You’re describing every Sonic release.

Lots of people will keep saying it was good until the next announcement at which point they’ll admit that it was bad but the new one actually looks good

You have to understand, it's sonic fans claiming its a good game. They've been left starving for something actually fun for so long that their standards couldn't really get any lower.

The fact they did something new while also creating a game that some sonic fans find fun is astonishing.

It certainly wasn't incredible, but for Sonic a 6-7/10 is basically a 9/10 to hardcore Sonic fans. That's okay, and it means the game inherently isn't for everyone. It's got lots of issues, but I think if you can look past the surface level details it has a lot that it does right too.

It's definitely, from the position of a jaded fan who tried it after years of ignoring (and occasionally playing because they're so bad) Sonic releases because of the poor quality, the best release in a long time.

It's a very uneven game (some 9/10 "this is cool!" gameplay loops bundled together with some 3/10 "how did this ever get released?" segments) and definitely not for everybody. The object pop-ins were noticeable, the sudden 2D-perspective-locks on later islands were worse, and it took me a while to really find a groove and get into the game, but once I did I had a great time with it.

If you want to continue playing, I recommend hunting down and completing all the "?" map challenges before working on other objectives. Some of them are designed to train necessary but non-obvious skills, and having a full map makes it a lot easier to get around and pick your battles.

Also, starfall events give you so many fishing tokens that Big's fishing minigame becomes the single best way to gather resources and level up. It's totally gamebreaking but it's Big the Cat so it's great.