In recent years we received a bunch of Sonic titles here and there and not too many of them were good.
The franchise came a long way after a disastrous Sonic'06 and apart from some titles it really is appealing to Sonic fans.
Game itself is quite good. Some bugs still present and what actually really bothered me the most is kinda "slippery"controls, which sometimes went unpredictable wrong and tendency to throw you out of the path in some areas. Also for some reason controls have a little delay before execution, which sometimes can lead to frustration.
As many people complained about too many "Sonic-alike"characters, it seems like developers listened and tried creating an interesting mechanic, which would not go at the same time against the canon as "Speed was always the key". And I must say, though I was skeptical about that avatar thing, I am amazed they did it right, though the wispons were obvious rip-off of "Sonic Colors".
Reading the review of Gamespot I laughed at it. It seems weird to me, that reviewer called stages in the game short and at the same time stated that his favourite game is "Sonic Colors", which actually has the shortest stages of ALL "Sonic"games.
In this case I think the stages are perfect. Not too long as not to get boring and at the same time not too short as well. Everything should be perfectly balanced.
Also they took what was good about "Sonic Generations" and implemented it well into the game. It fits perfectly and Classic Sonic stages are very enjoyable.
Sound, music and pace of the game are very well done.
Also shame that the game is fairly short in itself, though wispons add a little to the replayability as you can experiment with different tactics to cut down completion time. Also there are many branching paths and getting all red stars can be pretty challenging in some levels.
So I gave it a 7. I think it is a very good game in Sonic franchise, but still long way from being perfect. Best of luck to the developers and Happy New Year!!!
VERDICT:
GOOD:
Sound and music are enjoyable.
Interesting Avatar mechanic which is fun to experiment with and it doesn't break the pace of the game.
Stage length is balanced well as not to get boring and maintaining focus.
Many branching paths in levels and wispon mechanic add a lot of challenge.
BAD:
Game itself is fairly short.
Some control issues
Some bugs during missions, which can lead to frustration in some levels (was always like this in 3D Sonic games)