the Ten games on Wii U i would still like to get to soon! Honourable mentions go to Star Fox Zero, Lego Batman 2, Splinter Cell Blacklist and Hyrule Warriors' Adventure maps!

10. Virtual Console

Ok...so i know this is cheating but hear me out. We are 2 years into the Switch's life right now and other than a limited amount of NES games we still can't play Virtual Console games on that system so the Wii U is really the best way to play digital versions of Nintendo's past from just about every major console apart from the GameCube! 

The games in particular i want to get to are Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii), Super Mario RPG (Snes - Never released in Europe prior to the Wii!) and Metroid Fusion (GBA)

9. Darksiders 2

Another potentially controversial choice here. Last summer i gave the Warmastered remaster version of the Original Darksiders on the Wii U a go and i ended up loving the game enough to finish it. The second game, with its more fantasy driven world design, has been a game i have had sat on the shelf since launch so i really should get to it soon. I played a few hours back when i got it and i did enjoy what i saw so who knows, i may love the rest too.

8. Bayonetta 2

Before anyone hunts me down with pitchforks i HAVE played quite alot of Bayo 2.... i just never finished it. Its one of those games that requires your full attention to play at the harder difficulty settings and as such i got stuck and haven't had the patience to go back and finish it...yet. If you have a Wii U or Switch get this game btw, it really is special.

7. Batman Arkham Origins

Ah yes the forgotten game in the Arkham series. Arkham origins was not built by Rocksteady and as such is often seen as the black sheep of the franchise and i think that is a little unfair. From what i have seen of origins it looks and plays just like the other games. The younger and less experienced batman story is also something that intrigues me alot. I love the other games so i have no doubt i'll love this one too when i get to it!

6. Rayman Legends

Alot of people give Skyrim a ton of stick for being on every console...but in reality Rayman Legends is available on at least 8 platforms that i can think of off the top of my head and as such it is crazy to think it was once planned as a Wii U Exclusive. The delay from its exclusivity is ultimately why i have never got around to playing a game that i was soooo hyped for before Wii U's launch but i picked it up cheap last year and it joins the rest of my games on the backlog pile!

5. Sonic: Lost World

Does anyone remember this game? I remember the hype around it pre launch and the "Meh" response it got on release. It's Mario galaxy style world design and beautifully bright graphics are super appealing to me so i will for sure play this very soon. Not Rise of Lyric though, Even i draw a line guys!

4. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

It's funny, despite my love for Nintendo i have never been a massive fan of the 3D Zelda games. Not because i prefer the 2D games or that i want to be a massive hipster, i just didn't play many of them back in the day and crucially i didn't have an N64 as a kid. Twilight Princess with its dark tone and horse riding combat has also enticed me to play it over the years but the Wii version with its waggle shenanigans has never interested me. Now, with my partner being a Zelda nut and thus having pretty much all the games in the flat i think ill give Twilight Princess my time soon.

3. Yoshi's Woolly World

This may shock a fair few of my friends but i have never played a Yoshi game for very long. Again, not because i hate them, i just never had them! But the adorable and beautiful Woolly art design and calming gameplay makes this one of those games that would be perfect after a hectic day of work. Another game from the many games my partner bought at launch for our Wii U that i need to get to.

2. Xenoblade Chronicles X

So the last 2 games on this list are understandably the largest games and arguably the Wii U games that i really should of played when i got them. Xenoblade X is a massive open world JRPG that is still exclusive to the Wii U. Friends have told me for years that after 20 hours or so when you get a Skell the game because utterly engrossing but i have just never had the time to start a game of this length. I think it is time.

1. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE

As a massive Fire Emblem and Persona fan why on earth have i not played this gorgeous JRPG? I guess that much like Paper Mario Color Splash (That i beat and reviewed last year) i think its 2016 release at the end of the consoles life really hurt alot of hype for the game. From what i have seen this could reach the top of my favourite Wii U list when I'm done with it!

So that's my little look at my Wii U backlog!