Typical

I would say Street Fighter, but I prefer King of the Fighters over them two series. I didn't really get into Mortal Kombat... I just thought it was kind of a gimmick (at first) because it used pre-rendered sprites... and blood. And people like that, going as far as calling the Genesis version of Mortal Kombat (2 I think it was) better than the SNES version just because the Genesis/Mega Drive version had blood and the SNES didn't, while disregarding the fact that the Genesis only has 4 buttons, and it resorts to using the start button to block. I'm pretty sure the newer games aren't that bad. I have played Mortal Kombat 9 on Xbox 360 and it was quite interesting, but that was before I started to get into traditional fighters like SF, MK, KOF, etc...

I am aware that the drift isn't "realistic", but this is a Sonic game, it doesn't have to be realistic in every single aspect, especially if the "realism" may change how the game is. We're talking about a blue hedgehog that runs on two legs, can accelerate incredibly fast, and even side step while remaining the same top speed. I prefer it in Generations since I felt like it gave the player more control in the actual stages. My point wasn't that Unleashed had less 3D sections, my point was I personally found that the 3D sections in Generations actually made better use of 3D platforming compared to Unleashed, despite how much Generations incorporated the 3D sections into the Modern Sonic stages, or the game itself. If you're bringing Classic Sonic into the discussion, I could also say the Werehog stages are even less relevant, since the games literally goes from a platformer to a Beat 'em up with some crazy puzzles thrown in. But that's the past the point, both games have a somewhat equal split between Modern Sonic and Classic Sonic/Werehog, so we're just talking about the Modern Sonic stages (and which game had used the boost mechanic best - exclusive to modern sonic) Those are just my two pennies' worth though.

if you mean Sonic Unleashed, I'd personally argue that Generations did it better since the level design was improved a bit (for example, I felt that game actually used a bit more real 3D platforming) and the drift works better too. But Forces definitely is the worst than Unleashed and Forces, and you point still holds true. I think you could say that about classic sonic physics.

Yeah I agree. Although when I first saw the review, my thoughts were "Well, this wasn't unexpected", I still thought it'd be best to wait for more reviews to see what the majority thinks.

Yeah I know that, it's just that if 2D platformers are allegedly unpopular in Japan, shouldn't that be a reason to discourage Sega from making Boost games like that? And it makes even less sense since we already have classic sonic to represent the 2D sections.

Why aren't Modern Sonic's levels fully 3D then? We still get the 2D section even when Classic sonic was in 2 games with Modern Sonic

I don't know, really. I thought the boost mechanic was interesting at first, but every time it came back, I started to like it less and less. Although it may look cool when people speedrun through those kind of games, for me, it's not really that enjoyable. Sonic simply moves too fast that having any actual platforming in 3D will be difficult. I feel like the concept relies on a lot of trial and error, not saying that every other game lacks this aspect, but it feels more prevalent in the boost games for me. Once I saw that boost was back in Forces, a lot of my interest simply went away.

Yeah, I thought that bit was really unrealistic too, since they should have all been incinerated by it. It would've been much better if the sun wasn't literally about to touch them.

What I don't get is the whole "Infinite is faster than Sonic?" subplot thing that they had going on in the beginning. Because after sonic was saved, it seemed like they were evenly matched in speed or something, like at first I thought Infinite was going to be really strong and they'd have to think of something really smart to beat him, but really I don't get how they did that exactly.

Even with those "rehashed levels", for me it seems like they try to add a lot of new elements to the stages, like in Chemical Plant Zone Act 2, you are actually like in a big Plant, and most of the stages borrow elements from even other games. I do wish Sonic Mania had original levels throughout, but I feel like this could've been easier as they already had assets to work with, and it seemed that Sega were looking forward to making a more celebratory game.