Review: Sonic Heroes

Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
System: GCN/XBOX/PS2 (GCN version reviewed)
Released: January 2004 (Domestic)

Sonic Team decided to go in a new direction with Sonic Heroes, a game that evolves team work of three characters to get through each level, 14 in all.

The game consists of three characters per a team, and 4 teams in all.
Team Sonic consisting of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles; Team Dark consisting of Shadow, Rouge, and Omega; Team Rose consisting of Amy, Cream (With Cheese) and Big; Team Chaotix consisting of Espio, Charmy and Vector. Each character having a special part in the group, one for speed, one for flight, and one for strength.

Still with me?

Each team is like a mode of gameplay, Team Sonic being medium in skill, Team Rose being very easy with shorter levels, and Team Dark being much harder with more enemies and obstacles.

Team Chaotix takes a different approach to the game, being mission based levels and gameplay. In Team Chaotix, you’ll find yourself looking for items, like 10 keys or saving 10 Chaos.

Sonic Heroes is longer then both Sonic Adventure’s in a gameplay sense, but the storyline of Heroes isn’t as complex or deep as the last two. The story consists or Dr. Eggman creating his “Ultimate” invention to date as he plans on world domination. I wont give out too much detail, not to spoil what story there is in the game, but every team has their own story and ending.

The game is set in 14 levels, every 2 levels is a boss fight and each 2 levels are similar in location. In the second level, you can find a special key to send you to the Special Stages to chase after the Chaos Emerald of that level.

The gameplay in the game is where the problems occur. When your blasting through the stage as Sonic, its a great game and I enjoy it. But it’s when you have to switch to other characters is what ruins a fun game, it slows down the game and with a glitchy game like this; that’s a big problem. The glitches in this game arent noticable at first, but the gameplay is very glitchy and dodgy. When running down a twisty road, you’ll find it impossible to control your character.

The camera is one of the biggest issues in the game. If the game decides to control you and take you somewhere, if you push a few buttons, you might find the camera looking upwards and your character somewhere dying. When the camera isn’t killing you, shifty gameplay and dodgy control will kill you. 90% of my deaths occurred from either the glitches or camera.

There are areas that will switch your characters automatically, where you might need to use light-dash as Sonic in Speed areas, punch a wall as Knuckles or any other strength characters, or fly your characters away with Tails.

The levels are much larger then the past two adventure games, some levels might take you ten minutes or longer the first time through. But the exploration is down a lot, and the levels are much more plain then the past few games. Don’t expect more exploring and more pure action then past Sonic 3D adventures, some might want it that way, but I know others who like to explore as well.

A plus in the game is the boss fights, the actual fights against Dr. Eggman are much more tougher then in past 3D adventures. Think of it as Sonic Advance 2 boss fights, but in 3D. The other boss fights are against other Teams, where your goal is to knock all three team members off the platform before they do the same. The thing about these fights is that after a few of them, you’ll find it very easy to knock them off. Perhaps if Sonic Team stuck in a few more Dr. Eggman robots or creations, the boss fights in the game would be much more challenging.

A return of the Special Stages graces Heroes, in the hopes to get all 7 Chaos Emeralds. When I think of Sonic Special Stages, I always review them after Sonic 3D Blast’s Saturn Special Stages. Those Special Stages, in my opinion, were the best of Sonic games. Heroes comes in at the middle ground. These stages consist of you chasing the Chaos Emerald, using orbs
and tapping the B button to speed up using the orb’s powers. The stages are simular to Sonic 2 on the Genesis stages and Sonic 3D Blast on the Saturn, but the dodgy play of them don’t help the overall quality. You might find yourself getting stuck on the ceiling and slowing down at times.

The game not being entirely long, but the extras are what will keep you coming back for more. The game has several menu features, one being “Challenge” mode. Using this, you can access all completed levels of each team and you can replay these levels. Replaying them gives you the ability to try and receive the A ranks, or you can try to complete the time attack versions to get the extra Emblems. Yep, the emblem collecting is back, you’ll be able to receive a emblem from completing levels, or extra time attack modes.

Sonic Team did a nice try to get back to Sonic’s roots, but failed in many ways. Slowing down to switch characters made this game less enjoyable, and you’ll find yourself enjoying running through the levels as Sonic mostly. Some advice to Sonic Team: ditch the team-based action and just stick with Sonic and his speed and action.

If you’re a big Sonic fan, then get this. If you’re not a Sonic fan, I suggest you rent beforehand. This game does get frustrating a lot, but has its charm and will have you playing for weeks on end to try and get the secrets and A ranks.