Firstly, this game is BEAUTIFUL and the music is god tier. The game controls quite well however I have one gripe in which going upside down sometimes changes the direction I need to hold to maintain max speed seemingly randomly and I hate it so much. Otherwise, fine and ray in particular controls like a dream. This game is a really nice spectacle as a first playthrough, however you'll eventually notice this game is SO EASY. There is virtually 0 challenge in the bosses, in the level design or in the fact there are no true game overs, you have a billion continues and you probably aren't even dying in the first place. Encore mode understands this and has your penalty for death instead be that you can't play as the character you want, but this is honestly just a weird inconvenience more than anything. Further, this game gives you so many characters and yet apart from the few knuckles exclusive areas, zones feel basically the same no matter who you play as, with very little extra exploration unlike sonic 3. Even trying to beat this game fast is a headache as most fast routes are hyper specific rather than being intuitive map knowledge stuff like sonic 2. You can boot this game up to run through it to turn your brain off, but don't expect replays of this game to be all that thrilling. Also why the fuck is oil ocean here. 3/5