this game is a lot more impressive than sa2, my old review can go fuck itself. there's definitely this feel of adventure and childlike joy, and the story is closer to the series' core instead of being y2k edgekino as good as that is to some extent. all of the character types control and play better than in adventure 2 (knuckles' radar not being fucking horrendous helps a lot) and (except for big) they don't feel shoehorned in, they play at least some part in the story and lead up to the finale. adventure hubs definitely make this game a lot more soulful as well as the shoddy cutscenes, it's just got a lot of charm
story is actually very impressive for a sonic game and the game itself is just very innovative for the series and for gaming in general, in terms of graphics and gameplay for the time, this definitely deserves a 7 at least but i'll add a point for nostalgia factor