I genuinely don't think I've ever been as polarized about something that's come from this franchise. The fact that this update exists is a testament to the effort and good-will that Sonic Team is building with the community, and the final product is certainly quality if nothing else. The spectacle and expansion on the game's narrative and theming (and the soundtrack) are very much appreciated, and being able to play as these characters is a welcome return, especially considering that they're all relatively well fleshed out. The design though is just not something I can get behind. Difficulty, in its own right, can be a fun gameplay element, but it must be handled extremely delicately. This expansion, unfortunately, does not do this. While this game's controls are fun, they aren't precise or responsive enough to ask of the player what this game's challenges do. The massive difficulty spikes of the 5 towers that Sonic has to climb are unforgiving and defeating, and the additional cyberspace levels (particularly their optional objectives) teeter the line between being fun exploration and extremely tedious. Not to mention that both lack any checkpoints whatsoever. Overall, I'm very glad that we got this expansion (once again, especially for its soundtrack), but I hope that this level of difficulty isn't an indication for what is to come in this series' next title. It's just not fun.