The game is neat, though I'm giving it 3 because of such drawbacks:
1. The level design is decent, having a good balance between challenging and entertaining tracks and loops. However, I'd suggest naming this game not a remake, because isn't the remake's purpose to recreate the game in the fresh code of paint, but also to maintain the original game's feel? This fan game is too different from the original. Perhaps name it "Sonic 2 Reimagined" or 'Sonic 2 Remixed"?
2. The hand-drawn sprites are not bad, but cause a clash because, on one hand, you have Sonic's and background sprites, which are hand-drawn, while the level itself is pixelated. Also, they can be inconsistent, for example, Sonic becomes bigger when he gets hit.
3. The levels can drag for too long, taking in a range of 4 to 12 minutes. The 3-1 level took me the whole 12 minutes, which I guess is not intentional, since it has even caused the timer to count like it's from 1 minute. I don't know how you can fix that, but it's just something I didn't like since I felt burnt out while playing this demo.
4. The bosses are questionable at best. The 1-1 boss doesn't have something called "the laws of physics" since the ball shouldn't just jump on the hill that goes up, just because Sonic is there. The 1-2 boss doesn't tell the player what to do. I was lucky enough to spindash just because I wanted to, but I can see this boss being confusing for other players. 2-1 was fine, 3-1 was too easy and 3-2 was just ass. I was so confused why didn't he pull up his ball after he bounced under me? He was just standing there, waiting to bounce on again and repeat the same process 'till I died because I fell in the water. I was about to rage quit, but fortunately for me, I was able to cheese this boss fight by just moving my camera so he would be on the corner of the screen and only then he pulled up his balls. Please replace it or fix it..
5. Personal preference, but I'm not a fan of some remixes you chose.
6. And finally, the bugs. There were there from time to time. I can't recall what I encountered, since I can't remember anymore, but I remember that doing a peel-out on some clouds can cause Sonic to slowly go down.
Anyway, it's a hit-and-miss fan game to me right now. You can take my criticism into consideration or not, it's up to you. But my opinion will stay the same until you do.
1. Thank you. Level design flow is important to me. I will be sticking with the name AS2R as it has more layered meaning. I have been honest in the credits and said "based on the original" XD
2. Absolutely everything (barring a handful of OG opensurge sprites for effects) has been hand drawn on the ipad app procreate and then converted to sprites on a PC, including the backgrounds. I am still learning but if you could give me any art tips going forward, that would be great. Sonic's sprites clash as some of them are the original pencil & paper ones. Are there any animations in particular you really liked that I should use as a foundation?
3. I can only apologise for burning you out. I am also sorry that there is no save feature. I am making some key considerations for the final game because the last thing I want to do is upset a player