I agree with most of the sentiment in this thread. Sonic really needs to get his act together, and it should be done thusly:
1. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Robotnik. No other characters, and no humans pottering around. These are the Sonic games, not Sonic X
2. I really like the idea of an on-rails camera. Cinematic and useful
3. 2D side-scroller FTW!