This game is an enigma, if one game has the most lost potential, it's this game. In it's current state, my personal score is 3 stars, why? Am I insane? Yeah possibly, but I'm here to justify my stupid score anyway.
Gameplay
The game is split into three campaigns, Sonic, Shadow and Silver. Everyone's controls are serviceable, it's not perfect, but I think the controls get the job done, decently responsive and all.
Sonics levels are fun to speedrun, have a lot of shortcuts and generally fun level design. The mach speed sections are annoying but not impossible, except Crisis City, fuck that.
Silver is interesting, I thought I'd hate his gameplay but I like it because you can manipulate the environment around you to take cool shortcuts, it forced me to think creatively so I would say I enjoyed it. My only complaint is that he's way too slow on the ground.
Shadow's gameplay was mid because it has terrible vehicle sections and focuses on button mashy combat, but it's still ok most of the time because there are still cool shortcuts and platforming to contend with.
Amy, Rouge and Knuckles are TRASH. Bad physics, slow movement and poor combat options.
Tails is just decent, he's slow af on the ground but his air mobility is ok if not a bit gimped.
Omega and Blaze are top tier, great controls, move fast and Omega breaks the game with the infinite floating oversight which is fun to abuse.
"But what about glitches". Well you see, this was a replay, on my first playthrough, I ran into them constantly, but this time, I barely experienced any, and the glitches I did experience were very minor. These glitches shouldn't exist, but for me they aren't a big deal anymore.
Performance is mixed. Sometimes it's locked FPS but when physics and boxes get involved, you'll see major slowdown. Unleashed and Age of Calamity have worse performance and I still enjoy those games a lot. Loading times were a bit annoying, but installing the game off the disc onto the hardrive improves loading times for me.
Overall, I thought the gameplay was "ok", I had above average fun, and thats all that matters tbh.
Story
Sonics story sucks, just straight up sucks. I like his characterisation, but the shtick of rescuing Elise 50 times wears thin quickly.
Silvers story was decent, I like his character. He's like Future Trunks but more naïve, he's not super deep but I find his plight pretty investing and has a great ending.
Shadows story is straight up great. The previous game butchered his character, but this develops his character in meaningful ways. He truly feels like a three dimensional character in this game, the way he subtly shows off his feelings is really well done. And in general I just like the idea of Mephiles trying to tempt him towards revenge again but he rejects it. I liked his story, was the best part of the game. Modern Sega needs to copy this game on how to write Shadow, he's not an edgelord, he's so much more and this game proves it.
The plotholes are numerous... Time travel does that unfortunately. Do plot holes ruin a plot for me? No. I enjoyed Endgame's plot a lot even if the plot holes were just as numerous.
However, there are some frankly stupid story decisions here, like the kidnapping stuff. But also the "don't cry" rule or the damn kiss. Like there are some moments that just take me out of the story. Plotholes don't do this but Elise kissing an animal absolutely does. Ridiculous stuff.
Despite these story issues, the story elements I do enjoy ultimately justify the story for me. I mildly liked it.
Other stuff
The graphics I think are still pretty good, besides the dull hub worlds, the game looks pretty sometimes, the colours of Tropical Jungle or Crisis City are striking. The music is frankly incredible, some of the best music ever composed. The voice acting ranges from serviceable to excellent.
Conclusion - To conclude, I understand the hate towards this game, it frankly DOES deserve it, but I also understand why there are an increasing amount of people who admit they like this game. Instead of following the crowd and feeling guilty for liking this game, I'm just going to be honest.
Thanks for reading
Gameplay
The game is split into three campaigns, Sonic, Shadow and Silver. Everyone's controls are serviceable, it's not perfect, but I think the controls get the job done, decently responsive and all.
Sonics levels are fun to speedrun, have a lot of shortcuts and generally fun level design. The mach speed sections are annoying but not impossible, except Crisis City, fuck that.
Silver is interesting, I thought I'd hate his gameplay but I like it because you can manipulate the environment around you to take cool shortcuts, it forced me to think creatively so I would say I enjoyed it. My only complaint is that he's way too slow on the ground.
Shadow's gameplay was mid because it has terrible vehicle sections and focuses on button mashy combat, but it's still ok most of the time because there are still cool shortcuts and platforming to contend with.
Amy, Rouge and Knuckles are TRASH. Bad physics, slow movement and poor combat options.
Tails is just decent, he's slow af on the ground but his air mobility is ok if not a bit gimped.
Omega and Blaze are top tier, great controls, move fast and Omega breaks the game with the infinite floating oversight which is fun to abuse.
"But what about glitches". Well you see, this was a replay, on my first playthrough, I ran into them constantly, but this time, I barely experienced any, and the glitches I did experience were very minor. These glitches shouldn't exist, but for me they aren't a big deal anymore.
Performance is mixed. Sometimes it's locked FPS but when physics and boxes get involved, you'll see major slowdown. Unleashed and Age of Calamity have worse performance and I still enjoy those games a lot. Loading times were a bit annoying, but installing the game off the disc onto the hardrive improves loading times for me.
Overall, I thought the gameplay was "ok", I had above average fun, and thats all that matters tbh.
Story
Sonics story sucks, just straight up sucks. I like his characterisation, but the shtick of rescuing Elise 50 times wears thin quickly.
Silvers story was decent, I like his character. He's like Future Trunks but more naïve, he's not super deep but I find his plight pretty investing and has a great ending.
Shadows story is straight up great. The previous game butchered his character, but this develops his character in meaningful ways. He truly feels like a three dimensional character in this game, the way he subtly shows off his feelings is really well done. And in general I just like the idea of Mephiles trying to tempt him towards revenge again but he rejects it. I liked his story, was the best part of the game. Modern Sega needs to copy this game on how to write Shadow, he's not an edgelord, he's so much more and this game proves it.
The plotholes are numerous... Time travel does that unfortunately. Do plot holes ruin a plot for me? No. I enjoyed Endgame's plot a lot even if the plot holes were just as numerous.
However, there are some frankly stupid story decisions here, like the kidnapping stuff. But also the "don't cry" rule or the damn kiss. Like there are some moments that just take me out of the story. Plotholes don't do this but Elise kissing an animal absolutely does. Ridiculous stuff.
Despite these story issues, the story elements I do enjoy ultimately justify the story for me. I mildly liked it.
Other stuff
The graphics I think are still pretty good, besides the dull hub worlds, the game looks pretty sometimes, the colours of Tropical Jungle or Crisis City are striking. The music is frankly incredible, some of the best music ever composed. The voice acting ranges from serviceable to excellent.
Conclusion - To conclude, I understand the hate towards this game, it frankly DOES deserve it, but I also understand why there are an increasing amount of people who admit they like this game. Instead of following the crowd and feeling guilty for liking this game, I'm just going to be honest.
Thanks for reading