What a good-ass game. Like, this is genuinely phenomenal & is on SA2 tier for me with the game firing on all cylinders, compared to Spark 2 whose level design & combat faltered into later levels. Here, EVERYTHING shines bright. From the excellent sense of speed to pretty fluid combat & even a car! If you need something to scratch an old-school 3D Sonic itch, this is it.

A few negative warnings:
- There's a 2nd vehicle which doesn't overstay its welcome but feels out-of-place
- The Spark 2 DLC levels are fun, but again the later those levels gets the worse their cracks show, even with Spark 3 mechanics. Can feel unfun
- The DLC Level after THAT is combat-focused to an insane degree & has bad Spark 2 enemies with the biggest hitbox jank I've ever seen in my life to the point I almost threw my controller, something I basically never do, bc of rapid hits, no I-Frames so you get combo'd and/or thrown into a damage zone with no aeriel recovery, and sometimes the game just went "No you didn't parry. Get hit loser". So warning if that upsets you.

This is, by far, the worst Mainline Sonic Game I have ever played. Are there worse? Yeah, there's the Boom Games, & Chronicles isn't that good. But for big releases, the next hyped-up game? This is bottom of the barrel. Ignoring the extremely shoddy port job done by SEGA Europe that did such things as didn't make the textures/UI nicer for the PC release, made the new Wisps feel bad to play, & The baffling implementation of the Hint System coming from the Wii U's not-as-intrusive version, the controls of this game feel... not fun.

Sonic's Basic Movement is mostly fine, but the Homing Attack changes such as letting it charge up or using a Kick instead don't feel useful or actively get in the way, particularly in Boss Fights. The Parkour Mechanics end up feeling much more clumsy, more than the 3DS Version SOMEHOW, which can lead to death or just staying safe most of the time.

The Level Design is as Mario as it gets, except even badly-designed Mario Levels are more often a better delight to play. Add in later levels with no thematic consistency to the world your in & gimmicks such as "Guide this Apple", "You're a Snowball now", & "Use the worst Wisp we've ever created, MAGENTA RHYTHM, to mash A on some easily done path". make it a slog the whole way through.

I'd comment on the story, but like. There shouldn't be anything to say. Its just bad & Uneventful outside of Eggman threatening to strangle a Zeti.

Play ANY other Sonic Game, unless you just have Mods you wanna try.