That's not a fair comparison. IGN is just one website, Metacritic consist 100+ websites.
I didn't know that. But still, Sega limiting themselves over Metacritics judgement over doing what they think is best, isn't that still bad? Perhaps decisions such as re-releasing old games for modern platforms may help reputation of said games, but if Sega won't do it because of Metacritic scores, wouldn't that be detrimental?
Interesting but for me it's also kinda annoying. I don't even like playing as Super Sonic since the depleting rings could give me an anxiety.

True, but playing as Super Sonic with magnetic Thunder Shield is an absolute dopamine abuse!