Sonic Heroes

"A Decent Game With a Few Niggling Flaws"

Let me start off by statiing that I've been a fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog games for quite some time, I have loved almost every one that I have played over the years. But truth be told, I kinda ignored Sonic Heroes ever since it was released back in 2004, it neer really caught my eye even though I had played a demo of the game many times. I didn't feel that it was worth shelling out 50 bucks for, probably due to the fact that it got mixed reviews around the web. As such, I waited for a long time since the game's release, and when a friend got the game for the PS2, I finally got more intimate with the game and was hooked. When I got a new PS2 to replace the one that died on me, I picked this game up along with Sonic Mega Collection Plus, and I've not looked back since.

Graphics: 9.0/10

It's weird, I heard all sorts of things about slowdown and graphical glitches. But I've not experienced slowdown yet. The game runs at 30 FPS as opposed to the other versions 60 FPS, but truthfully I can't tell too much of a difference. Everything is bright, colorful, and richly textured. The characters are simply designed, and so are the enemies. I really can't tell much difference between this version and the others. So on it's own merits, it's still one of the better looking PS2 games to date. I don't think anyone will be disappointed here.

Gameplay: 9.2/10

Solid as a rock in my books, and enjoyable. But I am not going to deny that this game has a few flaws. But I will get the positives out of the way before I go into the negatives. First off, the theme of this game is "Team Work", kinda like that lame kids show "The Wonder Pets", but unlike that show it shows off the aspect of team work in style. When you intially start up the game, you have the option to choose between four different teams, and each team has their own strategy on how to get things working. You can switch between the team members on the fly in order to adjust to the situation as to how you see fit.

I'll give an example with the main team, Team Sonic. Let's say there are enemies attacking from the air, no problem, swithc to Tails, and hit the square button to hurl Sonic and Knuckles at them, knock them down, and switch to either Knuckles or Sonic in order to go in for the kill. This doesn't even do justice to the team work aspect of the game as it's but a small example of how you can adjust to a situation in a certain stage. But it gives you a general idea of how the game flows. You'll come across places where the team leader is automatically switched to allow for the best outcome. But even then, you can still switch members on the fly if you beg to differ.

But with the good, there is a small amount of bad. I feel the analog controls could've used a bit of tweaking before the final release, at times I have a tough time keeping the gang centered on the platform, and more than a few times that has even cost me a life. That and the game's perception has a tendency to be a bit off. Meaning that if you think you're locked on to a set of rings to collect them, think again as you might not be, and you might end up missing that set of rings. There is one more thing, sometimes there's a block that stops you from moving on, and the answer has a tendency to be not so obvious, this is most prominant in the second act of the second stage where you have to press square and press in a switch to open the door in order to continue. This is completely un-necessary and breaks the sense of speed that Sonic is most famous for.

Controls: 8.5/10

You remember the issue I mentioned above about the analog control? Well, this is the reason why I am not giving the controls a 9 or above. The game controls great, it's just that niggling issue. Everything can be accessed in a split second, and the controls are extremely responsive. Had Sonic Team just taken a little bit more time to tweak the analog sensitivity, the controls would've been absolutely perfect. I blame this on their lack of experience with the PS2 and it's nuances. Aside from that though, they did a fine job.

Sound: 10/10

OK, this is definitely the game's best aspect. The game has all the typical sound effects of a newer Sonic game, like the boings, the voice-overs, and thundering rock and techno-ish stuff in the background. Dare I say it, it's a good thing that all of these things are here. The intro to the first stage says it all in my books, and the game keeps a constant flow of speedy music to go with the situation as you progress. It fits perfectly into the world of Sonic, I have no complaints whatsoever.

Overall: 9.3/10

A solid game that has a few niggling flaws as I said a few times before in the review, but believe me, if you can get over these flaws you will find a solid platformer that reminds you of why it is that Sonic truly is king. The game has rich and expansive environments, cool characters, a fantastic soundtrack and when the game gets it's speed, boy does it get it's speed going fast! It's just good, solid fun that can actually force you to think strategically in order to adjust to the situation on the fly. BTW, a small tip is to go through the Tutorial, you'll thank me later. I hope you'll all read my review, and go purchase this game. It's better than alot of people make it out to be.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/06