That was because of Sonic 2006. They apparently lost a fuck tonne of money on that piece of shite. And look at how the rate of Sonic games released have slowed down ever since. Notice how you have only played as Sonic ever since, notice how the stories dont have a lot of extra characters involved etc.
Apparently Generations HD was meant to have a lot more in jokes (in the style of Tails mentioning that he doesn't like the water from Chemical Plant)
In terms of the redesigns, they dont look bad, but in all seriousness they havent change that much. We are literally talking Blue arms, bandages and unbrushed spikes. Hell Knuckles head is exactly the same.
Eggman Robotnik looks good though.
I really do like the idea that Sonic lives in a furry world rather than "It was Earth all along". Visuals look great. And I can always take solace that I'll be getting a Sonic Team game next year. The Boom verse isn't replacing normal Sonic.
Still not sure on the state of Sonic. Sonic Boom has been a handy little "LOOK AT THIS THING!" while everyone at Sega is in the fetal position crying over Sonic: Lost World. Because that game is boring. I was expecting Generations meets Assassin's Creed. I got Mario with all the fun sucked out. And Iizuka had said that Lost World was the start of the "new" era of Sonic games. (Think - Sonic 1-3K as one era, Think Sonic Adventure-2006 as another, Think Unleashed-Generations as another) Yeah. It wasn't as god awful as Sonic 2006 but Sega need to make Sega games. Not try to make Nintendo games with Sega stuff plasted over it.
Anyway thats this rant over with. I think. I like the look of Sonic Boom mostly. I like 9/10 of Sonic's chuckle fuck friends. I really fucking loved Generations. They need to sequelize that shit with more Mega Drive era, less HD era.