Context - solo Tails Mania Mode run, not all emeralds collected(Yet):

Having bought Mania on release, for a variety of reasons, I hadn't gotten around to actually completing the game (in some form) until now, and I'm honestly not sure whether that's a good thing or not for reasons I can't quite put to words.

It certain plays and has the feel of proper, classic Sonic, that is without a doubt. That said, the length and "complexity" of some of the new stages feels like it's trying far too hard at times, be that from having so many different set pieces or having the stage fold and turn back in on it's self over and over again (perhaps pulling excessively from Metropolis Zone or Scrap Brain Zone(? - it's been a while)); It could also partially be down to the speed(literally) or rapid pace at which it bounces you back and forth with in those constraints: Chemical Plant is the one that obviously comes to mind, not that the original wasn't guilty as well.
Aesthetically and visually it looks fantastic, and all of said set pieces are super fun or amusing, but it does make me wonder if it's reaching slightly into "too much of a good thing" territory. If I'm being entirely honest, some of the Act 2s of the classic stages suffer from a similar problem, except now with the issue of clashing with nostalgia and questioning if toning things down slightly might have been for the better.

Yeah, it's a Sonic game, but some of the bosses felt a bit more repetitive than they needed or could have been, or uninspired mechanically (even if thematically or conceptually great otherwise); Here Studiopolis comes to mind: The weather report is a great comical bit, and a fun idea, but often enough you'll get 2 or 3 heatwaves in a row and you didn't really even need to move or avoid much of anything to beat it. Following, the helicopter bit is a great little set piece, but the drawn out pauses between each hit as the eggrobos go off screen and you're left to run on autopilot for several seconds just makes what could have been a fast paced action scene feel like a slog.

I don't wanna nitpick it to death, and that's honestly most of what all I can muster for it, nitpicks, as I really just felt myself smiling like an idiot for a good portion of my playthrough. Be that from just "enjoying the scenery" as it were and how they built upon both existing levels as well as mixing up their own, or the uncommon but always welcome cute little one off sprites or similar Tails (and I'm sure others) got in different levels; One should not take as much pleasure from freezing a poor little fox in solid block of ice as I was...Mirage Saloon Act 1(Sonic/Tails)'s music sounding straight out of Megaman X6 was just mmmmm

I still need to give Encore Mode more than just a few minutes of toying around in, but all I have to say on it is Ray is doooooork.

...Minus .5 stars for how inconsistent Robotnik Eggman's hitbox is in Titanic Monarch Act 2 tho