POSTED 23/10/13


SONIC LOST WORLD

SEGA/Nintendo
Wii U (also on 3DS)

We’ve often wondered how Sonic, everybody’s favourite indigo-hued hedgehog, musters so much energy. The first world here? Windy Hill. He’s been associating with Dank types!

However, he may be shunning his purveyors of questionable performance-enhancing substances, for Sonic’s sworn to bring down this fake-moustached young’un corruptor calling himself ‘Eggman’. Come on, we know it’s you, James Hird – that Sergeant Peppers getup isn’t fooling anybody!

This latest Sonic adventure (as distinct from Sonic Adventure) has a weight of expectation upon it that’s, well, weighty. But hey, supplements can help it be lifted! After several so-so outings, could this be the one to plop he of middle name ‘the’ back atop the platforming pedestal?

Umm, no.

Let us pitch a game concept: Former 2D system mascot mutates into 3D, traverses planetistic-like thingies that hover in space exactly the same way that bricks don’t, often shooting through the air to other planetistic-like thingies, and even revisits 2D occasionally just because. Sounds like Super Mario Galaxy? Yep. Apparently Sonic’s learned lots of sneakies hanging out with that Essendon bunch...

This would be fine if SLW was as magnificent as SMG. But it isn’t. There’s fun to be had, but that’s intermingled with much chore-like befuddlement, and the need for speed is often at odds with the need for not bursting into dead space. Still, you can keep Sonic leisurely if you’re feeling explorational, but it’s akin to wedging a skyscraper under the accelerator of a Bugatti Veyron.

For most of our adult life we’ve had a little fluffy Sonic that hangs by our washing machine. One time he got knocked in and underwent spin cycle bedlam. That’s a fairly accurate allegory for what the poor little guy’s suffered since his glorious Mega Drive days.

SLW has its moments, but it needs more than HD and Miiverse injections...

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