PAX Australia: Sonic Lost World and Link Between Worlds impressions

Along with a pretty impressive Wii U showing Nintendo had a bunch of Nintendo 3DS games to play at PAX Australia.

There were only two unreleased ones however, but they were Sonic Lost World and The Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds. Three of team, Steven, Josh and Troy sat down to try out both games. and give some thoughts.

Did you get to play the games at PAX Australia? If so let us know what you think of them.

Steven’s Thoughts On Sonic Lost World

As a pretty mad Sonic fan, I was optimistic for Sonic Lost World. After Sonic Colours and Generations, it seems that Sonic Team were on a roll with good Sonic titles. After the 10 minute demo of Sonic Lost World Nintendo made playable at PAX Australia, it seems that this roll might be at an end, at least where the 3DS version is concerned.

The demo playable consisted of a single 2D underground dungeon style level, and showed off some of the new abilities Sonic has added to his repertoire since his last outing. One of the most interesting of these new talents is the ability to run up vertical walls, even when you run up to them and they are at a 90-degree angle to Sonic. With enough speed built up (which is generally easy to do with Sonic’s spin dash technique) Sonic can easily scale vertical surfaces.

While performing this feat, he can also jump from walls and continue his ascent on a parallel wall, avoiding hazards and taking out enemy bots. Sonic can also perform a double jump to get a little extra height and scale some obstacles, as well as bounce downwards to quickly attack enemies. The extra abilities from Sonic Colours return too, with this demo featuring the drill ability needed to navigate certain sections.

It’s hard to tell if this level didn’t just demo well, or whether this issue will be prevalent with the game at large, but the level I played just did not feel enjoyable. It had very limited sections where Sonic can indulge in silky smooth speedy platforming, instead focusing on a series of puzzles and obstacles that prevented any sort of flow in the platforming experience. The obstacles to progressing in the demo generally consisted of manipulating enemies to press switches which opened the way forward, or areas where doors are blocked until a set number of enemies are taken care of. It may be inexperience (I only played a ten minute demo after all), but the act of overcoming these obstacles felt more frustrating than enjoyable. Any attempt to build up some speed and navigate the levels with a sense of flow was interrupted by springs that seem positioned specifically to frustrate, or obstacles that required tedious backtracking or plodding level navigation.

Graphically, the game wasn’t all too impressive either. The frame rate at best ran at what seemed like 30 frames per second, but this dipped quite regularly. This slow down was especially apparent when Sonic is hit by an enemy and loses his rings, all the physics and animation seem to take a toll on the game’s performance. The performance of the game seemed pretty well the same under both 2D and 3D modes. Admittedly, it was a demo of an unfinished game, and things could be optimised by the time the game hits shelves, but at this point the game’s performance leaves something to be desired.

As mentioned earlier, the game is not finished, so it is possible that the issues I have had with the demo could be resolved by the time it releases, but I left this demo significantly less excited about Sonic Lost World.

Josh’s Thoughts The Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds

A lot of people argue that the 3DS’ 3D features really don’t add much to its games. The new Zelda game coming to 3DS (A Link Between Worlds), however, feels like it was designed for 3D. While the 3D still doesn’t add to the gameplay itself, it adds to the presentation so much that playing it without 3D feels like you’re being robbed of part of the experience.

A Link Between Worlds looks and plays like the 2D Zelda games of years past (e.g. the original Legend of Zelda, the Oracle games and A Link to the Past, which ALBW is a sequel to), except with shiny 3D graphics of modern gaming. The reason the 3D is so great is because it adds depth and life to the ‘2D’ game, turning it into a full 3D game with an overhead camera. If Link uses his hammer to activate a catapult, he can fling himself up and out of the screen, landing on a higher part of the dungeon which actually looks and feels higher due to the 3D effect.

It looks fantastic in action, screenshots and text really can’t do it justice. Gameplay wise you probably know what to expect. It’s more Zelda, but it still feels fresh- partly due to the 3D reworking of the 2D Zelda style, and partly because of the new puzzles that’ll keep you stumped, and the new mechanic in which Link can merge onto a wall as a painting, and move around the outside of a room. There were some interesting puzzles in the dungeon I played involving this new mechanic (which are hard to describe, but I’ll do my best!) like one where hitting orbs in the room raised and lowered coloured walls, and merging with the wall allowed you to navigate between them, and one that required you to merge with the wall as the moving platform you were standing on passed underneath it, and then moving onto the face of a moving block so it would carry you up to another wall.

Since this is a mechanic you’ll (presumably) have for most of the game, I imagine there’ll be lots of interesting puzzles in every dungeon that require the use of it, and it opens up heaps of new possibilities. Unfortunately the demo I played had a time limit, so I didn’t get to see the boss at the end of the dungeon, but what I did play was enough to get me excited for the game.

Troy’s thoughts on The Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds

The first thing that stood out for me was 60 frames per second, very fluid controls and visuals. The second thing was seeing the same overworld from A Link to the Past in a nice 3D world (3D was also 60 frames per second).

I started off on the overworld, fighting creatures and knights, just like the old game, before realising I needed some direction. I checked the map, and found the temple I was meant to go to, marked with a big red dot. So I headed out, instinctively weaving through the overworld I was familiar with from so many years ago. It remains to be seen if that will be a let-down or not, but I liked having the knowledge.

Quickly making it to the temple, I realised my useful knowledge wouldn’t help me much here; I was lost. But the game feels so much like ALttP, that I knew how to start solving it. I hit the blue orbs to turn it red, which made the pegs move in and out of the ground to clear my path. I noticed I had a hammer, so I tried hitting the smiley, rubber looking pegs on the ground. Just like in the trailer, I stood on them to launch me up.

I also button mashed and found the way to go 2D up onto the wall. Once I started to wrap my head around that, I noticed I was looking for ways to make this new trick work to my advantage, eventually working my way through some bars to a chest with a silver rupee.