The Sonic stages are indeed fantastic, and are everything you want in a Sonic game.

The Werehog stages are by no means bad, and are sort of reminiscent of a less crazy God of War combat engine, according to my friend. They do tend to drag on a bit longer than they really should, but if you can handle some brawling then they should be fine.

The verdict of my friends and I is that it's the best one since Sonic Adventure 1. Only took 9 years!