Unfortunately not sending out advance review copies and lifting embargoes on reviews until post-launch is becoming common in the gaming industry nowadays. Although judging by the state of the game (the Wii-U version) from what i've seen of it, the suspicion that SEGA didn't send out review copies to prevent the game's PR getting even more damaged has some merit.

I actually said on Twitter several months ago, it appeared at first to be a Skrillex remix of Sonic Heroes (from the multi character play and "Bangarang" as the music). Despite what the lead developer said in response to that tweet, it has turned out to be a Skrillex remix of Sonic Heroes, only with more bugs and even worse voice acting. Judging by the end result, he spent too much time monitoring twitter and responding to negative opinions rather than actually work on the game.

I mean, theoretically water reflections, non-software shadows, long draw distance and music that adjusts to the situation can't be THAT difficult to implement. The Wii-U is supposed to support OpenGL with power on a level with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Fixing fall-through-platform bugs isn't too difficult either (they are usually caused by the on-screen object's collision box sliding through a gap in the platform, and can be fixed by extra IF checks and a wider collision box).

I'm a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan and I really wanted this game to succeed. Sadly it seems it has failed to deliver, and its questionable if there will be a sequel or if it will be ported to PS4 & Xbox One now the Nintendo/SEGA exclusivity agreement is over.

Also, why would they have faith in these project when they knew the masterminds behind the original Sonic games has been busy working on 2 other WiiU exclusives all this time?

Yuji Naka working on Rodea: The Sky Soldier

Hirokazu Yasuhara on Mario vs Donkey Kong

Aww... if only we could have Naka work on Sonic again...

It wasn't even made by sega, it looked and sounded terrible since day 1

I hope this at least gets a better score than Aliens: Isolation when real reviewers review it.

Well they suddenly had money to buy Atlus, so...

Sonic 06 wasn't enough, and now SEGA releases Sonic 14...

Well I think the nature of the game meant that reviewers would destroy it for not "being a sonic game" anyway. Still this is very worrying, I was hoping it would at least be a competent enough platformer as it's really the only one coming out all year. since DK anyway.

You should try Shovel Knight. Its awesome

Tough economy. Shipping out free copies is expensive.