Back in early 2017, I was at a bit of a low point in my personal life, and a few games in combination with my discovery of YouTube helped get me out of it. This, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, and Battle for Bikini Bottom were the main games in question, so it'll always hold a special place in my heart for that alone.

But even then, this is a really good Sonic game. It takes the boost gameplay and manages to switch it up without feeling gimmicky thanks to the introduction of the wisps. Not to mention, it looks and sounds amazing to this day. Sure, some levels aren't the greatest, the bosses are lame and the writing sucks, but in spite of all that it manages to be good, great, awesome, outstanding, amazing even.

Colours kinda feels like 1 step forward, 1 step back from Unleashed.

Being a Wii game instead of a PS3/360 one, the presentation quality isn't as good. Not that I expect it to be, but it's a bit of whiplash. Still, the stages look pretty and vibrant, particularly Planet Wisp. The music is pretty good too. Not my favourite Sonic soundtrack, but in general Sega games tend to have good OSTs. The cutscenes definitely took a step back though, with the budget obviously being lower, leaving the game to be less cinematic. I wish Ultimate rectified some of these aspects more, but it's fine for what it is. Still a charming game overall.

In story and dialogue, this game is pretty light on both fronts. However, some of the dialogue could get a bit tiresome. Kinda felt like the characters were stripped to their basic traits, and focused more on making (shitty) puns than anything else. I know this series is for kids, but the humour was noticeably juvenile. However, I do think it's ok to have a lighter story every once in a while, and I was ultimately left with a satisfying, bite-sized adventure of saving the Wisps. It ended up being fun and light-hearted, even if I groaned a few times. Nothing grand, but not bad either.

The levels are pretty different. They place a greater emphasis on 2D platforming, which is perfectly fine and shakes things up, although it could get a bit much at times. The core Boost gameplay is fun as ever though, keeping most of what I like from Unleashed and trimming the fat such as excessive QTEs. All in all, it was fun to play, with the Wisps adding an enjoyable new layer to both gameplay and exploration/movement. One area I think this game is weak in though, is the boss fights. They're not very memorable or challenging.

So it's not my favourite Sonic game by any means, but still a perfectly serviceable experience in its own right. Really, my biggest criticisms are that it feels too "sterile" to stick with me + For every issue it fixes, it replaces with another one. 7/10.