I think we're at the point that any sonic game that has a sprint or boost is gonna get called a boost game.
Some people even call lost world a boost game.
I don't blame most though, as boost games has been our mainstay for the past decade.

Thing is...what even is a boost game?
Is it as simple as well...just because there is a big meter that says boost?

Sonic boosting is so grossly overpowered that you basically just hold down boost the whole stage and you don't stop because nothing will stop you.((unless you run into a spike wall or a bottomless pit))
Some stages you can hold down boost and the game plays itself.
This includes stages outside the game everybody loves to hate.

You need "minimal" inputs most of the time now.
Sonic Unleashed being a outlier since it was the first of its kind and clearly had the most thought put in.
((I know Sonic Rush was technically the first boost game but Sonic Unleashed was the first to bring it to the console and really push the boost series for the next 10 years.))

There is a reason the saying "boost to win" became a thing.

Enemies are purely spectacle, added for the sake of necessity, so there are other things in the stage as they're just bowling pins while sonic is the bowling ball.

Overall...to me...Boost games are glorified auto runners.
Sure there might be a few different paths every blue moon, but it doesn't amount to much when there is barely any platforming because the bulk of your time is just spent boosting and homing attacking to reach higher places or a means to switch paths, because sonic already controls so badly in boost games you can't really do much.
Its why we have things like quickstep and drifting.

Now don't get me wrong..I like boost games but I think we can all admit that sonic team is quite sick of this gameplay style..if the last 3D sonic game is anything to go by.

Now this leads me to Frontiers.
Frontiers has "Boost" But its not the boost we're all use to.
Boost isn't this unstoppable force anymore, boost...well..boost is BASICALLY just a sprint button now.
This also makes it where cyberspace levels, with sonic vastly improved controls; isn't like past stages from the boost era.

Its why >! they're able to recreated SA2 city escape((not the gen's version)) because sonic can actually be controlled well enough to bring actual platforming and doing tight turns without needed drifting/quickstepping all the time. Sonic team can actually do these types of stages because sonic isn't boosting past everything in 5 seconds.!<

If this was a boost game this would have been impossible due to how powerful boost was.

You need to actually homing attack things to destroy them normally, you can't just crash into them like they're nothing, air boost isn't extremely overpowered so you can't use it to just bypass a huge part of the stage. Air boost actually more like a 3rd jump honestly.
Honestly a big problem is Sonic team is taking stages from boost games that doesn't fit sonic new control and speed since, boost stages were meant to just blast through them with the boost we had in the past.
Which was like 5x faster than the boost we have now, which is more a sprint or the "run" button from lost world.

All these things I believe is why "some" hardcore sonic fans are not enjoying it as much, it just feels too different...
You're not just holding down boost going crazy fast and barely controlling sonic, since you're just running in a straight line it just feels different since sonic is way slower and more controllable.
Maybe as we get further in the game they'll stop pulling from boost games and more from SA2/SA1 and classic sonic games for the 2D sections and heck...maybe even heroes, as I think that'll fit frontiers control way better than boost stages.

All n' All frontiers is NOT a Boost game.
Boost is basically just another sonic ability now and sonic frontiers shouldn't be ranked among other boost games.

Rather we should treat Frontiers as the start of a new sonic gameplay style just as sega is basically doing.