Sonic 06: Who has Best Gameplay?

With 9 playable characters (13 counting transformations and Sonic carrying Elise), who stands out? Who makes the levels worth playing? 

Super Shadow

Chaos Spears are fast to charge and use. And cool. 

Shadow
Shadow could be a little faster but he's still a bit above the average pace. All the moves are great (chaos spear is especially) except the homing attack (which does not work properly with Chaos Blast). Vehicles are a little annoying--like them best when they aren't required. Although the instructions/descriptions of his moves are rather misleading, they are very useful when used correctly. Shadow's ability to easily tear through his enemies and still keep up with Sonic's speed sets him high on this list.    

Blaze
Blaze is awesome. Cool (or should I say hot) moves and a fast pace. 3D Sonic Rush! The only reason she's not above Shadow is--because of the game's volatile nature--sometimes she doesn't do her moves right. Still, I prefer glitching past Silver in Crisis City and finishing the level with her; she's much faster.

Super Sonic

A ball of power, Sonic inflicts the most damage on Solaris. He just takes along time to do so. 

Sonic

Sonic is the most basic character. The homing attack is quick, and so are his feet, but it seems like he easily runs into the line of fire. I wish the "mach speed" levels were separate so that it would not ruin the player's potential score. They can be fun, but irritating, too. It also bugs me that the gems (level-ups) aren't unlockable until the last level. They are interesting and spice up the game: the only reason Sonic is not lower on the list.   

Super Silver

His attack is similar to in his normal form, but more powerful I guess? Not quite as cool as his co-stars, but worth playing. 

Rouge 

Gliding makes Rouge a fast character, though she kind of was already. The bomb-attack defeated enemies fairly quick, but the "first-person aim" was super annoying. I try not to use it. Only other complaint is that sometimes she sticks to the walls (won't jump off) but usually moving farther along the wall solves this. She can glitch into Shadow's sections on multiple levels, but she can't get very far (she can't climb walls outside of her section/can't use vehicles).

Sonic w/Elise
Basic moves and pretty fast. Bonus shield-that's-not-a-shield thing. The levels are nice and short, too. 

Silver 

The exciting, new character is...slow. Although using techniques such as Teleport Dash and cutting past parts of the zone can speed him up, he's still not so fast. His attacks, though interesting, can leave him vulnerable. His levels can take along time, especially for newcomers. Like the concepts, and had they spent more time on the game, maybe he'd be higher.  

Knuckles

He's not playable very much, but he's a real knock-out. He seems a bit sluggish speed-wise, but all fired-up, Knux really packs a punch. Ugh, gotta' stop the puns. STONE FISTS. 

Omega

He's slow, and his weapons seem to short-out after a while. But he can dash forever (as long as the player continues to hit "X"), giving Wave Ocean and Dusty Desert much-needed short-cuts. This may not have been intentional, but it's the REASON to play as Omega.  

Amy

I like playing as Amy, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's her speed. But her attacks and jump suck. I like the double jump idea but it tricks the player into thinking she'll go farther when she really only goes higher. The hammer? It's fine but easy to get hit when attacking. To avoid this, pressing "square" is supposed to turn invisible, but this is time consuming (and makes little sense). I'd like to place her higher on this list, but if I'm going to be honest, I really can't. 

Tails
Sonic's best bud isn't at his best: he's incredibly slow in this game. Attacks aren't that great (similar to rouge but slower), and flying ain't nothing special. My least favorite "amigo mission" (Blaze, Rouge, and Tails each had a solo mission--his takes twice as long and HE WAS IN WAVE OCEAN BEFORE SO WHY BRING HIM BACK?!). Not impressed.