It's a very interesting game. Overall, my feelings are positive.
The courses are great, and a lot of the core gameplay is really well done. I love the whole gimmick of spending rings to accelerate. I also love the many many surprises and nostalgia points that it scores. Also, the way you vote online to pick the next courses is an excellent choice.
That said, there's a few things that bug me. When I'm pulling off a rainbow drift, and spending all my rings, and one of those shortcut barriers appears in front of me (for not even a really big shortcut)...I kinda expect to be able to pass through. XD That and I have no idea what makes each character different (I
assume top row is light, bottom is heavy, left is accerlate, right is top speed?)
I find myself thinking a lot about "I'd rather play a flawed game that does something interesting over a game that's so polished that it does nothing interesting".
I think I'm going to keep playing it for a while!
Besides the commonly mentioned issue of rings being binded to the same button as using an item, hills being egregious, and the rubberbanding of AI, what else has you calling the game atrocious?
While I hear you about the Rubberbanding being a little overtuned (not by much, but just enough to be irritating), and the hills being kind of a pain...
I actually love that items are bound to the same input as spending rings. It puts you into a dilemma where you wonder "Do I spend my items now so I can get back to spending rings? Or do I hold onto the item in hopes that it'll let me take a shortcut later?"
While the rubberbanding is annoying it at least feels semi-fair to me, post patch. I always feel like the AI is inches away on the final lap (so I rarely have a lead), but almost never too fast to catch.
I have real sour memories of Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. I was on the fastest high speed board, max level, on a pure staightaway to the finish line. The perfect conditions for that board. I'm in first place, doing like 300 Sonics-Per-Hour, faster than I had ever gone. And then Knuckles just slooowly passes me on his bike to take the win. That was one of the first times I really, truly noticed "rubber banding" in a racing game and it really felt bad.