I was curious for this game to pop up on the queue because there's a lot to talk about, but honestly, I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to say about it while I'm currently typing. I could say what all the other reviewers say, such as: This game, from a sound perspective, should never have gotten the green light. Characters talk over each other, and it's a mess (even for Sega in the Early 2000s, but I don't really want to talk about that, but more my personal experience with this game. As a young child, I knew who Sonic and his friends were, but I had very minimal exposure to the franchise because I grew up in a Nintendo/PlayStation household. I only ever got to play the old Sonic games when my brother's friend would bring over his Genesis (which never happened). I actually didn't know about this game until the GameCube version came out a couple years later, and I was browsing my local Blockbuster and rented it on a whim. When I got home, I loved it.
I grew up playing games like Wild Arms, where there are multiple characters who have their own stories during the prologue that all come together later, so with that said, the three-character story with different types of stages was a super cool idea, and having a hero and a villain side of the story is really neat too. With that being said, the three branches of gameplay vary in quality. The speed stages are great, the shooting stages range from good to crap, and the treasure hunting stages can be okay depending on RNG, but for the most part, they're a poorly designed mess, a waste of time in gaming. (Maybe I'll get fully into detail if I ever make a video review.) But this is supposed to be a quick blurb, dammit!) Overall, do I recommend this game? (Maybe is the best I got for you.) It depends on your tolerance for BS RNG in the treasure stages, but if you can get past that, the speed stages are a lot of fun, and the shooting stages are okay. I can definitely see people either loving it or hating it because there is a lot to enjoy here. My last playthrough of this game I didn't finish, however, so take that for what it's worth.