I had no idea that Storm Station was intended to be a weather control device. It's really obvious in retrospect but at the time it felt like an illuminating moment.
Anyways, I've played through this game twice already and I love it for the most part. I love the general aesthetics for the zones and the gimmicks that are introduced for most of them. Technology Tree stands out as my favorite zone aesthetically, but Sugar Splash just barely edges ahead of it in terms of how fun it is to play.
The only mediocre parts of the game (there weren't any blantantly bad parts, with the exception of the PPZ boss glitch) for me are the bosses and the unlockable zones. Especially compared to S:BtS, the bosses feel a little unsophisticated and easy, although when you compare this to the bosses that were present in the Genesis Sonic games, they're all above average. Also, I'm kind of disappointed that none of the bosses incorporated level gimmicks. There are so many cool ideas in Sugar Splash, for example, that I'm a little surprised a fun boss that could meet your high standards couldn't be included in the game.
I think this was due to over-hype rather than anything else, but I was expecting the Special Acts to be radically different than the regular levels, rather than the regular levels with different palettes and harder object placement. Granted though, RRZ and PPZ's Special Acts did mix things up a bit and for that I appreciate it.
Overall, this game has been a hell of a time. Heh, I'm probably gonna play it again tonight, because I haven't really got into the Special Stages too much yet.