Pressing the right trigger acts as a dash for evading attacks, but it eventually can be powered up as an offensive move. The dash also comes in handy during bits of platforming as it allows Ayumi to cling on exotic corals and swish from one to the other. Rounding out her abilities is the Time Rewind, which plays back your previous actions; thus creating a doppelganger. This allows you to tag-team enemies with your shadow self for double damage (or triple, if used correctly) and is also handy for switch-operating puzzle solving.

Leveling up is generous as you’ll earn XP for just about any of your efforts. Matchmaking in lobbies is decently fair, but it can be problematic once the matches start. There is no auto-balancing when a team of two is unfairly pitted against a team of six due to a drop out. Aside from that, online play is smooth and lobby creation is quick and easy. Offline players should take note that there are no modes for a split-screen experience and there isn’t a single-player campaign apart from a tutorial and a decent Challenge mode. These challenges definitely deliver some bite when trying to score gold medals and are welcome components to the package.

Attempting to set itself apart from the pack is Bryce’s unique ability to literally be torn to pieces and still fully function (he’s immortal, you see). You can tear off your own head and chuck it into air shafts or even obtain perks that turn your severed arms into grenades. Whether you do it to yourself or are simply dismembered or decapitated by an enemy, you’ll be able to coax your limbs and torso back together, regenerate them or even roll around as a severed head.

Platforming titles depend on their jumping mechanics to make them good, and here the jumping height falls a bit short, making for some disappointing stage navigation and sometimes cheap deaths. Wiimote utilization is decent and mostly responsive, featuring moves such as arching up to aim bomb throws or eavesdropping by listening to the built-in speaker. It’s not without hiccups, though, and a couple of functions like the loose and finicky lock-picking seem to steer away the fun. And oddly, the camera doesn’t simply follow your cursor as you play. The need to hold “Z” while pointing to move the camera seems redundant and unmotivated. Overall, the controls could use some refining in just about every department — even a little tweaking could have bumped them from average to good, or maybe even great.

There’s a decent set of modes and options to customize your dance session. Along with simple quick play and dance-off modes, gamers can earn new avatars and costumes in a street crew campaign mode. A nifty Fitness mode tracks calories loss with preset set lists to give players the burn they crave. Custom set lists can also be created in almost any mode as well. Need practice? The Break It Down mode let’s you practice each individual move per song at your desired pace.

Controls are decently responsive with most of the action mapped to stick and face buttons. However, they’re still tainted with the same flaws that have existed throughout the series. Classic Sonic’s jumping ability has never been his strong suit and sadly his stubby imperfect hop hasn’t been fine tuned here either. In Act Two, Sonic’s homing attacks are still dodgy and running at breakneck speeds can feel a little loose. In some cases, these quirks can result in cheap platforming deaths that Sonic players know all too well. However, like in past great titles, Sonic is a blast to harness when he’s at his fastest, and dealing with his control flaws becomes second nature.