Let me begin by saying I love this game. I’m only 9 hours in and while I do have some issues with it, overall I am having a fantastic time with it. I’m playing the Switch version that got dumped online before the official release of Nov. 8th using the Switch emulator Ryujinx. Now, the emulator itself had a number of stability issues that weren’t related to how the game would perform on actual hardware. There were frequent crashes, freezes, slowdown, and low framerates throughout the whole experience. …And yet it never really impacted my enjoyment of the game itself! The emulator issues were frustrating, but the game itself never was. I hope that alone shows how fun this game is.

The game is very melancholic. That’s a new tone the Sonic series has never really tackled in the games. You feel very alone on the Starfall Islands (despite the Koco populating the island). It feels sad, but it’s not off putting. Running around at a leisurely pace is oddly relaxing to me, especially on the first island. The forest is a great setting that fits the melancholic mood. The second and third islands were less great, but the melancholy was still there.

The characters are more reactive than proactive. Things just kinda happened around them and the characters more or less just stand there and watch. However, what it is they react to is indeed left me wanting to figure out what was going on. There were many “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” type moments, especially at the beginning.

The story beats don’t change from this “What is happening? What is Cyberspace? Who are the Ancients? What are the Koco?” focus even after 3 islands in. After 8 hours of no meaningful plot progression, the mystery gets stale. I was left hoping for more plot progression by the third island.

The side story sequences are for the most part very unsubstantial. They take a previous cutscene and make a more concentrated version of it. You get some nice dialogue, though! It’s fun if you happen to come across a side story, but they weren’t really worth actively seeking them out.

The character dialogue is where it’s at! For the first time since the Adventure series and the Storybook series, I can honestly say that these characters finally speak like actual characters and not caricatures. The voice acting and voice direction is a welcome change of pace. At no point did I think, “Oh, god, shut the hell up please? This is embarrassing” like I did with Colors and Lost World. This is no doubt thanks to the amazing work of Ian Flynn, the writer of the IDW comics. The dialogue feels like it came right out of the comics themselves and I am so thankful for that.

Sonic feels like he has weakness and that he’s not literally always on top of things, but that never stops him from trying his best to do the right thing and even be a lil’ cocky while doing it.

The music is all fantastic, but none of it stood out as catchy like previous games. Even the Super Sonic boss fights aren’t memorable, but I think that’s because of the sheer amount of noise from the sound effects. The SS boss fight music is absolutely 100% kickass, don’t get me wrong!!

The platforming that occurs in the open world involves mostly rail grinding. There isn’t much platforming to be done while on the ground.

Occasionally, I ran into bugs where the springs positioned at the end of a rail wouldn’t activate and Sonic would clip through the spring, sometimes leading to death. There were situations where I could react quickly enough and get back onto the rail and attempt to use the spring again. Though this is an issue that crops up sometimes, I give props to the controls that I was able to make such quick life-saving maneuvers.

The Cyberspace levels are for the most part fun! The levels that are modeled after previous games like Unleashed and Adventure 2 are the most fun. The Adventure 2 levels are the most fun because they are the most expansive and have the most turns where the typical boost level designs are very straight and narrow. Also, I hope you like Green Hill Zone because most of the levels use that theme! There are other level themes (Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary, and a city theme), but by far the most common one is Green Hill.

The graphics on the Switch version are serviceable but not great. When things like trees and bushes are far away but still kinda close, they use a very noticeable pixel art texture before the model is loaded in fully as you get closer. They straight up look like Minecraft textures. If you can get acclimated to this, you will hardly notice it as you play it on Switch. It’s clear the Switch is the least good port, but if it’s your only option, it isn't necessarily a bad one!