I like to think that the relatively short time required to beat the game is a huge lubricant to its quality. It seems evident that the developers were prioritizing the enjoyment of the main movement mechanic, and itinerary features like enemies or different orbs to grapple on with different effects were seemingly dropped from the budget, all in service of the fundamental game aspects, which is commendable for the production.
The game is a highly filtered Nerve mazer with all of its eggs correctly placed in the basket of level design. Okay, perhaps "correctly" is a bit too prescriptive; lots of mazers are relying on the threat of their levels' obstacles being substantial barriers to progress.
Sonic The Hedgehog 4 strangely attempted to represent the feeling of the 3d style's homing attack, itself a compromise on representation for the autonomous and precise method of consecutively hopping along a chain of bots in the original 2d. This control scheme of a 2d "homing" is better executed in a game like Celeste, yet its motivation is more concretely Nerve based as opposed to the lingering Land sensibilities found here.