This game was a ton of fun when it was at it's best. The controls felt really good and I love the ducks and using them to rocket jump. I think the end of the story was very abrupt but I might have missed something in the last level as I rocket jumped accidently straight into the end from decently far away. The animals, mostly the duck, were fun to use but didn't really seem 'animal.' The only animal who's ability lines up with what I would guess is the bird that allows you to glide. But for some reason hitting a dead bird teleports you to it and the lizard shoots bullets and the ducks explode, these could be anything besides animals and they'd make more sense. I also only used the lizard during the lizard tutorial where it forces you to, mostly because it has no mobility use besides shooting birds and that use isn't worth the fact that I don't know how to drop it and can't pick up other animals D:

I said that the game was a ton of fun at it's most fun and this is true. However I think the game spent way too little time in it's most fun. I liked the part of the first level with the speed boosts and the ramps and I wish the entire game was more like that. I think the birds kind of force you to slow down and glide, especially in level 3, along with the platforming being really precise sometimes. The gravity also felt a bit too high and punishing especially for the rock section at the start of level 3. You said you'd continue work if you make it to r3, I really hope you do and keep this in mind because I really want to play a really fast fun and cool sonic platformer. If you do make it to r3, I'd remove all the animals but the duck and reskin it to something that makes more sense along with focusing on level design that promotes fun more than being careful and skillful because that's what games are about.

Oh, and I had a few bugs especially with the items and respawning. Sometimes I'd respawn and items would be missing, sometimes I'd respawn with an item that I didn't have. On the topic of jank, falling down a pit generally kills you except sometimes when you need to fall and trust that there's somewhere for you to go. This could be easily fixed by just adding a down arrow above places you are supposed to do a trust fall.

Good luck, I'd love to see how this game evolves if you make it to the next round. Great job!

Very fun! Love the mechanics, the flow of movement and the cutscenes! The use of the animals is all really fleshed out and works crisply

My ooonly issue is that I feel like the gravity should be a little less heavy. I think your player sinking like a rock just feels like an unnecessary burden on the smoothness of the mechanics