Wears its inspirations on its sleeve admirably. Nice style, though the foley design lacks a certain oomph. The fact that the plot is apparently proceeding apace because the titular character couldn't be bothered to stand in line at a bank is great, I love it. Level design is varied and, credit where it's due, the stages that are built entirely around going fast are pretty good at letting you go fast.

Unfortunately, just like the Sonic Adventure games it draws its most direct inspiration from, it didn't know well enough to stick to its strengths and had to try and throw the kitchen sink in with its travel bag. The controls when Going Fast are just fine, but everywhere else they outdo any single Sonic game for the worst modern platforming controls ever. If you try to turn at more than a 10-degree angle you instantly lose all momentum, and it somehow manages to couple that stiffest turning ever with the slipperiest movement ever, as while not turning at a sharp enough angle you will both accelerate and decelerate very slowly, sliding all over hell's half acre, feeling like you're trying to control a dang car in reverse as you attempt any remotely precision platforming.

Combat is stilted and unsatisfying. The treasure hunt levels manage to be worse than the Sonic ones because you have to look in, under, and behind every nook and cranny without a hint system to find the dumb things, AND while operating under a strict time limit. Even in some of the primarily Go Fast levels it feels the need to disrupt its own flow with awkward fighting-and-platforming sections.

In brief it's like playing Sonic Adventure 2 again with arguably better Sonic stages and far, far worse absolutely everything else. The half-hour I spent was already like pulling teeth and my general impressions from other reviews are that this is the high point of the game. I'm out.

Wears its inspirations on its sleeve admirably. Nice style, though the foley design lacks a certain oomph. The fact that the plot is apparently proceeding apace because the titular character couldn't be bothered to [spoiler]stand in line at a bank[/spoiler] is great, I love it. Level design is varied and, credit where it's due, the stages that are built entirely around going fast are pretty good at letting you go fast. Unfortunately, just like the Sonic Adventure games it draws its most direct inspiration from, it didn't know well enough to stick to its strengths and had to try and throw the kitchen sink in with its travel bag. The controls when Going Fast are just fine, but everywhere else they outdo any single Sonic game for the worst modern platforming controls ever. If you try to turn at more than a 10-degree angle you instantly lose all momentum, and it somehow manages to couple that stiffest turning ever with the slipperiest movement ever, as while [i]not[/i] turning at a sharp enough angle you will both accelerate and decelerate very slowly, sliding all over hell's half acre, feeling like you're trying to control a dang car in reverse as you attempt any remotely precision platforming. Combat is stilted and unsatisfying. The treasure hunt levels manage to be worse than the Sonic ones because you have to look in, under, and behind every nook and cranny without a hint system to find the dumb things, AND while operating under a strict time limit. Even in some of the primarily Go Fast levels it feels the need to disrupt its own flow with awkward fighting-and-platforming sections. In brief it's like playing Sonic Adventure 2 again with arguably better Sonic stages and far, far worse absolutely everything else. The half-hour I spent was already like pulling teeth and my general impressions from other reviews are that this is the high point of the game. I'm out.