Sonic 06 is Better than Colors (Part 4)

I started a list of reasons Sonic 06 is better than Colors. Surprisingly, this ended up being rather lengthy. So, I decided to make this a mini-series of sorts.

Part 4 The Level Ups/Power Ups/Upgrades

In 06, like most main-Sonic games, there are mandatory level ups like light dash. There are optional, extra abilities that can be purchased with rings toward the end of the game.

Sonic (Gems)
RED--Slows time down
BLUE--Boost ("mach" speed)
GREEN--Wind/tornado attack
WHITE--homing smash
YELLOW--Thunder guard/shield
SKY--Gun drive/throw gem
PURPLE--Scaled down/tiny Sonic

Shadow (Memory Shards)
RED--Chaos Blast chaos spear upgraded
BLACK--Chaos Blast upgraded attack

The gems are really cool because they make tings easier and can be used forever. What's especially great about them (sky specifically) is that it makes it easier for Sonic to glitch past areas and finish the level faster. It was probably unintended but it's a great asset.

Shadow's upgrades (with their given descriptions) are misleading. However all they do is add to the already-fairly-awesome-but-could-have-been-awesomer Chaos Blast.

In all, the level ups benefit the gameplay, and while some are kind of suckie (Blue gem), most are very useful.

Onto Sonic Colors, and the levels-ups are temporary--like getting invincibility shortly. But in this case, the Wisps double as both a plot device and a level-up, helping Sonic take different forms. Sounds cool, right? It's not.

Sonic (Wisps)
WHITE--Boost
CYAN--Laser
YELLOW--Drill
GREEN--Hover
BLUE--Cube
PURPLE--Frenzy
VIOLET--Void
RED--Burst
PINK--Spikes

Really, I find the "wisp" gimmick more of a nuisance than a help. It slows the gameplay down, and there are plenty of parts when you have to use them.

Having them fuel the boost is very annoying, and I prefer the other methods of fueling it like rings (Unleashed) or the trick system (Rush). 

Using the wisps means the player has to be very precise (like aiming the rocket or laser) and they usually backfire. The drill, rocket, and cube suck. Hover, laser, frenzy, and burst can be hard to control.

Every single level is ruined by these annoying f@!*king wisps and the annoying b*stard that keeps narrating "HOVER!" "LASER!" "ROCKET!" uuuuugh. And that's the same awful voice as whoever says "Game Over?" Who is that?

[lets see, the only credits include Roger Craig Smith, Kate Higgins, Mike Pollock, Kirk Thornton, or Wally Wingert...I assume it's not Kate Higgins because she's a girl--even if she is voicing Tails--I wouldn't expect it to be Thorton because I think I'd recognize "old-man-shadow" voice (but than again he voiced Orbot and I didn't remember that one)...it'd be easy to pin on Roger "Crap" Smith 'cause I hate his Sonic-voice but I don't remember...You know what, I have no idea. For all I know it's a computer. I'd have to look up the voice, listen to it, and try to figure it out--but I HATE THAT VOICE so I'm not gonna' do that...whoever you are, you're in my "worst voices" list along with Smith and the new guy who voices Jet!]
EDIT: It is Smith (confirmed from Sonic Generations).

Anyway, the wisps are very annoying an disrupt the gameplay instead of add to it. What really ticks me off is that since idiots labeled this "good," Sega assumed their fans were on their knees begging for more wisps and now they're in every frickn' game. I hate them, and they keep coming back. The only game even tried to fix them was Forces, which for the most part turned them into guns (because Sega's too afraid to bring guns back). "Wispons."

Yet they still fuel the frickn' boost. ARGH.

So while 06 had some cool--pretty much unfinished/broken, but cool--additions, Colors created slo-mo aliens nobody likes.