Not really. Sonic 2 consisted of actual platforming; it's stages didn't have one narrow path with a pit of death surrounding it all, it didn't use anything like the homing attack for progression, nor did it take control away from you during gameplay.
Hold right, jump. Hold right instead. Press down while running and watch. And the classics took control away from you about as much, I'd say. Tubes, warps, cannons, and other gimmicks did this. Speed boosters weren't exactly introduced in the modern games, either. If anything, boosting offers a method of speeding up without taking control away.
And did we play the same Sonic 2? Wing Fortress Zone is the epitome of being surrounded by a pit of death. And I'd say it's even worse, due to the lack of visual feedback on whether or not a jump will lead you to another level or straight to hell. At least in 3D games you can see the pits, which, in case you've never checked it out, don't surround most of the levels in Generations.
Ultimately, this is all just semantics. You can phrase it however you like, but you're essentially pointing out that they're different. This may not be to your tastes, but it's not objectively worse. Each game's level design accommodates its respective gameplay style well enough.
You actually had to navigate stages with carefully timed jumps and different paths that required Sonic to slow down. A lot of the stages didn't even allow Sonic to move at high speeds. Casino Night Zone, Mystic Cave Zone, Oil Ocean Zone, Metropolis Zone are a few examples.
Casino Night had some slower sections, and those were generally waiting for a floating cube to move. There was still the same speed, you simply were put in a smaller area with bumpers and flippers to act as gimmicks and direct that speed in a number of directions to impede your progression. Oil Ocean had fast sections, as did Mystic Cave. Metropolis was a chore. In fact, I'm willing to bet for most people not being able to move quickly in some stages made them not fun. Having just replayed the games, I'm actually finding myself agreeing with them.
There are a few platforming spots but they're very basic. I question they're inclusion as it breaks the flow of the boost heavy gameplay. Anyway, the platforming segments aren't very good and controlling Sonic in the 2D segments isn't as friendly as the 3D segments were movement is a non-issue (you primarily have to worry about jumping, hopping, and boosting).
There's plenty of platforming. The whole thing is platforming! I don't see how the platforming is any more basic than the originals. The idea is still to be jumping from platform to platform at a high speed to reach the optimal route. The modern games still have this, believe it or not. The paths are briefer and generally considered shortcuts, but that doesn't mean they're absent.
In Sonic 2 you just have to worry about jumping and rolling. Movement is a non-issue.
I mean seriously, what kind of logic is that?
There's the cursing again. It's not precisely *just* holding one button and pressing another but its as automatic as it can get. (Well, no, they could go back to the way Sonic & the Secret Rings controlled Sonic's forward movement for you; that would be way more automatic.) My point still stands, there's not much to that stage than boosting, jumping, performing the homing attack, boosting again. It's cool to watch but painfully dull to play.
Move, jump, roll, move, jump again. I'm seeing a pattern here...
And it's not like, y'know, you have to drift or quick-step or do any sort of twitch-action platforming. Oh wait.
