Well thanks to my good Ninja buddy, I got a chance to play this game today. Honestly...I liked it. It was a lot of fun. Short, since I don't have the chance to do everything due to having to give it back to him by tomorrow, but fun nonetheless.
#1. Gameplay. I was right. Some demos just aren't calibrated well, or properly handled well, or something, because the controls were definitely much smoother and not as frustrating as they were when I played it at the Comic Con. If anything, it's making me contemplate trying the Sonic 06 game, as the demo turned me off from that game as well, due to its annoying & frustrating controls. LoL, yeah the Sword is gimmicky, but it talked with a snooty attitude, much like KITT from Knight Rider. Shadow, Knuckles, and Blaze all handled pretty decently too, after a bit of Trial & Error! Ironically enough, I actually preferred the Secret Rings controls.
#2. Enjoyment. I'll admit, I probably didn't enjoy this game as much as Sonic & the Secret Rings, or even Sonic Unleashed. Keeping with the Storybook aspect was fine, and I really had no issues control or story wise. The problem was in the lack of customization, like Secret Rings had. Granted, they keep some of the same abilities that Secret Rings had, but they're separated by Styles, being Knight, Paladin, and Cavalier. I prefer being able to choose each individual Power Up, rather than have it separated this way.
#3. Soundtrack. I'll admit, I do so love the Knight of the Wind song by Crush 40. It might even be my favorite song of theirs up to this point. However, the soundtrack in Secret Rings is much better. I'm not saying that I didn't like this soundtrack, but I still think the other was better and had more creative songs.
So, overall, I had fun playing it. I thought Excalibur Sonic looked bad-ass, I thought the boss fights were fun, and overall I'd probably like to own it eventually, when I have mon-ay. Not my favorite of 3D Sonic games, but in no means would I spit on it and toss it in the sewer. I'm still a fan of the Sonic Storybook Series, the Triple S or S Cubed if you will. If they made another SSS game, I'd probably enjoy it too.
So, in the spirit of confusing reviewing, I give it 3 Shades and 2 Glasses of Mango Lemonade!