When I read the article posted at TSS, I naturally assumed that 1up gave Sonic 3 (for the VC) thumbs down because it's "incomplete" without S&K, or because it's been released so many times before. Not so.
Color me baffled.1up.com wrote: Something is horribly amiss about Sonic's third outing. Is it the fact that the game wasn't fully completed and half the content was held back for the "sequel," Sonic & Knuckles? Is it the messy level designs, which seem to have been constructed specifically for the sake of bogging Sonic down with small, annoying impediments? Is it the dull and forgettable enemies? The tepid soundtrack? The irritating bonus stages? Ah, maybe it's all the above. Sonic 3 is, in retrospect, the point where the series' star lost some of its shine -- a decent if unremarkable game. Given its pedigree, "decent" isn't good enough.