With the classic genre, you do a lot more platforming while occasionally going fast. The going fast thing is some sort of brain cooldown, as mostly during these sections, you don't do much other than rolling or running. That's not bad though, as it helps you to shut your brain for a short time down and relax after overcomming a challenge, until you reach (often by throwing you into a mostly vertical section of the level) the next challenges.
Adventure was more about exploration and gimmick gameplay rather then just going to the finish. Now, the purest form of that would be Knuckles/Rogue (Treasure Hunt) and Big (Yeah... the weird fishing thing), but the other characters also use exploration to a certain degree. Sonic/Shadow/SA1Tails are about to find the fastest way possible, in order to rank well enough or beat an rival. In SA2, the best Sonic level to see the exploration elements in is Pyramid Cave, where you have to get off the road at one point of the level to find a key to open a door later on. Sonic Heros also falls into this (don't know about 06 or Shadow because I never played these two) with mostly Chaotix having the exploration theme going almost all the time. Sometimes (at most in Heros) this can be annoying to a certain degree, depending on the stage or game, since as Sonic, most people want to go fast and don't want to look for keys, crystals, or switches. About gimmick gameplay, I think the shooting characters did the best here (gimmick excludes Sonic and Shadow, also the pure speed Levels), as they were still about getting to the end (and eventually beat a boss or something), just with a different way to get there (SA2 fixes the errors/not so well elements from SA Gamma mode).
They kinda tried to combine the fast "going for the finish line" from Classic with the exploration from Adventure, which later resulted into Heros, Unleashed and other, newer games, where Unleashed has Werehog as the gimmick element in here (heck, even the Tornado Minigame from Adventure is... kinda here). The only problem I have with Unleashed (and to a much smaller degree Generations, as Generations did a much better job at the regular levels, not counting the challenge levels), is the fast boosting. While it is fun to crash most enemies with it and running through a stage with the speed of sound (yeah, said that), the leveldesign is kinda frustrating with the sucker punches around every boost section. Even inside the sections, which should be mostly for "Reward for Fun" moments like the genesis games, they put dangers down on your road, which you have to dodge quickly (which are, if you didn't played the level before, almost impossible to dodge while boosting).
I like all three styles of gameplay. Each of them has flaws, as well as good points. There is no perfect game among these.
About the characters in terms of the story. The biggest issue with Sonic games is the story... yeah, again, who plays it for the story? I'm not playing it for the story, but more because of it's gameplay (like most games). But a well made story helps to keep you interessted in the games universe, lore and characters. It's not required to make a well playing game, but it's an ingredient, which can make your games more tasty. At the moment, Sonic (and even a lot of the other characters) doesn't seem to take their universe seriously one bit, giving you the akward feeling of not caring about anything in the game (Why would you even, if they don't do it?).
How the characters are written now, is a huge problem (this was also a problem before modern Sonic... in any Sonic game with a story, to a lower or higher degree... it depends)... while I understand, when people say, that Sonic should be the main focus and the character, what this is all about, he is waaaaaaaaaaaay to powerful, which makes him... unnatural. Beside the not able to swim thing, Sonic as almost no other weakness, making him dominating over everyone, making them obsolete. Heck, even his big bad Eggman has no chance anymore, as he never gets moments anymore, that payoff for him. At least, in Adventure and Classic, his plans kinda worked to a certain part. But now, even if he does something, it seems to do only a little against Sonic, who doesn't have to fear anything, since he can do... everthing to save himself the second he just got into danger... erasing every tension we ever would get.
Tension is not a bad thing... I can help to keep the players attention, like "how is he gonna do that? what will he do?". It also can make him look more badass, if he actually manages to find a way to escape from the danger in the last second (well, at least thats more epic to watch than Sonic just saying "You are a idoit, Eggy", with him escaping the danger in just a second and beating Eggman instantly). Thats what I mean with there is "no balance". The entrie Story of the games are just about Sonic wrecking everthing alone, being a perfect being... and that's all sorts of boring, which is the reason I dispise modern Sonic and other Heros like him (I either like the sidekick/s or main bad more than the main heros because of that).
Give Sonic some flaws and weaknesses, power up the other characters (not to much, but still enough to do "something" besides being kidnapped or shouting at Sonic in order to warn him about enemy attacks) and make Eggy and Sonic having a Ping-Pong Style of Progression with their Stylepoints. Like, let Eggman score a point against Sonic (example, actually finding a way to get rid of him), than Sonic score a point against Eggman (example, by comming back from Eggys "way of getting rid of him" and kick his evil Robobotsbutt). Make both equally strong, not one of them overpowered (Sonic) while the other one has no real chance of a comeback (Eggman). It's okay to make Sonic be afraid of something. It makes him more believable and natural and the game more interessting to follow, unlike how he is now. It's okay to make Eggman actually more threatening, as it helps his reputation as a serious threat for Sonic. He doesn't need to be ultra dark and serious like end-of-the-world kinda Eggman, but he needs to become a worthy opponent, rather than... what he is now (it's hard to describe that).
Adventure was more about exploration and gimmick gameplay rather then just going to the finish. Now, the purest form of that would be Knuckles/Rogue (Treasure Hunt) and Big (Yeah... the weird fishing thing), but the other characters also use exploration to a certain degree. Sonic/Shadow/SA1Tails are about to find the fastest way possible, in order to rank well enough or beat an rival. In SA2, the best Sonic level to see the exploration elements in is Pyramid Cave, where you have to get off the road at one point of the level to find a key to open a door later on. Sonic Heros also falls into this (don't know about 06 or Shadow because I never played these two) with mostly Chaotix having the exploration theme going almost all the time. Sometimes (at most in Heros) this can be annoying to a certain degree, depending on the stage or game, since as Sonic, most people want to go fast and don't want to look for keys, crystals, or switches. About gimmick gameplay, I think the shooting characters did the best here (gimmick excludes Sonic and Shadow, also the pure speed Levels), as they were still about getting to the end (and eventually beat a boss or something), just with a different way to get there (SA2 fixes the errors/not so well elements from SA Gamma mode).
They kinda tried to combine the fast "going for the finish line" from Classic with the exploration from Adventure, which later resulted into Heros, Unleashed and other, newer games, where Unleashed has Werehog as the gimmick element in here (heck, even the Tornado Minigame from Adventure is... kinda here). The only problem I have with Unleashed (and to a much smaller degree Generations, as Generations did a much better job at the regular levels, not counting the challenge levels), is the fast boosting. While it is fun to crash most enemies with it and running through a stage with the speed of sound (yeah, said that), the leveldesign is kinda frustrating with the sucker punches around every boost section. Even inside the sections, which should be mostly for "Reward for Fun" moments like the genesis games, they put dangers down on your road, which you have to dodge quickly (which are, if you didn't played the level before, almost impossible to dodge while boosting).
I like all three styles of gameplay. Each of them has flaws, as well as good points. There is no perfect game among these.
About the characters in terms of the story. The biggest issue with Sonic games is the story... yeah, again, who plays it for the story? I'm not playing it for the story, but more because of it's gameplay (like most games). But a well made story helps to keep you interessted in the games universe, lore and characters. It's not required to make a well playing game, but it's an ingredient, which can make your games more tasty. At the moment, Sonic (and even a lot of the other characters) doesn't seem to take their universe seriously one bit, giving you the akward feeling of not caring about anything in the game (Why would you even, if they don't do it?).
How the characters are written now, is a huge problem (this was also a problem before modern Sonic... in any Sonic game with a story, to a lower or higher degree... it depends)... while I understand, when people say, that Sonic should be the main focus and the character, what this is all about, he is waaaaaaaaaaaay to powerful, which makes him... unnatural. Beside the not able to swim thing, Sonic as almost no other weakness, making him dominating over everyone, making them obsolete. Heck, even his big bad Eggman has no chance anymore, as he never gets moments anymore, that payoff for him. At least, in Adventure and Classic, his plans kinda worked to a certain part. But now, even if he does something, it seems to do only a little against Sonic, who doesn't have to fear anything, since he can do... everthing to save himself the second he just got into danger... erasing every tension we ever would get.
Tension is not a bad thing... I can help to keep the players attention, like "how is he gonna do that? what will he do?". It also can make him look more badass, if he actually manages to find a way to escape from the danger in the last second (well, at least thats more epic to watch than Sonic just saying "You are a idoit, Eggy", with him escaping the danger in just a second and beating Eggman instantly). Thats what I mean with there is "no balance". The entrie Story of the games are just about Sonic wrecking everthing alone, being a perfect being... and that's all sorts of boring, which is the reason I dispise modern Sonic and other Heros like him (I either like the sidekick/s or main bad more than the main heros because of that).
Give Sonic some flaws and weaknesses, power up the other characters (not to much, but still enough to do "something" besides being kidnapped or shouting at Sonic in order to warn him about enemy attacks) and make Eggy and Sonic having a Ping-Pong Style of Progression with their Stylepoints. Like, let Eggman score a point against Sonic (example, actually finding a way to get rid of him), than Sonic score a point against Eggman (example, by comming back from Eggys "way of getting rid of him" and kick his evil Robobotsbutt). Make both equally strong, not one of them overpowered (Sonic) while the other one has no real chance of a comeback (Eggman). It's okay to make Sonic be afraid of something. It makes him more believable and natural and the game more interessting to follow, unlike how he is now. It's okay to make Eggman actually more threatening, as it helps his reputation as a serious threat for Sonic. He doesn't need to be ultra dark and serious like end-of-the-world kinda Eggman, but he needs to become a worthy opponent, rather than... what he is now (it's hard to describe that).