I came back to this game because of my pride. I hated having completed most of the games but not this one. After finishing The Final Horizon, I felt the want to go back to this game and finally finish it one day, and in mid November, I finally decided to do so. Last time I played, I beat Team Sonic and half of Team Rose and dropped it, so what about now? Well, I actually beat it for one, True Ending and all, but I actually found myself enjoying it this time? Quite the twist if you ask me. There's a lot more things I found myself appreciating this time around, mainly the character system. Once you get a mastery of the controls and what each character can do, the game becomes so much more fun and goes from tolerable to great! I still think this game has many issues that I highlighted in my previous review, but I found that some things, like the poor level design, become a lot easier to deal with once you've already experienced one of the stories. For the first time though? A lot of what to do or expect is really hard to understand so levels end up taking a lot longer than they normally would. That being said, I've come to appreciate some of the longer levels that I used to hate such as Egg Fleet and Bullet Station, but some levels still suck like Mystic Mansion (I'm sorry but the three paths part is so bad for Team Sonic). I also started with Team Rose this time around and got all the Chaos Emeralds instantly so I wouldn't have to deal with it later down the line and that helped me enjoy the second stages so much more since I didn't have to be extremely careful. Special stages still suck though, really badly. There's only a few levels I don't really like anymore, mainly the Casino levels because the pinball physics are so broken it's not even funny. Anyway, it's hard for me to really explain why I suddenly like this game, I think things just clicked for me this time around because I found myself actually enjoying it and I'm really glad I did. Overall, I think while this game still has many issues, it's become somewhat of a guilty pleasure and I actually enjoy it this time around and I'm glad I gave it a second chance.

I've been a Sonic fan for a long time, Generations was the most recent game and Lost World was coming out around the time I was first becoming a Sonic fan. Out of all the games I've played, I've never been disappointed by one, until now. There are just so many issues I have with this game that I don't know where to start, so I'll pick the most significant. First of all, the physics are horrible. There are so many ways to fall of the map since everything feels so slippery. Not only that, but you need to deal with those physics in four different stories: Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Rose, and Team Chaotix. Speaking of, the four teams don't add enough to have to play the game four different times to justify playing through with each. Sonic is the standard, Dark is harder, Rose is easier, Chaotix is mission based. It really isn't worth it in my opinion. The payoff to beating all of these stories is fighting a secret final boss in "Last Story" which also requires you to get the Chaos Emeralds. Speaking of the Chaos Emeralds, to get them, you need to get a key from a cage in every second act and bring it to the end of the level. To do so, you need to beat the level without dying or taking damage as you'll drop the key. It's easier with Team Rose since their levels are shorter, but it's not worth it considering what the final boss is. The special stages aren't much better, imagine Sonic 2's pipe stages but slippery and annoying. I watched a video of the final boss again and it's underwhelming now compared to when I saw it as a kid. Also, the game doesn't really utilize Sonic well. Each team has the Speed, Fly, and Power characters, and yet you don't really need your Speed character for anything. For example: Most combat is done with your Fly or Power characters. Speaking of combat, the bosses are terrible and once again don't require the Speed character at all. One of the bosses is an upgraded version of another, two "bosses" are just waves of enemies, and two other bosses are just fighting one of the other Teams, meaning that there are only two original bosses, the first and the last. It's honestly disappointing to me how many issues I have with this game, especially since I was looking forward to playing it for the longest time. The only good parts of the game I can mention are the soundtrack and the Ocean and Metropolis levels. Those four stages were fine and I quite enjoyed them. I didn't hate the Casino stages, but as I mentioned earlier with the physics, it's quite slippery especially with the pinball boards. The remaining stages are awful in their own ways and make the game feel terrible to return to. Overall, I would say this game is worth skipping unless you're patient, but I don't think I myself am patient enough, so I'll pass on finishing this sad game.