Sonic Heroes

"By far the best platformer on the xbox yet still quite a bit behind Sonic games of old"

Sonic makes his debut on the Xbox, but will it make the impact that his games made on the Genesis all those years ago?

First of all if you don’t know who Sonic is you must not know much about computer games. Sonic shaped platformers to what they are today and added speed and attitude to plaformers as well. Sonic for over 13 years has been a worthy rival to Mario and even in recent times with games like Sonic Adventure 2 he not only stand's up to Mario but he sails right past him!!! But can Heroes live up to expectations like that?

Graphics: This look's fantastic yet does not show it off for most of the game. In the level's with the rails just look down and you can see the canyons in all their greatness or what about the way you can see into the distance or the sparkle from the water. One other thing I like which other people don’t is the way the characters look a bit shiny, not to everybody's liking but it looks great to me. It truly does the Xbox justice.

20/20

Sound: Sadly it's a break in the usual high standard of tunes in Sonic games. Although the themes for the different teams and the main theme are great with the usual lyrics and all. However the actual in game music sounds more like something from Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon and you will notice the lack of Lyrics. The characters speech is a mixture of good and bad. The characters now talk during the game which is great except when they constantly repeat themselves. Also characters like Cream and Big are very annoying and their voice will make you want to burst your ear drums!!

6/10

Gameplay : The game is far too restricted as there are certain points where you MUST do a certain thing for example if there is a pole you must use the speed character to spin up it. What ever happened to Sonc games of old where you could do what you wanted to do instead of recognising what needs to be done and doing it. The boss battles are unique as the Boss's now have hp but the actual battles remind me of Sonic Adventure 1 and don’t have any real genius behind it. The speed in this game is still here but only when the game allows it. In some of the later level there are so many platforms and the like that it is to risky to be running at speed. The flying character doesn’t work half as well as it sounds as you have to line up like a totem pole and you can only fly up a small bit and for a few seconds which really is not good enough.

28/40

Lastability : Well the actual game contains 14 levels for each team. With 4 teams that makes for a total of 52 levels +28 boss battles!! Sounds like a lot does it not? Well it is a lot but is it worth doing as all 4 stories are almost identical with only minor story differences between them (this is nothing like the two stories in SA2). The levels themselves are tricky and are very long, some even take 20 minutes and over to complete!! The emblems return but this time there is really less a need to collect them all as there is no Chao stage and so what is the point? The extra missions are also a bit boring and tedious. They did work is SA2 but the levels were up to 4 times shorter there. Here it can be a bit annoying when after wandering around for 10 minutes collecting 190 rings for the jumper to put you in the wrong place and you end of missing the rail and plummeting to your death through no fault of your own. There is a 2 player mode as well with several different modes which are unlocked by collecting emblems. Some of them are good fun to play but some like the special stage one is just plain pointless

16/20

Story: Horrible, the story is far worse then the SA series and reminds me more of the genesis games. The story fails to explain some elements such as why are Cream, Amy and Big all on a beach together? Why are Knuckles and Tails travelling in the Tornado together? Why is Eggman after all 4 teams? Who exactly is Omega? What happened to Shadow I thought he was dead!! The answer to these questions and many more will NOT be answered in the game. Prepare to be frustrated..

2/10

Overall 82/100 - 8

Would I recommend it?

If you like Sonic games you will like this (not love it mind..) If you enjoyed the 2 player from SA2 battle then this will be a pleasant surprise as it is the only element of the game that is improved. If you have never played Sonic Adventure 2 battle for the Gamecube/Dreamcast then get that instead as it's more enjoyable. This is worth a look though even for non-Sonic fans.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/19/04