I was worried the spark of insanity would be missing from this since there's no more Big the Cat or Omega, but then you spawn into your first Tails level in a mech suit and I knew it would all be okay. Sort of feels like a hangover after the pure exuberant party of SA1, with a lot of great aspects (Sonic and Shadow levels, score, storytelling), but some weird steps back that probably improved it for a lot of people but took away from the magic of the first game for me. I miss the Adventure towns, the people to talk to, the real coherency there was to the world in that game. SA1 is a proper adventure, where 2 is a collection of pretty fun video game levels. Treasure hunting I'm split on, the radar nerf and huge size of the stages are frustrating, and it was a funny impulse to give Hunnid P a new vocal track for every Knucks stage, but when you're ten minutes in on the 5th loop of the song it hurts more than it helps (Rouge's stages aren't afflicted by this and the music bangs). Mech stages are about the same. I still don't understand the Chao Garden but I respect the ambition of whatever the fuck it is. Live and Learn advanced video games as an art form by decades