Yeah, it's the ceiling-standing that I think everyone is pissed off about.
Yeah, the ceiling-standing is pretty ridiculous, but the length of time that Sonic spends running upside-down also seems wrong. As pointed out, Sonic could run across a ceiling in Sonic 3, but only briefly. In Sonic 4, it seems like Sonic could run a whole marathon upside-down.
In Sonic 3, Sonic would only be able to run across ceilings when the slope was increasing. But in Sonic 4, Sonic routinely defies the laws of physics by running DOWN a slope, and ending up running on the ceiling.
Also, wasn't making it feel like the older games their number one priority, for this game?
Doesn't seem like it. The game seems like more of a modern game than a classic one, with all the annoying characteristics of modern games. I think the whole Sonic 4 hype was just an attempt to draw attention to the game.
Sure, the game is 2D, but so were the games of the Sonic Advance trilogy. And to be honest, Sonic Advance did a much better job of imitating the classics, although they didn't get it quite right either.
We have the homing attack, much of the game is just letting the speed boosters do the work for us, etc.
One thing Sonic 4 almost got right: Super Sonic. Like in the classics, we collect the seven emeralds through the special stages, and then we get to play Super Sonic in all the levels. They even were smart enough to allow us to jump with fifty rings without automatically transforming.
However, something didn't seem right. Once you go Super, it seems like the only worry you have left is to not fall into a pit. Usually by the end of the level, I've got at least double the rings I had when I transformed. I think there's too many rings in the levels for Super Sonic to catch, and the levels are probably too short too. Certainly, the levels in Sonic 4 are significantly shorter than the levels in Sonic 3, but they may not be shorter than the ones in Sonic 2.