Modern Sonic controls like a dream. It's a notable improvement over Unleashed and Generations, both at slow and high speeds. The homing attack feels more responsive and satisfying, and Sonic actually kicks back off the enemy a little, so it's fun to do. Ground Boosts and Air Boosts now chain together smoothly. In past games, jumping while boosting made you lose momentum, and air boosting was just a short burst. In this game, Air Boost can be held for as long as you have energy, and landing while air boosting means you just continue boosting while you run. Jumping while boosting keeps your momentum. Also, if you Air Boost while carrying upward momentum, you keep that momentum (past games cancelled it), resulting in Sonic flying in an arc. It's really fun to do. Sonic also does have a definite sense of momentum to him, even more so than past 3D titles. Jumping off a slope at high speed will send him FLYING. Sonic is also tight and responsive at slower speeds. Platforming feels pretty comfortable.
However, I have two gripes with what I played - one, the level design. I'm sorry, but it has to be said. These 3D sections are as narrow as a stage from Crash Bandicoot 1, only without the clever platforming challenges that make use of 3D perspective. Literally, if all of the 3D sections are like this, then they may as well have made the game entirely 2D. It's also mostly a literal straight line. For what it's worth though, the 2D level design is very solid. It's got multiple layers and paths and flows quite nicely. So in summary, the 3D sections feel like Sonic Colours but even worse, while the 2D sections feel more like Unleashed and Generations.
The other issue is automation. And no, I don't mean loop set pieces and the like, that's never bothered me in moderation. I'm talking about how sometimes, while running on fairly level terrain, the game locks Sonic to the center of it. You can stop, but you can't wiggle left or right at all. There are also occasionally invisible scripts that propel you forward if you jump over a boost pad or something. It's like sometimes the game is afraid to let you do anything even slightly differently from what the developers have in mind. This is only in 3D from what I noticed, 2D sections don't seem to have this problem.
Now for the Avatar.
Most of what I said for Modern Sonic applies here. Just with a few differences, and just ignore the Boost stuff since the Avatar doesn't have it. The level, as far as I could play (it's impossible to get past the cinematic train scene because of the dumb demo timer) didn't have any 2D sections (I know from PR footage that there is one after the train scene though). The 3D level design was a little more involved and wide here too, for the most part. Nothing spectacular, but I can tell it's definitely a little later in the game.
The Avatar feels stiffer than Modern Sonic, but it's not nearly as bad as early footage implied. You can reliably stop and turn the Avatar mid-jump now (except when at high speeds but that's expected). They seem to accelerate in tiers though, rather than gradually getting faster, which feels a bit off IMO. The grappling hook works fine, it's really just a glorified homing attack though (literally and figuratively). Sometimes it also happens automatically. The Wispons help add some variety. My favourite was actually the Lighting Wispon. The whip attack sends you hurtling forward momentarily if you hold a direction while using it, meaning it works like a short dash maneuver. In mid-air, it's really useful for making it across gaps quicker or for just accelerating your jump. It has more speedrun potential than Burst and Cube, at least. I also liked the sample Avatar characters. Cat girl, Wolf girl, and Dog girl were pretty and cute.
Overall, I find the Avatar level the most fun of three, as far as the demo goes.
Can't say much for Classic Sonic though. I don't understand why they chose a boss as a demo level for him, it just doesn't demonstrate what his main game mechanics are. He feels fine from what I can tell, I guess, pretty similar to Generations. Also, Japanese Eggman calls him "Chibi Sonic", which I thought was funny.
As for the game's performance on Switch, it's fine. 720p, 30 FPS is not my preference so I'm sticking with the PS4 Pro version. But it runs without any frame drops from what I could tell, and looks quite nice in handheld mode. The graphics have also improved a bit, though are still noticeably below the other versions. A lot of models have less polygons on the Switch version (most notable in Space Port), but as a Switch game compared to other Switch games, it is pretty top of the class in the visuals department anyway. It looks better than Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2 and other titles like that despite being a downgraded port of a game made for stronger hardware.
That demo time limit needs to go though, if they release a localised demo. I reckon they will on tomorrow's Sonic Official stream.
That's a significant part of my childhood gone right there.
