This was always going to be a strange game. While I'm glad that Sega decided to continue with Sonic games, this was the first 'original' Sonic title to appear on a major console (there were GBA games, but the GBA is a separate entity altogether from the main consoles in the market), and it was never really going to be the same. Granted we all know that Sega can make great games, but taking their major series to former rival's consoles hasn't proven to be all that much of a success, possibly because they are aiming for a different market.
Sonic Heroes is the newest in the long running line of games featuring Sega's mascot character. In the early games, released for the Genesis/Megadrive, the Master System and the Game Gear, the game allowed you control of only Sonic, with the exception of 2P mode in Sonic 2/3, where player 2 took on the role of tails, and Sonic and Knuckles, which allowed you to control the spiky Echidna.
An interesting break from the norm of the series was the spin-off for Sega's ill-fated 32X console add-on, named Chaotix. In this game, which the only established hero involved was Knuckles, saw a strange feature in that you had to control two characters, the two joined by an elastic band. While I have no personal experience with Chaotix (it goes for more on Ebay than I paid for this game, or my 32X for that matter), it was a unique twist on the Sonic legend.
Possibly one of the main reasons the Sega Saturn failed was due to the lack of a proper Sonic game. The closest were Sonic Jam, a compilation of the 16-Bit Sonics with a 3D Overworld, and Sonic R, a peculiar 3D racing game.
But Sega were ready when launching their 128-Bit monster console the Dreamcast in 98, and unleashed Sonic Adventure, a flawed, yet highly enjoyable 3D adventure for their mascot. This didn't really do Sega any good in the long run, given that the DC bombed, but before it's death a Sequel arrived that while amusing, just wasn't as good as the original. Where these games were important in the legacy of Sonic, is that they actually made you play as other characters in specially designed stages.
After SA2 was ported with decent success to Nintendo's GameCube, work began on a new 3D Sonic title for play on the PlayStation 2, GameCube and XBox, here we have it in Sonic Heroes.
I have to admit I was sold on the game by the TV adverts, which spoofed the A-Team credits, and was bitterly disapointed it wasn't included as a bonus on the game.
The story is pretty hard to tell without giving away the major 'spoiler', but let's just say it's an old enemy from Sonic's past causing trouble, but it probably isn't who you think it is...
The game is a 3D platform game, which takes the rough engine from the Adventure games and gives them a twist, here you don't control one character, or even 2 Chaotix style, here you have to control 3 at once. Well, that isn't strictly true, you control one of them, and the other two follow at your sides and can be switched to at any point. There are three types of character, and you will have to switch to make use of each character's unique strengths. For instance, each time has a Flying member, whom you will obviously need to call on should flight be required. The three types of character are Speed,Power and Flight, there are 4 teams to choose from, each with their own story, all of which naturally intertwine for the ending. The game has a Challenge mode, where you play through the Team's levels, but instead of just racing to the end, the game is more mission based, each time also has a specific mission type.
First up is Team Sonic, which comprises of Sonic (Speed), Knuckles (Power) and Tails (Flight). Team Sonic are basically out to stop Doc Eggman, after they catch wind that he is up to no good. Their Challenge mode levels are all Beat the Clock challenges.
Next we have the 'hard' team, Team Dark, made up by Shadow the Hedgehog (Speed), Gamma (Power) and Rouge the Bat (Flight), Rouge is, as always, out looking for treasure, and somehow enlists the mysteriously returned Shadow and malfunctioned Guard robot Gamma to help her. Team Dark's Challenge mode levels are based around trying to kill a set number of enemies.
Then there is the Team Chaotix, consisting of Espio the Chameleon (Speed), Vector the Crocodile (Power) and Charmy Bee (Flight), Chaotix, last seen in the 32X game, are missing a member, but have started up a detective agency, they are offered big bucks if they can complete a set of tasks for a mysterious client. Their challenge levels are based around collecting items.
Finally, we have the 'easy' team in Team Rose, made up of Amy (Speed), Big the Cat (Power) and Cream the Rabbit (Flight), these three are united in their quests to find three people, all of which were seen in the one picture. Their challenge levels consist of collecting rings
While each of the teams goes through the same levels, the levels are not identical to each others all the time, which stops the game from getting repetitive, but keeps a consistent theme throughout.
Each team also has a 'Team Blast' at their disposal which kills all regular enemies and does hefty damage to bosses, each team has a unique little video thing for the team blast, but they all seem to do roughly the same. It works in a manner not all that far removed from a super bar in a fighting game, the more enemies you destroy, and rings you collect, you fill up an energy bar that when full allows you to unleash a team blast.
The basic gameplay is quite enjoyable, with each level requiring you to use each of the team member's talents to progress, but to be honest, it didn't take it all that long to get on my nerves, and it all came down to the teams. You see, while the team members change at the press of a button, it doesn't always work, some situations it just refuses to change, others the team member you want to change to has gone AWOL, and sometimes you change to them and discover the member you change to either halfway back the level or in a position about to die.
The grinding poles from Sonic Adventure 2 have returned, and they cause me grief still. The game on occasion expects you to land on them with pinpoint accuracy, and it doesn't matter how good the controls are, its a monumental task to land on something that is barely an inch wide on the TV screen.
The gameplay is just so incredibly frustrating. One minute you will be thinking how awesome it is, then the game pulls out something to really annoy you and make you swear all over the place. There are enemies that hurt you when they shouldn't even still be intact, and the less said about the situations where you have to square off against the other teams the better. These turn into bouncing off each other to see who randomly falls off the edge of the platform you are on and just aren't any fun at all.
But when the game does get it right, its immensely enjoyable, which just adds to the frustration. When you play as Sonic or Shadow and actually play what is the meat and potatoes of a sonic game, running jumping collecting rings and smashing baddies, you realise why you love Sonic games in the first place. Then you have to use one of the horrible flying characters and it all goes balls up.
The game features a level called Bingo Highway which beggars belief how it even made it into the game. There are points in it when progressing is just down to good luck, and on some occasions you have to do it in a time limit, which is just impossible on skill alone, it's one of these pinball style stages that are usually great fun on a Sonic game, but the camera angle of them in Heroes is terrible, giving you little chance of seeing the bumpers until you are past them. This is also one of the worst stages for characters getting lost, because there is nothing worse than trying to change to a character after just finishing one of the pinball tables, only to find that this character never completed it and you have to do it again.
While I may be making the game out to be terrible, it isn't, and what makes it even more frustrating is that when the game does get it right, it is an abosulte joy, there were moments in the game that made me want to give it full marks, but then they would be followed by a long time of sheer frustration.
As I say, when you get to use Sonic or Shadow, it really does capture the feel of Sonic, it's just that once you play them and start to really enjoy yourself for a few minutes, you are forced to switch to a character you really don't want to be.
The bonus stages are another cause of much frustration. The idea is clearly lifted from Sonic 2's bonus stage, a good idea, given that Sonic 2's bonus stage was awesome. However, in this Sega decided to go for a full pipe to run along instead of half of one, and you will often find yourself on the roof out of control. Hitting a single bomb also slows you down to the point that the game would be as well just finishing the bonus stage as soon as you hit one.
Graphically, the game is really quite nice, even if it doesn't exactly push the XBox to it's limits. Sonic and co are all very nicely rendered, and while it isn't worlds away, there is a visible improvement on the Dreamcast games. The colours are all still bright, vibrant and perfect for the Sonic atmosphere, and I really cannot complain about the visuals at all. I have heard that the PS2 version suffers from slowdown of a disgusting level, but this version seems to be slowdown free, and I haven't actually tried the PS2 one so cannot comment for myself.
The game's camera is another cause of much irritation, as it has a habit of getting lost, as well as occasionally making what should be straightforward jumps into costly blind jumps.
The sound aspects of the game are also pretty decent. While the music isn't exactly the most memorable Sonic tunes you will ever hear, they do capture the mood and feel of the game well enough not to bring forth any complaints from me. The voice acting is a bit of another story. While a lot of the voices are acceptable, and much the same as in the two Dreamcast titles where applicable, Tails new voice is atrocious, and Shadow's always was incredibly camp and totally un-imposing in the first place, I dare you not to laugh when he says something about a "bunch of annoying punks"
The sound effects are mostly of the classic variety, with the same noises being used for collecting rings as heard in all the Sonic games. If it ain't broken...
Controls in the game go like this:
X:Attack
Y:Team Rotate Anti Clockwise
A:Jump
B:Team Rotate Clockwise
White: Team Blast
As with the majority of Sonic games, precise controls are needed, but here, while for the most part they are decent, they ain't as sharp as in past Sonic titles, and you will on occasion find yourself plummeting to death when it was no fault of your own. They also seem to have tried to cram a little too much into the buttons, X performs both attacks and other functions, such as Sonic's lightspeed dash. Much frustration can be caused by the game reacting in the way you don't want it to.
To add some replay value, the game includes a variety of multiplayer mini-games that usually revolve around racing, that can be unlocked by completing a certain amount of levels. While these are mildy amusing, I can't say Sonic Heroes has ever even been suggested for a multiplayer gaming session.
On the whole, I couldn't help but feel overall disapointed by Sonic Heroes. While I know it isn't a terrible game, and did get quite a bit of enjoyment out of it, overall it was just such a let down. I really did want to give the game at least 4 stars, but it's just so flawed that I couldn't bring myself to do it. While I personally rank it above Sonic Adventure 2 but below the original adventure in the stakes of the 3D games, it still didn't do anywhere near as much for me as I was hoping for.
Personally, I really do hope that if Sega make another Sonic game, which I hope they do, they actually decide to base it on Sonic, and give us an experience more in common with Sonic Adventure.
If you are a Sonic fan with an XBox, this game can be picked up relatively cheaply now, and it does provide a moderately enjoyable platforming experience, and is probably worth a low price, but don't expect anywhere near the top of the series.
If you aren't a fan of Sonic, Heroes is definitely skippable. If it's for kids, then possibly it is worth a look.
At the end of the day, I would say 3 stars and a Recommended will do. While I don't at all regret buying or playing through Sonic Heroes, I was quite disapointed by the game, and it certainly didn't engross me like I was expecting.
A special extended version of the popular GameCube compilation ported for the PS2, Sonic Mega Collection Plus contains 20 of the most popular Sonic th...More at GameQuest Direct. com
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