This game feels like the bad amalgamation of a studio with way too many ideas but no idea how to execute on any of them well, so everything is just spread thin. Not to mention that Sonic is stiff as hell in this game, especially when you jump.

Moreover, this game has the same issue as most open world games seem to in that the open world, or in this case open areas, is a bona-fide checklist for progression, stat increases, etcetera. I would at least be able to stand this if the world at least looked nice, but the world itself has barely any polish, and is largely barren (especially after the first island!). Island design is also extremely questionable in the third island which is where I dropped the game lol.

If there's anything in this game I can say that I appreciate, it's the direction they decided to take the story in: the writing style this time around feels more anime-esque(?) which is something I think works pretty well for Sonic actually, and I think it could be cool if the series kept going in this direction in the future.

Honestly, I couldn't even bring myself to appreciate the Cyberspace levels because they are rehashed level design from previous games, which COULD be fun if Sonic actually controlled well. I'd much rather just play these levels in their original context where they're fun.

I cannae be arsed to write any more for this, so I'm just gonna say this game majorly disappointed me, especially given that Sonic Team had a LOT of time to develop it, with a longer development cycle than other Sonic games. Sonic Team is better at making Puyo Puyo games lol