Yeah, I think I like the first one better, even though I expected this game to blow it's predecessor out of the water.
Sly 2 is really fun. Sometimes. Now, this is the game that really gave Sly it's own identity as a series with a bigger focus on stealth and traversal. That being said - man is this shit annoying.
So in Sly 1 you had linear platformer levels. They were all unique, quick and fun. You had little open areas but they were more like hubs for selecting your next level. Sly 2 gives you around 5 open areas to explore freely. Ambitious, sure, but I honestly prefer the linear structure from the first game. In Sly 2 you run in circles around the same area doing the same things over and over again. While Bentley and Murray do bring some variety to the game, it's very short-lived, as almost all of their quests boil down to the same things. I found Sly 2's structure to be tedious and repetitive. Add the bullshit enemy placement and small FOV that make it really hard to sneak around without getting 17 enemies on your head who leave you with no option other than using the smoke bomb and running away, and the experience becomes exhausting. By the end I just really wanted this game to be over.
But it does get points for telling me to go outside after the credits rolled. Good advice.

Just pure fun. Filled me with this childlike sense of excitement, really made the PS5 feel like something grand. A fantastic showcase of the wonderful DualSense controller and a great trip through PlayStation history. It was so fun finding all the little references to different games, looking at the creative level design and collecting all the different consoles and accessories that have been beautifully recreated as detailed 3D models.
This game really does remind me of the old PlayStation, in the best way possible. You know, the pre-Uncharted PlayStation. A shame they'll probably never make something like this again.
And it's free!

Well, not much to complain about here. Basically all I could wish for in a modern Sonic game. All of Frontiers' faults in my eyes are absent here. Dream Team is focused, has a great gameplay flow, sense of speed, momentum and generally well-functioning physics, responsive movement with both a controller and touch controls. The final boss was actually good for once.
The most striking thing, from it's initial reveal, was the visual identity of the game. It, oh great heavens, has one! Unlike a certain other Sonic game... The levels are vibrant, filled with actual character, the character models, after a few small tweaks, are finally expressive and well animated, and it all just looks really good, especially for a mobile game. Seems like they actually had a vision for this one. It also ran really well on my iPhone 11.
Then again, the game isn't without it's flaws. As it is, unfortunately, a mobile game, the difficulty level is... low. Understandable, as most people will play this with touch controls, but it is a fault nonetheless. It didn't really bring much challenge to the table. The soundtrack is pretty weak, with few songs that are repeated constantly. And none of them are particurarly good. It is, however, better than whatever Ohtani cooked up for cyberspace in Frontiers. It was also pretty hard to see stuff at times, but that is the fault of the device.
If I were to say what this game reminds me of, I would say Spark 3 and Super Mario 3D Land. Spark 3 because it really seems like Hardlight played the game and thought "Ey, why not try doing this?" and 3D Land because this feels like Sonic's 3D Land, if you know what I mean.
As sad as it is to say, the best 3D Sonic game since 2011's Generations is a mobile game not even made by Sonic Team. I do hope they make something in a similar vain to Dream Team but with a wider scope, a full console experience with beautiful graphics, even better gameplay feel, great soundtrack... but it's Sonic we're talking about. I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Had a really great time with this one. Some things are much better than in the previous games, the highlights being the flow of the game, graphics and voice acting. The game felt smoother than SH and SH2, I didn't really have to use the guide, although I did that a few times due to the repetitive nature of this game's environments, especially towards the end. There wasn't a lot of aimless running around here. The graphics are a huge step-up. The level of detail is stunning. There are no pre-rendered cutscenes because they're not really needed. The voice acting, specifically Heather's voice acting, is muuch better. I don't know if the direction in SH2 was purposeful or not, but Heather's actress did a fenomenal job in bringing the character to life. I like Heather overall, she's a really good character, very likeable, unlike James from the previous game. There are also a lot of things that went worse this time around, though. The atmosphere just didn't work for me, I didn't feel any tension. The game went back to a more industrial feel for the Otherworld and it's not as atmospheric as SH2. The story is not very deep, especially coming after SH2's fenomenal handling of that aspect. It does hearken back to SH1 in a significant way, but it's just not very personal. The stakes are higher, but I don't feel invested.
Overall, still a great game that I had a good time with, but ultimately worse than SH2, simply due to the atmosphere and story. I like Heather though. Great gal.