Right, all reasonable gripes but as I said, taking personal bias out of it and just looking at it as a game wouldn't you say it's the best of them?
Classic Sonic for Classic fans (also for what it's worth this is the best Classic Sonic has controlled in a 3D iteration to date), Modern Sonic for Modern fans, and call backs to almost all of the major Sonic games, not to mention THE best soundtrack in the series where you can pick and choose what song plays in what stage, a well sized art gallery, boss fight call backs to Shadow, Silver, and Metal Sonic, and a decent enough story that allows for the time jumping to make sense.
Yeah, I agree the sidequests are superfluous but they're almost entirely optional and, hey, at least they're there. Most Sonic games don't have that stuff.
And on top of all that the replayability of the game is really high because of the different routes, the red star rings, and mastering the two different styles.
So, do you see where I'm coming from? It might not be everyone's favorite but I think, as a game, it's Sonic's best.