For VGBees, Sean Aitchison opined that Sonic should really pick a direction and stick to it:
Sonic games of the last two decades have all had some “bold and new” element shoehorned into 3D Sonic gameplay — which has itself never fully been polished enough to form a solid base to support these new ideas. Sonic is amorphous, no longer bold for experimenting, now just a nebulous concept that is in desperate need of decisive direction lest it become the wrong kind of blur. Sonic is becoming the modern Mickey Mouse: lacking identity and trying to be anything and everything while still being nothing at all.
Sonic doesn’t need to keep trying new ideas or rehash old ones banking on pure nostalgia, it needs to choose a direction and see it through to its best possible self.
As much as I love Sonic, I haven’t really engaged with the franchise as a whole beyond the early era games, some toys, and the movies. But lately, he’s everywhere and not really excelling in anything. And the games haven’t been world beaters either. The last one I played and enjoyed was Sonic Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii and even then it was like, “see ya!” and off to a new experiment.
My boy deserves better!
