PAX Prime 2013: The Sega Mini-Omega 2013

rekking through the show floor at PAX Prime '13, we happened upon Sega's booth and couldn't help but be curious about the upcoming Wii U exclusives from Sega, so we figure "Why not tag team it?" Here our impressions with Andrew getting steamy with Bayonetta 2, and George handling the Blue Blur's latest outing.

Earlier this year, Nintendo made the shocking announcement that Bayonetta 2 would be coming exclusively to the Wii U. Aside from cutting her trademark long hair, the title seemed like it would not lose out on any of the insane combat and torture devices that made the title a fan favorite. After some hands on time with the title it's clear to see that although the game will have a fine home on Wii U, the title in its current state lacks in new content or experiences.

The battle took place in three parts, with each part culminating in an mammoth boss battle, and the final encounter being on a grand scale in the sky. The combat is fluid and enjoyable to string together, as Witch Time can be triggered to avoid being hit and go directly into a string of attacks ending with a wicked boot made of demonic hair. A new attack called the Umbran Climax can now be activated after successful strikes to deal massive damage to multiple attackers for a small amount of time. This trigger was instrumental during the boss battles, even with the assistance of former enemy turned ally Jeanne.

During the demo, several questions arose about the inclusion of Jeanne in the game. Representatives seemed quiet on the possibility of Jeanne as a controllable second player, which could allude to a potential cooperative mode. Also the Wii U game pad have limited functionality, and the screen will only show current gameplay in the normal game mode. There is a Touch mode that is selectable, where the player can utilize the stylus to mimic attacks and utilize triggers. The action was frantic and sometimes difficult to follow on screen, so not including extra functions on the touch screen seems like a smart decision.

Ultimately, the game was as enjoyable as its predecessor, but with several unanswered questions on the inclusion of characters and potential game modes, as well as no official release date set. It is still too early to know how this high-heeled witch will fair on her new platform. If any developer can deliver on potential, however, it's Platinum Games. We will continue to watch out for this release, and anticipate several new Wii U owners once it hits shelves.

It’s a sad fact that the third dimension has rarely been kind to Sega’s flagship Rodent, burning optimistic skeptics and even fans alike for the last decade on more than one occasion. Sonic Team and Dimps have taken to radically redesigning the 3D Sonic formula with their latest efforts focusing on addressing all of the previous entries faults and delivering something completely new at the same time for the Blue blur to do. Sonic will now be barreling towards tubes and planetoids through with stage design that homages what we would have seen with Sonic Xtreme and liberally borrows from a certain plumber’s trip from space in what may finally be the lover letter Sega has long been hoping to deliver to those enjoy Sonic.

Staking their bets on that newfangled Nintendo box, the Wii U exclusive poises a lot of promise towards finally being the modern Sonic that Sonic Team got right and being a worthy asset to the Wii U camp all at once.

So that oh so common drill the moment a new Sonic game comes along that gets the stress tests and the check marks is the control—more importantly, the physics. It’s here where Lost Worlds immediately shines above and beyond its predecessors as these components have finally received the tweaks to the standard formula that have been long overdue.

Right away as you maneuver the fleet-footed hedgehog you’ll notice that he’s not all that fleet-footed—in order to run at top speed, the R Button will need to be held in order to accelerate Sonic, and the result is a refreshing when speedily running though obstacles and enemies no longer feels like a challenge against physics or a shit camera. Controls do present a challenge for veterans from the tweaks however, as the certain moves are mapped to other buttons—there were times I wanted to homing dash enemies and I ended up double jumping into them instead like an idiot; because the homing dash is mapped to a different button when you’re in the air.

Using the R button in contextual areas makes the blue dude perform certain Parkour tricks like jetting up trees or cascading along walls at a comfortable pace that plays out in a way where Sonic losing speed doesn’t hinder the speedy nature of the game, all while providing intuitive physics and control that fall in line in play.

Visually,  Lost World is one of the sharpest looking titles in the Wii U library, regardless of the 60 frames per second, the animation and play is the smoothest and most animated modern Sonic title of the bunch (not counting the 2D side-scrollers.) The Sonic stage design trope of variable routes are properly emulated within the various planetoids and accessing them impulsively in your run faithfully hearkens back to the Hedgehog’s glory days. Lost Worlds comes out in October of 2013, if you own a Wii U then I suggest you run to it, don’t walk.