DISCLAIMER: A small tinge of Mido Fanboy is about to leak from the jar. Reader discretion is advised.
I think in the grand scene of things, the Sonic franchise has received more hate than it deserves. As made obvious by this note, I am a big fan of the series, and is arguable my most nostalgic game series, having played since Adventure and then returned to the early games. Overall, I think that the 2D Sonic years were great as many say, but I also hold a distinct love for the Dreamcast Era of 3D games. This era is why I say the series gets too much hate. Don't get me wrong, the games are by no means perfect and have flaws, but they are not bad games in the slightest. I would pinpoint the downfall of the series at around 2005 with Shadow the Hedgehog (which is more of a guilty pleasure game for me, as it's not really a great game). After that, I can see where the series went wrong and I agree with the sentiments for the most part. I never played Unleashed, and I heard that was okay. I liked Generations, but I also haven't played a game since save for Sonic 4: Episode 1 and Colors, which while all right, was a bit too easy from the bits I've played.
With all this in mind, I suppose it leads to one question. Am I just a nostalgia-filled curmudgeon lamenting over the state of the franchise's reputation? Perhaps. Maybe I tend to be too forgiving towards certain flaws, I don't know. But in essence, I do still like the series even though I haven't bought a game since 2011.