Sonic 4: Episode 2

Sorry, but I have to say something about this game and it's story.

Remember when I said "I haven't played a Wing Fortress-type level since Sonic Heroes?"

Well, Sky Fortress didn't have the same feeling as Egg Fleet or Sky Deck did, at all.

Don't know what I mean? In those two games, the story would give you a good reason to go through all that trouble, and it felt rewarding to play and it made it a truly epic experience.

But Sky Fortress was just meaningless and anti-climatic. Tails could've just flown his Tornado over the fortress, and defeat Metal Sonic then.

Sky Deck had storms, wind pulls, large cannons, and gravity shift gimmicks.
Egg Fleet had ship destruction, cinematic scenes, and climatic moments.
Sky Fortress had those run on wall things from Sonic Rush, but that's about it.

Just wanted to get that out, see how much hate I get from it. (not really...)

To be fair, there wasn't really any justification for your being on the Egg Fleet either, or at the very least, your trek from Frog Forest to Mystic Mansion.

It's almost as if after the Egg Albatross, Sonic was like "Yeah, Eggman's killer battle-fleet is launching a couple of kilometers towards those canyons. But I hear the jungle is relatively cool this time of year, and- I don't know about you guys- but I've heard you just have to visit it at least once. Exotic flora, fauna, stuff like that. Why? Because it's right on the Interstate and none of us knows when we'll be back.

"Oh, and it's right by that haunted abandoned castle that just opened for business..."

Also, I agree that there's really no point to going through Sky Fortress, but in my opinion, it sure feels like a penultimate zone; Slightly unusual setting, dramatic music, a well-conveyed sense of how big the aircraft actually is, etc. etc.