This is such a tragic turn of events. After having been legitimately invested for the first two islands and much of the third, and mind you, still having a degree of appreciation for the overall gameplay loop introduced here, most of the second half of the game falls so short of expectations that the game as a whole is unable to truly prove itself as a reliably sustainable format for the series to rely on. Sonic Team clearly don't have the amount of resources needed to push and shove Sonic all the way into the echelons of the AAA gaming space without a decade of dev time at least. It becomes a game that's okay if I'm feeling generous, and is definitely not representative of a evolutionary leap forward when considered as a whole.

From a gameplay standpoint, there are substantial aspects that I do like: Sonic has one of my favorite control schemes of his in the open zones and I can see the purpose as to why disjointed platforms are the main means of conveying basic platforming challenges in the open zones. Big's fishing is a good ol' chill time, and the first two islands especially have just enough going on between the different types of content that one doesn't overstay its welcome for too long; despite some jank (negative connotation) with fighting some of the Guardians and practical annoyances with traversal, it's generally enough to keep engagement alive. Despite this, not only is it obvious how half-baked the 4th and 5th islands are, but so much of the open nature of the game becomes more and more reeled in as the game continues, mostly leading towards awkwardly fighting against the open zones' 2D sections and the realization that almost none of the platforming sequences in the game actually encouraged maximizing your own sense of speed in any way. I almost wish the open areas leaned more into Spyro (mostly 1's) level design in the sense that using speed combined with the air boost to intentionally direct players to burst onto unexpected, yet organic environments for rewards would probably be more satisfying when offset by slower platforming build-ups. In comparison, the whole floating rail concept has poor signposting with every one being identical in design and function regardless of whether it serves as fast travel or an already completed sequence, and designing these shorter linear obstacle courses has got to be more taxing for the developers to implement than simply using the natural contours of the environment effectively as the dominant means of traversal. I kind of like Cyberspace as presented (his handling is refreshingly doable instead of haphazard and inconsistent-feeling), but agree with the majority online that there's no reason for every move you make to feel like Sonic's hampering his own speed, and in general his boost should be made faster. In one instance, one of the falling Sky Sanctuary spirals was made impossible to race up without air boosting past two initial platforms instead of jumping on them as was seemingly intended. The red ring requirements should have required multiple runs of the levels at least, and the amount of control reliability at the start of the game was hard to reckon with at first, but that eventually settles and all the cyberspace levels start to feel about the same, which is basically fine and enjoyable enough.

However, I need to get this off my chest: the writing is probably consistently the worst part of this game, and the part that I kept returning to both during and after my playthrough as a specific sticking point that reveals how little foresight was made in handling this game's characters and premise potential. A major reason for this is the self-defeating decision to treat the series up to this point, including 2010's era Sonic, as though it's a linear timeline while still attempting to inject the side characters with completely different attributes. I think it's nice on a surface level, e.g., that Tails and Amy are not only defined by being nerdy and swoony respectively anymore, but this doesn't mean that their contributions this time around feel any more natural or substantial than when they were standing in a Sonic Generations-brand void. In fact, of the three of Sonic's friends, Knuckles is handled by far the best, with not only his own take on on the Starfall Islands and connections to Angel Island that naturally only he would know, but also some emotional moments interacting with Sonic that genuinely land. Tails and Amy, however, both feel like their existence revolves around being stand-ins for Internet fandom criticism of themselves without any actual purpose or resolution to their insecurities beyond that base level recognition. It can be viewed as a step in the right direction, but an apology for past bad writing doesn't constitute good writing on its own, and very little is actually achieved through either of their portrayals aside from retreading old ground (Tails) or practically sowing over that old ground without anything compelling character-wise to replace it (Amy why, they did you so dirty what the hell).

Not to mention the amount of fanbase lip service as a whole borders on tedious. There are more subtle and organic ways to invoke past entries without throwing me out of the game I'm currently playing to remind me of another with very little prompting; the namedrops can be genuinely grating at times. The new ideas that do have potential to be explored, like the extent of Sage and Eggman's relationship, is practically relegated to side content in comparison to the number of times Tails has to remind me that the volcanic crater on Chaos Island looks like the Biolizard's butthole. It's astounding that the new ideas presented in this game are given so little room to breathe in comparison while the reliance on old titles is just as prevalent and ultimately meaningless as is familiar for this series of late. Eggman's memos do fare better in this regard though: this sort of optional reward for playing a certain side mode that is just Eggman musing to himself feels much more appropriate for a Sonic history lesson. There are only so many scenes in this game, optional or mandatory, that feel natural to engage with as opposed to serving as hollow reassurance for the playerbase it's trying to win back that the characters can exist as non-caricatures again, and that's just nowhere near enough to paper over a story that has too little going on otherwise. I didn't even mention a single thing about the Ancients here because I have no reason to be invested in their story aside from Knuckles' brief Angel Island deduction; it's lore additions without a gut punch, very little reason to care.

Final general notes: This game is a blueprint of itself in both writing and game design, and while it is valid to view it as a step in a more ideal direction for Sonic and in some regards I agree, its most pressing criticism has spoken more to me and it speaks volumes that after all this dev time, the effort isn't all the way there yet in creating something truly compelling and complete feeling. I cannot speak to what exactly this series "needs" at any given time or what is best in order to excel for both Sonic's die-hard fans and people who just want a solid game with no strings attached, but I don't think what it needed amounts to an apology notice for the last 10 years and a messy, rushed latter half. Even considering the gameplay aspects I'd like to see more of, there's so much more this title could have potentially offered on a fundamental level.

Baby steps, I suppose.

The game is generally up to Zelda standards of quality, but would gain an entire star if fast travel to Kakariko in particular was introduced way earlier than it is (post-Water Temple, for clarity). The narrative benefits of having child Link be expressly outmatched by his much larger surroundings and having him trek his way through the entire world loses its luster quickly in comparison to the tedium that is felt by having to run through the barren Hyrule Field again in search for side quest progression.