I think this is your first question.
Ha XD, that is a good point there

I guess the idea of this game is that it was originally a new IP. I mean, BRB wanted to make a great game and what better then a 3D platformer mixing elements from the ones they worked in in the past (Crash, Spryo, Ratchet and Clank, Jak & Daxter)

The issue was...no one wanted to fund the thing; outside of Ratchet, Sonic and Mario, many publishers do not want to make 3D platformers anymore....
They went to Sega to publish their new IP and really liked the concept of it; picking the game up and giving them funding for the tittle. After a while, they stopped by there offices and gave told them to convert their new IP into a Sonic tittle to line-up with the new cartoon and 'brand' they are working on.
Considering their options (refuse to turn the game into a Sonic tittle and lose the funding or re-do their game from scratch to make the game more in line with Sonic Teams tittles), they chose to keep the base they already had in place, but thrown Sonic and Company into the formula.
Two or so years passed and....Rise of Lyric is what we have now :l.