User blog comment:WaterKirby1994/Why Sonic Forces is the Right Path for Future Sonic Games/@comment-477304-20171116164226/@comment-2202259-20171116224233

The levels don't feel all that short, you can really take your time on some of them, & there have been past games where acts could be cleared in less than 2 minutes like Sonic 2, yet Sonic 2 is 1 of the better Sonic Games. Also you have to realize the only reason Classic Sonic even appears in game is because he was overpraised in Generations.

Sure a couple of Metropolis levels look ugly, although a lot happens in a couple of the levels actually. Stage 16: Capital City has a heck of a lot happen, Stage 20: Guardian Rock had the Giant Crab legs throughout the stage trying to crush you & then ends with 1 chasing you & throwing large rocks at you. Stage 24: Null Space you start the stage in an alternate dimension, escape it by Double Boosting, then clear an epic stage, Stage 25: Imperial Tower, You have solar deathrays chase you starting after a certain point.

As for the Direct Sequel, could happen if Eggman gets another Phantom Ruby & then has Infinite recreate his fortresses, then proceeds to take back much of the world. I even heard a fan theory that perhaps the ending didn't happen as we were led to believe & it was all an illusion created by Eggman or Infinite to buy more time by means of fooling the heroes into thinking they won. Now that fan theory I heard sounds quite promising if that really was revealed as what happened