One of the qualities that made the original so exciting was that they took a step away from the gimicks of the current Sonic games. Every title had to be "Sonic plus something else" that was supposed to make it a Sonic game plus a whole lot more. Examples are...

Sonic Heroes: it's Sonic + three characters at once!
Shadow: It's Sonic + Guns!
Sonic Riders: it's Sonic + Hoverboards!

Unfortunately, this title has suffered the same fate. Instead of spending all of their time and effort on making twice as many levels as before, and maxing out the graphical effects, they've wasted it on an ocean adventure and an unnecessarily long and generic story.

Seriously, does anyone honestly buy a handheld Sonic game for the story? If you're going to make a story, at least make it interesting and worth-while.

Instead we have to listen to a new raccoon character, named Marine, whine about everything before and after every single level. Did I mention she talks like the Crocidile Hunter? Worse yet, after being teased with a 3D in-game cutscene, we spend the rest of the adventure reading everyone's conversations as sprites and text. It's too boring and predictable to care about what they're actually saying, so I advise to skip everything.

I suppose I'm a bit frustrated at the story because it's about an ocean adventure where you sail to each new island on the map to begin the next level. You're given four different vehicles to drive including a waterbike and submarine, which all use different forms of touch-screen control to operate. These are actually pretty enjoyable, but they don't fit in very well with Sonic's universe. I'm sorry, but when I buy a Sonic game, I'm not interested in playing a miniaturized version of Zelda: Wind Waker. Maybe that's just me.

Playing the game gave me the impression that the developer had a bigger picture in their mind for Sonic's adventure, but there's just not enough to do to consider it one. It feels like they got all of the large pieces done (levels, mini-games, missions, world map) but didn't quite know how to glue it all together. So they just used pirates.

You can talk to different people on the island to unlock 100 missions, but there's only about five people to talk to. There are sixteen "hidden" islands, but they are easy to find and even easier to beat. The adventure is only fun for a short while, then it simply gets a little old. It's too bad they didn't let Sonic have a real adventure.

The "adventure" is a fun addition, but is ridiculously limited in feeling like one.

Did I mention they still have the cliché final boss battle as Super Sonic? It's just as 'out of no-where' as ever, and feels even less epic. Didn't see that one coming...

One of the more redeeming qualities of the game is one I didn't even know existed until I was almost finished: it has Wi-Fi multiplayer, which is an excellent addition. It's rare that I get to play Sonic games against other skilled players, so being able to play against others online and get my butt handed to me is quite an excellent feeling.

One of the reasons this title lacks the 'oomph' that the original had is because Hideki Naganuma did not return to do the music again. Instead, three composers tried their hardest to sound like him, but it's simply not enough. I don't think people truly realize how much the music changes the player's experience, but this is a good example.

I pretty much spent this entire review ripping on all of the bad qualities of this game, but don't think I didn't enjoy it. As a fan of Sonic games, the actual gameplay itself is still as much fun as it was before. It's just too bad they spent more time on a forgettable adventure mode than they did on the 'real' game itself.

Verdict: A step in the wrong direction, but still a lot of fun.