Sonic has a good game again! I really enjoyed the open world aspect of this. Running around and exploring all the islands while finding new things was peak for me. Sonic has a bunch of new moves for combat which felt great to use all the time. I found myself doing combos naturally after a bit. It's nothing hard to learn, but it is satisfying.

Few negatives to list here:
-Boss fights can be a little dragged out which does make them a tad frustrating with certain bosses.
-Mini-games, outside of fishing, are bland and one specific one requires way too much time to complete with random chance. And it is required to beat for the main story.
-The cyber levels themselves. Some are good. Some are just kinda okay. Nothing bad though. There are story reasons for this but I wish there was at least a couple more themes for these levels, just for visual variety.

Speaking of story, it's good. It's been a long while since we've had a decent semi-serious story. It's not mind blowing or anything, but Sonic acts like Sonic should and his quips are kept to when they make sense, not used all the time. His interactions with the other characters are also well written and come off as genuine. Everybody feels like themselves again and I have missed that in Sonic games for years. Even Eggman is given some depth this time, and it fits him so well.

Sonic Team made something fun again. Yes there are still flaws, but they have an incredible base to build from here and I hope they don't abandon it to chase trends or other unwanted fluff that Sonic doesn't need in the future.

I'm just happy to fully enjoy playing a modern Sonic game again all these years later after Generations.