Well for a speed rush this is a nice game, but to the Sonic franchise, an insult.
GAMEPLAY:
Well it takes some getting used to but I can say this is really challenging, pretty, yet it's also very frustrating as well with the hard to master controls. But even so at times, it's pretty fun. My real main gripe is at times you have to turn the joystick around really fast at times and the only way to spin it at maximum speed is to turn it with your palm which can damage it. That was very idiotic to include.
GRAPHICS:
The one thing I hate about games the most as they trick more people into thinking a game will be awesome when it plain sucks, however with this game I will cut some slack to the matter for once, because for once, the graphics really were a good thing, in movement, they added the feel of speed, the most realistic feel of it yet, So I'd say the only thing this game is good for is speed. You get that and you can finally be finished with Sonic.
SOUND:
To me this was the BIGGEST disappointment in the game. First of the music was terrible, Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Rush were better then this, and possibly to a small extent, Sonic Heroes (Music was the only thing I hated about Sonic Heroes). The worst part is probably the voices, now when Shadow the Hedgehog was coming out, I heard of the replacements and thought this could be bad, though I actually took the voices pretty well in Shadow the Hedgehog (with a few exceptions) which made me think those 4Kids Sonic X voices being in the games may not be such a bad thing, but when this game came out, boy was I wrong, the voices were worse in this game, WAY WORSE! I didn't notice Sonic too much in Shadow the Hedgehog and his differences, probably because he was a minor character in that game, but in this game, firing Ryan Drummond was the BIGGEST mistake Sega ever made, he's so deep and so mellow now that he sounds like an emotionless and nothing but sarcastic wanna be cool guy, especially when he goes "Yeah" the way he does compared to the cooler and much more enthusiastic way he said it in the old games when voiced by Ryan, Especially in Sonic Advance 3. And the way the lines like "Even without wings, I can still fly!" were said and "Well I don't think he's all talk ya know, I better be on my toes during this competition." and in the first scene how he said "All right, now we're talking!" Sonic doesn't even really sound like a Teenager anymore Listen for yourself:
http://media.putfile.com/VOICE-COMPARISON---Sonic
And as Cream is in this game and a comparison of her is done, listen to how much worse she got as well:
http://media.putfile.com/VOICE-COMPARISON---Cream
The others aside from Sonic in this game were Tails. Look I know a lot of people didn't like how his voices was in Sonic Heroes, but if you have ever heard his voice in Japanese in Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 and maybe even "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" & "Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)" you may feel the voice is not that bad. At least he still SOUNDED like a little boy in Sonic Heroes which makes sence because William Corkery is a child voice actor just like ALL of Tails' previous voice actors were Child Voice Actors all the way starting from "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog". Tails' Adventure voice actor had to be replaced as he grew up, With Amy Palant voicing Tails, it's terrible, he now sounds NOTHING like a little boy, and ONLY like a girl, which makes sence as Amy Palant's voice for Tails has pretty much been used only for females on crappy 4Kids dubs. And hearing his shouts while playing as him in the game is SO annoying with that out of character voice. Knuckles has improved a little but a little TOO gruff still. Rouge is offencive all around with her voice and look combined in this game. Jet sounds WAY too much like Sonic's crappy 4Kids voice with the exception of being even MORE annoying (makes sence though, Jason Griffith is voicing both Sonic and Jet in this). Omochao sounds different too thanks to Amy Palant, on one side it shows how bad she really is at doing a boy's voice with more then just Tails, on the other hand Omochao would be annoying with either voice in this game has he constantly talks while you are trying to play the game so I can let that one slide. Pretty much I want to punch most of the 4Kids actors in the face hard (especially Jason Griffith) for what they have done to my favorite characters, Sonic's no fun anymore the way he talks and sounds.
OVERALL:
I would not recommend this game to ANYONE, but the fact that many over obsessed to the MUST HAVE Sonic fans have bought this already is sickening, it's pretty much showing that Sonic is becoming a drug and people will buy it even if it sucks. Rent It or Buy It Used Off Of EBay people. Actually just rent it, Buying it is a complete waste of money. I thought Shadow the Hedgehog was bad, but compared to this, I prefer Shadow the Hedgehog. It was less annoying and frustrating then this crap.