The Story Structure and Analysis of Sonic Colors and Generations

Sonic Colors and Generations
For Sonic Colors though I can see the dilemma, Stories need to be mysterious, but when you're told to write the story so that 6 and 7 years olds will understand, how do you convey it without directing stating it. That's probably why they kept repeating the obvious.

In generations they fixed this to extent. It wasn't so obvious that Eggman was controlling the Time Eater because his classic form gets sucked up by it. Only assuming metaknowledge would tell you that. So, in the context of the story, it's a decent plot twist. Again, the obvious statements in generations parts seem to be for out of worry that the audience won't understand. I won't defend how it handles the climax or lack there of, but it starts off and resolves well. 
It has a 

Sonic Generation's Structure

Stasis- Sonic's Birthday at a park

Trigger- Time Eater attacks and sucks up not only everyone at the party, but all of time and space.

Quest- Find friends, restore time and space

Surprise- It, at the very least, attempts to convey a mystery as to why everything is white and where everyone is. On some level the mystery works, the cutscene where the two Tails tells you the tale, I'm sorry, explains everything, still feels rewarding to some degree, even if obvious, because it follows the format of giving you very little information then gradually cueing you in on what's happening. I also like being rewarded with cutscenes about characters I already know and care about. That's another plus. 

Criticial Choice??? 

Climax?: The best part about the Climax is the plot twist of the Eggmans, Eggmen? controlling the Time Eater. The failure is what you've said about it: A lack of energy and momentum; a cocky, over powered Sonic, but to be fair Sonic has beaten Eggman a LOT, in a sense he deserves to be cocky at this point.

Reversal?: Sonic shows young Sonic how to do the homing attack and tells him his future will be great which teaches his younger self to be cocky and arrogant, I suppose.

Resolution: Story earns points again, as it returns to the park birthday setting originally established.

Eh overall, I like it. At the very least, it's non offensive by being short. There weren't any moments that I felt like it was really wasting my time.

Now more on Colors

Sonic Colors
I like the concept and setting. In fact it's golden! There's a lot that could have been done with it.
                                             The Concept:
Eggman builds an INTERSTELLAR amusement park to repay humanity for his crimes and Sonic needs to investigate.
 -It contextualizes the story. 
-It ties the story to the past and acknowledges Eggman's infamy the world know who he is and what he's done
-It makes Eggman smart again as he's trying to deceptive like Lex Luther.
-It could have been exactly like the Justice League Unlimited ark with Lex Luther. where he gets released from prison and says to the news, he's, "turned over a new leaf." A mystery revolving around whether or not a villain has changed is interesting.

So the execution then? You definitely don't need to feel bad about what you've said about this one. The structure really does suck for the bulk of it, the Surprise catergory. Ironically though, it excells in the areas Generations lacked: The Critical Choice, the Climax, and the Reversal.

Critical Choice- Does Sonic simply track down Eggman and go home or go out of his way, planet to planet, putting himself in danger, to free the trapped wisps who may not even offer him anything in return? I'm forcing this part a bit because the story doesn't convey it this way, but Sonic is stilling making this choice regardless.

Climax- Sonic beats Eggman and the wisps help him deal the final blow; however, he's caught in the explosion and knocked unconscious.

Reversal- The wisps repay Sonic by carrying him to safety.

 Resolution-None, but then again a stasis was never established, so it's wasn't even possible to have one. Since Sonic games are a series though, the stasis and resolution aren't actually that important, so whatever not a big deal. The two most important parts to get right are the meat of the story, the Surprise and the Climax. The stuff before and after are just appetizers and dessert.

Briefly: While I do enjoy it when a game changes the pace, I've come to realize the Sonic Colors goes too far with it. Its problem is that the experience is too inconsistent.