I liked this game quite a bit, but I see the issues with it. The boss fights are pretty rough, especially the endgame bosses, though I think people are really exaggerating their issues. Compared to the original games all ending on long, drawn out fights with zero rings and limited lives, I think this game’s fights are way more forgiving, even with the occasional insta-kill attack that’s clearly telegraphed and not too hard to avoid.

The music is a bit hit or miss as well, though at worst the soundtrack is just okay (except for the Sonic 1 style special stage, that track puts me to sleep). The only real problem I have is how inconsistent the sound is, especially when you’re enjoying some of the Mania-ish Tee Lopes music only to get smacked in the face with boss music straight out of Sonic 4. The main theme is pretty alright I think, Crush 40 did a cover of it for the Sonic Symphony and it sounded great there.

The physics are just about perfect, more than close enough for me to overlook the slight differences. Saw some people complaining that you move too fast to see what’s happening, but I never really had an issue. Then again, people always say that about Sonic and it doesn’t really make sense to me, so maybe I’m just too terminally Sonic-brained for it to bother me.

Overall I had fun, but the game could use a lot more polish and it definitely shouldn’t have been 60 dollars. Maybe some of the multiplayer stuff adds value but I never really touched any of it.