 The alternate gameplay styles polarized many critics. Daniel Cairns of VideoGamer.com and Castle highlighted the level where Sonic becomes a giant snowball as "genuinely excellent" and "a cool riff on Monkey Ball", whereas Turi and Ingenito described it as "atrocious", "uncontrollabl [e]" and "the exact opposite of fun". Turi "received multiple game overs during a mundane mandatory pinball sequence." Walton felt that some of the Wisps were an "amusing aside," while others suffered from "frustrating motion controls". GameTrailers'Justin Speer stated that the Wisps "don't really feel like they belong" in the Wii U version. Totilo preferred how the Wisps were used in the 3DS version, but Towell stated that while they were "more integral" to the design, they tended to interrupt "the free-form gameplay" with "clumsy mechanic [s]". Towell described the 3DS version's motion-controlled Special Stages as "borderline unplayable". Totilo and Castle criticized the Wii U version's Jetpack Joyride-style flying levels as "regrettable" and "horribly imprecise". Turi and Totilo criticized the Wii U version's balloon-popping minigame as "mind-numbing" and "awkward". Turi called the Wii U version's co-op mode "useless". Castle wrote that "Two-player races would be a cool addition were it not for the horrible framerate issues."
