you're my hero: Sonic Heroes (PC/PS2/GameCube/Xbox, 2003)
NOTE: This review is part of a retrospective of the Sonic franchise. Feel free to read the other Sonic reviews I’ve done here - https://expithecat.blogspot.com/search/label/sonic%20retrospective
It’s… been a little while since I continued my Sonic retrospective series, hasn’t it? Truth be told I’ve gotten caught up in so many other projects and stuff that I kind of just… forgot about doing this series. Regardless, here’s the next game to go over - Sonic Heroes.
Background and History
By 2003, Sega had been resorted to a third party company for two years at that point. The Dreamcast had failed and was discontinued, but that didn’t stop Sega from continuing the Sonic series. They had already made two Advance games, and now was their next console entry.
During development, Iizuka decided against making a straight-up sequel to the Adventure games - I guess with the game being multiplatform he did want the series going forward to appeal to more people outside the core Sonic fanbase. With a simpler story and greater focus on platforming, Sonic Heroes was designed to be a bit more akin to what the Sega Genesis games were going for and was even somewhat touted as a “return to form” for the series (and oh boy trust me that’s not the last time you’ll hear that one).
The game was released on December 30, 2003 in Japan and early 2004 in the rest of the world on the GameCube, PS2 and Xbox with a PC version being released later on in 2004. The game got mixed reception at it’s release but did turn out to be a commercial success, and while it’s not as beloved as the Adventure games, there are still a lot of people who really enjoy this game.
Personal Experiences
To be honest, prior to getting this game I really don’t have many memories of seeing this game being discussed or really remember what the general consensus was at the time I was really getting invested with the Sonic franchise and fandom. I do remember seeing people talk about it, many saying they liked it (I remember one instance where I saw someone refer to it as the “last good Sonic game” in 2012), but it wasn’t really a game I saw either getting widespread praise nor a negative reception. I remember myself at least wanting to play it at some point but it wasn’t a game I was necessarily dying to play compared to the Adventure games, Colors and Generations. I just remember it existing and… that was that.
But, not long after I picked up my GameCube, I ended up getting this game at GameStop. This was around the time when GameStop was clearancing their GameCube stock (which was actually the reason I bought a GameCube in the first place), and I had gone in to get a copy of Super Mario Sunshine, but they had some sort of deal and I ended up finding Sonic Heroes on the shelf alongside it so I decided to pick that up as well.
And after picking it up I will say that I did enjoy the game. Granted it wasn’t really one I went back to much initially but I had liked what I played of it. Although I don’t really remember making a lot of progress in it - which I guess was more of a result of being addicted to ROBLOX as a kid and not really playing a lot of my console games (plus was starting to collect other systems around the same time) but… still. There was a period of time where I did consider it to be my favorite 3D Sonic game and one of my favorites in the series overall - just behind Sonic 2 and 3 & Knuckles.
But… after the release of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, the Sonic series had become somewhat of a joke once again, and it was this time period where I remember the hate towards the Adventure games being particularly prevalent and I feel like Heroes got lumped in with it as well. I did still enjoy Heroes and said so myself, but in the next few years or so I began hopping on the bandwagon against this game, citing criticisms like the controls, jankiness and padding people often talked about.
But being a bit older now and having more involvement with the Sonic fanbase, I did decide to give this game another shot - finally finishing the “Team Sonic” story that I had been putting aside for years. And playing it again recently, I found I actually did enjoy this game.
Story
The story somewhat depends on which character you play as, due to being told through four perspectives.
Team Sonic - Tails gives Sonic a letter from Eggman that they received telling about a secret weapon that will be unveiled in three days and used so that Eggman can take over the world. Of course, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all team up to stop him.
Team Dark - Rouge sneaks into Eggman’s base searching for treasure, when she finds Shadow encased in a capsule. When Shadow is awakened, E123 Omega attacks them, believing Shadow is a robot. After Rouge breaks up their fight, they agree to team up to find Eggman. Course, as events in the story unfold, there becomes a question of whether or not this Shadow is the “real” one or just a clone.
Team Rose - After finding a newspaper, Amy, Cream and Big team up to look for Sonic, Chocola and Froggy respectively. Eventually they confront Eggman, believing he kidnapped Chocola and Froggy.
Team Chaotix - With their jobs at a detective agency, Vector, Charmy and Espio receive a message giving them a job to be completed for reward. Espio is skeptical of this client, but they all set out to what he wants them to anyway.
All of the stories, however, lead into the “last story” unlocked by playing through each and obtaining the Chaos Emeralds - where it is revealed that Eggman was actually cloned by Metal Sonic and the real Eggman had been locked up inside his own fortress. The robot, well, basically turned against his creator.
Compared to the Sonic Adventure games, this is a relatively simple story. It definitely has it’s high stakes moment, particularly during the end, but not necessarily an overarching plot that goes throughout the entire game.
And honestly? I… don’t really mind that. Sonic Heroes’ story isn’t anything too special, but like I’ve brought up in the past, I’m not necessarily expecting Final Fantasy-level storytelling from Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic Heroes’ story feels a bit more like a classic Sonic story to me, which was kind of their goal with the game in general, and I don’t necessarily have any problem with the series stepping back a bit. The characters all feel well-written, and I really like seeing the story being told through the four different perspectives of the teams and how they lead into each other - ultimately to the final story and boss.
Character interactions are probably the biggest strength of Heroes’ story, and not just within the cutscenes but within gameplay too - throughout you’ll hear characters speak to each other, often commenting on the level you’re in. It makes it pretty entertaining, especially in the case of Team Chaotix where there are some pretty funny lines here and there.
Presentation-wise, I would probably say this is a step up from the Adventure games. The FMV cutscenes look good - pretty low resolution (which I guess is more due to being a game from the early/mid 2000’s), but the animation is pretty nice and the movement of the characters looks good and fluid. Also the lip-syncing is actually pretty decent for the most part considering they actually lip-synced the English dub.
It’s not quite perfect though - I will say that Sonic Heroes’ models do look a bit awkward up close in the in-game cutscenes (which usually just appear at the start of levels), and the English translation also has some issues. Probably the most noticeable is Tails saying “look at all those Eggman’s robots” which… did no one seriously notice that during their performances? Also, I feel like there are cases where the way where certain words are spoken are odd considering the context. I’m not sure if that’s a result of the voice direction or just how the voice actors interpreted the script but… yeah.
But anyway, Sonic Heroes’ story isn’t anything too special, pretty simple at the end of the day, largely carried by character interactions, but I think for what it’s going for, it does it pretty well. Presentation could still use a bit of improvement, but overall it’s an enjoyable, straightforward story. On that note...
Presentation
The visual style of this game is definitely a bit different compared to the Adventure titles, and I feel like it’s also been subject to some criticism. I’m not sure how to describe it but the more “simple” look of the models gives the impression to some that it feels “plasticy” or whatever. But at the same time, I always found some charm in the visual style of this game. I will say that the models do look odd when up close, particularly in in-game cutscenes, but other than that, I always really enjoyed the more colorful appearance of the game and saw charm in the game’s simpler models. I feel like it sort of fits the overall classic aesthetic, and in addition the environments of each level look really good - often just popping with color and just being really visually beautiful to look at.
The soundtrack I’ve also really grown to love after playing the game. The game’s main vocal theme, called, well, “Sonic Heroes,” is pretty good on it’s own, but the level themes also really stood out to me - in particular themes like Casino Park, Seaside Hill, Grand Metropolis, and Frog Forest. It’s a soundtrack I could see myself going back to and listening to on it’s own.
Gameplay
From what I gathered from the bit of research on this I did before this review, and as I mentioned in the game’s Background and History, this game was developed with the concept of a more straightforward platformer.
And after playing the game… I can definitely tell how this game was developed around that concept. Probably the biggest change going from the Adventure games to this is that there aren’t any major “alternate” playstyles - nothing like the Treasure Hunting stages or Mech stages or whatever, just straightforward Sonic gameplay. Even when playing through the different stories, it pretty much plays the same. “Team Chaotix” does change up the gameplay a little - integrating “missions” in the game which largely consist of hunting for items or destroying a number of enemies - but the core gameplay largely remains the same throughout all the campaigns.
But even with that aside, I feel like the game’s approach to game design also feels more akin to what the classic games were going for more so than the Adventure titles. I feel like in general Sonic Heroes’ level design has a greater emphasis on platforming compared to the Adventure games. I’m not… entirely sure how to explain it, but I’ll just say this - Adventure 1, while having moments of speed, made use of more open levels that allowed for some level of exploration on the side of getting to point A to point B. Adventure 2 was more focused on the speed and action itself, having levels that felt more linear and reaction-based while supplying the player with design elements that could be used to obtain higher speeds and score higher at the end.
Sonic Heroes’ levels, on the other hand, felt more like a 3D translation of what the classic games were going for. Levels are more heavy on the platforming elements in comparison to the Adventure titles, and are also built with alternate, branching pathways allowing for more replay value and opportunity to play each level in a different way.
And frankly, I think it handles that pretty well.
I think I’ve talked about in the past that I’ve always found appreciation for how the classic games were designed - building upon the platformer standards that had been established and creating levels that were full of different ways to go which incentivized replayability and just made each playthrough unique in it’s own right.
With Sonic Heroes, I definitely get that impression when looking at the level design. I can tell this was a game meant to be played more than once - which, I guess to be fair could be said about most Sonic games - but in this particular case, with how the existence of the four different teams and the “challenge” missions, I can tell that the developers just wanted to make each playthrough feel unique. On top of how the levels themselves were designed, each “story” has it’s own difficulty level and each level changes slightly - Team Rose being easy mode with the shortest levels, Team Sonic being the normal mode with medium levels and Team Dark being hard mode with the longest levels. And then there’s Team Chaotix which, again, is more focused around missions. A lot of people don’t like that you essentially have to play the game four times to truly beat it, which I can understand (especially after playing Advance 1 and 2), but at the same time, I gotta admit that despite seeming like that would be an issue for me, I can’t really say the game got old when I was playing through the different stories. And ultimately, that just comes down to the game having varied, interesting level design that feels very akin to the classic games.
I think the presentation of the levels is also pretty nice with how it integrates features within the level’s theme - for example, the pinball machines in Casino Park and Bingo Highway plus the rails and trains in Rail Canyon and Bullet Station. That’s something I feel like this series has always done pretty well and here’s no exception, but I kind of feel like with the game’s visual style it just stood out to me a lot more here. Either that or I was just paying attention more after playing through the entirety of this game.
Of course, this game also has it’s own spin on the regular Sonic formula, too - that being the “Heroes'' mechanic. Throughout the game, you essentially take control of three different characters at the same time which you can swap between at any moment. You have a speed character (either Sonic, Amy, Shadow or Espio), a “Flight” character (Tails, Cream, Rouge, Charmy) and a “Power” character (Knuckles, Big, E123 Omega, Vector), and the game often requires you to swap between each character and use their abilities to get past certain obstacles. For example, the “power” character is usually used to break blocks that are in the way and fight enemies whereas the “flight” characters are required for reaching platforms and going over stretches of bottomless pits. Sometimes the game will tell you through a monitor which character is recommended for a certain section or sometimes just force you to swap if you go through one of those power field things.
Should mention, as well, that some characters have different abilities even if they are of the same class. As an example, while Sonic and Shadow have the light speed dash, Amy and Espio - their equivalents in the Team Rose and Team Chaotix story respectively - do not. And while this is more of a talking point regarding the game’s presentation, some abilities are shared, but also appear different to - the “triangle dive” move appears similar between both Team Sonic and Team Dark, but appear differently for Team Rose and Team Chaotix - Big is holding an umbrella and Vector is blowing a piece of bubble gum. I do find this to be an interesting touch that does reflect on those character’s personalities.
While this is brought up as a common criticism, I mentioned that with how the level design is handled in this game I didn’t really find myself minding having to technically play through the game four times to get the true ending. And this still holds true for the most part - in some ways I really liked how some level design elements varied between each story while sometimes certain pathways could only be accessed by certain characters. I did have trouble with Team Dark towards the last half of the game or so… but considering it is seen as the “hard mode” for the game I guess that’s to be expected.
I… was a bit mixed on Team Chaotix though. I didn’t entirely hate playing through their story, and I can appreciate it for changing up the gameplay, but I felt the tasks you were given throughout each level were a mixed bag. Some were pretty simple and straightforward - some just requiring an extension of playing the level normally, but then there are others where you have to search for things. And there were a few of them in particular that really annoyed me playing through them for the first time.
In particular, one was Grand Metropolis, the first time around, where you had to destroy 85 robots (all of them in the stage) - which sounds pretty simple, but my first time playing through, I only had destroyed 84 of them, and after going through the entire level a couple times, I decided to restart entirely. But that time I only managed to destroy 83 of them, so I continued to search everywhere in the level… and it turned out that two of the robots hadn’t spawned when they were supposed to and after getting to a certain point of the map they finally did so.
Should mention too that in those “searching for items” levels, some of those items are in relatively hidden areas you probably won’t notice right away, and if you don’t… well, it can be kind of annoying when you have to restart the level to track down the one item you are missing.
It’s… been a little while since I continued my Sonic retrospective series, hasn’t it? Truth be told I’ve gotten caught up in so many other projects and stuff that I kind of just… forgot about doing this series. Regardless, here’s the next game to go over - Sonic Heroes.
Background and History
By 2003, Sega had been resorted to a third party company for two years at that point. The Dreamcast had failed and was discontinued, but that didn’t stop Sega from continuing the Sonic series. They had already made two Advance games, and now was their next console entry.
During development, Iizuka decided against making a straight-up sequel to the Adventure games - I guess with the game being multiplatform he did want the series going forward to appeal to more people outside the core Sonic fanbase. With a simpler story and greater focus on platforming, Sonic Heroes was designed to be a bit more akin to what the Sega Genesis games were going for and was even somewhat touted as a “return to form” for the series (and oh boy trust me that’s not the last time you’ll hear that one).
The game was released on December 30, 2003 in Japan and early 2004 in the rest of the world on the GameCube, PS2 and Xbox with a PC version being released later on in 2004. The game got mixed reception at it’s release but did turn out to be a commercial success, and while it’s not as beloved as the Adventure games, there are still a lot of people who really enjoy this game.
Personal Experiences
To be honest, prior to getting this game I really don’t have many memories of seeing this game being discussed or really remember what the general consensus was at the time I was really getting invested with the Sonic franchise and fandom. I do remember seeing people talk about it, many saying they liked it (I remember one instance where I saw someone refer to it as the “last good Sonic game” in 2012), but it wasn’t really a game I saw either getting widespread praise nor a negative reception. I remember myself at least wanting to play it at some point but it wasn’t a game I was necessarily dying to play compared to the Adventure games, Colors and Generations. I just remember it existing and… that was that.
But, not long after I picked up my GameCube, I ended up getting this game at GameStop. This was around the time when GameStop was clearancing their GameCube stock (which was actually the reason I bought a GameCube in the first place), and I had gone in to get a copy of Super Mario Sunshine, but they had some sort of deal and I ended up finding Sonic Heroes on the shelf alongside it so I decided to pick that up as well.
And after picking it up I will say that I did enjoy the game. Granted it wasn’t really one I went back to much initially but I had liked what I played of it. Although I don’t really remember making a lot of progress in it - which I guess was more of a result of being addicted to ROBLOX as a kid and not really playing a lot of my console games (plus was starting to collect other systems around the same time) but… still. There was a period of time where I did consider it to be my favorite 3D Sonic game and one of my favorites in the series overall - just behind Sonic 2 and 3 & Knuckles.
But… after the release of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, the Sonic series had become somewhat of a joke once again, and it was this time period where I remember the hate towards the Adventure games being particularly prevalent and I feel like Heroes got lumped in with it as well. I did still enjoy Heroes and said so myself, but in the next few years or so I began hopping on the bandwagon against this game, citing criticisms like the controls, jankiness and padding people often talked about.
But being a bit older now and having more involvement with the Sonic fanbase, I did decide to give this game another shot - finally finishing the “Team Sonic” story that I had been putting aside for years. And playing it again recently, I found I actually did enjoy this game.
Story
The story somewhat depends on which character you play as, due to being told through four perspectives.
Team Sonic - Tails gives Sonic a letter from Eggman that they received telling about a secret weapon that will be unveiled in three days and used so that Eggman can take over the world. Of course, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all team up to stop him.
Team Dark - Rouge sneaks into Eggman’s base searching for treasure, when she finds Shadow encased in a capsule. When Shadow is awakened, E123 Omega attacks them, believing Shadow is a robot. After Rouge breaks up their fight, they agree to team up to find Eggman. Course, as events in the story unfold, there becomes a question of whether or not this Shadow is the “real” one or just a clone.
Team Rose - After finding a newspaper, Amy, Cream and Big team up to look for Sonic, Chocola and Froggy respectively. Eventually they confront Eggman, believing he kidnapped Chocola and Froggy.
Team Chaotix - With their jobs at a detective agency, Vector, Charmy and Espio receive a message giving them a job to be completed for reward. Espio is skeptical of this client, but they all set out to what he wants them to anyway.
All of the stories, however, lead into the “last story” unlocked by playing through each and obtaining the Chaos Emeralds - where it is revealed that Eggman was actually cloned by Metal Sonic and the real Eggman had been locked up inside his own fortress. The robot, well, basically turned against his creator.
Compared to the Sonic Adventure games, this is a relatively simple story. It definitely has it’s high stakes moment, particularly during the end, but not necessarily an overarching plot that goes throughout the entire game.
And honestly? I… don’t really mind that. Sonic Heroes’ story isn’t anything too special, but like I’ve brought up in the past, I’m not necessarily expecting Final Fantasy-level storytelling from Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic Heroes’ story feels a bit more like a classic Sonic story to me, which was kind of their goal with the game in general, and I don’t necessarily have any problem with the series stepping back a bit. The characters all feel well-written, and I really like seeing the story being told through the four different perspectives of the teams and how they lead into each other - ultimately to the final story and boss.
Character interactions are probably the biggest strength of Heroes’ story, and not just within the cutscenes but within gameplay too - throughout you’ll hear characters speak to each other, often commenting on the level you’re in. It makes it pretty entertaining, especially in the case of Team Chaotix where there are some pretty funny lines here and there.
Presentation-wise, I would probably say this is a step up from the Adventure games. The FMV cutscenes look good - pretty low resolution (which I guess is more due to being a game from the early/mid 2000’s), but the animation is pretty nice and the movement of the characters looks good and fluid. Also the lip-syncing is actually pretty decent for the most part considering they actually lip-synced the English dub.
It’s not quite perfect though - I will say that Sonic Heroes’ models do look a bit awkward up close in the in-game cutscenes (which usually just appear at the start of levels), and the English translation also has some issues. Probably the most noticeable is Tails saying “look at all those Eggman’s robots” which… did no one seriously notice that during their performances? Also, I feel like there are cases where the way where certain words are spoken are odd considering the context. I’m not sure if that’s a result of the voice direction or just how the voice actors interpreted the script but… yeah.
But anyway, Sonic Heroes’ story isn’t anything too special, pretty simple at the end of the day, largely carried by character interactions, but I think for what it’s going for, it does it pretty well. Presentation could still use a bit of improvement, but overall it’s an enjoyable, straightforward story. On that note...
Presentation
The visual style of this game is definitely a bit different compared to the Adventure titles, and I feel like it’s also been subject to some criticism. I’m not sure how to describe it but the more “simple” look of the models gives the impression to some that it feels “plasticy” or whatever. But at the same time, I always found some charm in the visual style of this game. I will say that the models do look odd when up close, particularly in in-game cutscenes, but other than that, I always really enjoyed the more colorful appearance of the game and saw charm in the game’s simpler models. I feel like it sort of fits the overall classic aesthetic, and in addition the environments of each level look really good - often just popping with color and just being really visually beautiful to look at.
The soundtrack I’ve also really grown to love after playing the game. The game’s main vocal theme, called, well, “Sonic Heroes,” is pretty good on it’s own, but the level themes also really stood out to me - in particular themes like Casino Park, Seaside Hill, Grand Metropolis, and Frog Forest. It’s a soundtrack I could see myself going back to and listening to on it’s own.
Gameplay
From what I gathered from the bit of research on this I did before this review, and as I mentioned in the game’s Background and History, this game was developed with the concept of a more straightforward platformer.
And after playing the game… I can definitely tell how this game was developed around that concept. Probably the biggest change going from the Adventure games to this is that there aren’t any major “alternate” playstyles - nothing like the Treasure Hunting stages or Mech stages or whatever, just straightforward Sonic gameplay. Even when playing through the different stories, it pretty much plays the same. “Team Chaotix” does change up the gameplay a little - integrating “missions” in the game which largely consist of hunting for items or destroying a number of enemies - but the core gameplay largely remains the same throughout all the campaigns.
But even with that aside, I feel like the game’s approach to game design also feels more akin to what the classic games were going for more so than the Adventure titles. I feel like in general Sonic Heroes’ level design has a greater emphasis on platforming compared to the Adventure games. I’m not… entirely sure how to explain it, but I’ll just say this - Adventure 1, while having moments of speed, made use of more open levels that allowed for some level of exploration on the side of getting to point A to point B. Adventure 2 was more focused on the speed and action itself, having levels that felt more linear and reaction-based while supplying the player with design elements that could be used to obtain higher speeds and score higher at the end.
Sonic Heroes’ levels, on the other hand, felt more like a 3D translation of what the classic games were going for. Levels are more heavy on the platforming elements in comparison to the Adventure titles, and are also built with alternate, branching pathways allowing for more replay value and opportunity to play each level in a different way.
And frankly, I think it handles that pretty well.
I think I’ve talked about in the past that I’ve always found appreciation for how the classic games were designed - building upon the platformer standards that had been established and creating levels that were full of different ways to go which incentivized replayability and just made each playthrough unique in it’s own right.
With Sonic Heroes, I definitely get that impression when looking at the level design. I can tell this was a game meant to be played more than once - which, I guess to be fair could be said about most Sonic games - but in this particular case, with how the existence of the four different teams and the “challenge” missions, I can tell that the developers just wanted to make each playthrough feel unique. On top of how the levels themselves were designed, each “story” has it’s own difficulty level and each level changes slightly - Team Rose being easy mode with the shortest levels, Team Sonic being the normal mode with medium levels and Team Dark being hard mode with the longest levels. And then there’s Team Chaotix which, again, is more focused around missions. A lot of people don’t like that you essentially have to play the game four times to truly beat it, which I can understand (especially after playing Advance 1 and 2), but at the same time, I gotta admit that despite seeming like that would be an issue for me, I can’t really say the game got old when I was playing through the different stories. And ultimately, that just comes down to the game having varied, interesting level design that feels very akin to the classic games.
I think the presentation of the levels is also pretty nice with how it integrates features within the level’s theme - for example, the pinball machines in Casino Park and Bingo Highway plus the rails and trains in Rail Canyon and Bullet Station. That’s something I feel like this series has always done pretty well and here’s no exception, but I kind of feel like with the game’s visual style it just stood out to me a lot more here. Either that or I was just paying attention more after playing through the entirety of this game.
Of course, this game also has it’s own spin on the regular Sonic formula, too - that being the “Heroes'' mechanic. Throughout the game, you essentially take control of three different characters at the same time which you can swap between at any moment. You have a speed character (either Sonic, Amy, Shadow or Espio), a “Flight” character (Tails, Cream, Rouge, Charmy) and a “Power” character (Knuckles, Big, E123 Omega, Vector), and the game often requires you to swap between each character and use their abilities to get past certain obstacles. For example, the “power” character is usually used to break blocks that are in the way and fight enemies whereas the “flight” characters are required for reaching platforms and going over stretches of bottomless pits. Sometimes the game will tell you through a monitor which character is recommended for a certain section or sometimes just force you to swap if you go through one of those power field things.
Should mention, as well, that some characters have different abilities even if they are of the same class. As an example, while Sonic and Shadow have the light speed dash, Amy and Espio - their equivalents in the Team Rose and Team Chaotix story respectively - do not. And while this is more of a talking point regarding the game’s presentation, some abilities are shared, but also appear different to - the “triangle dive” move appears similar between both Team Sonic and Team Dark, but appear differently for Team Rose and Team Chaotix - Big is holding an umbrella and Vector is blowing a piece of bubble gum. I do find this to be an interesting touch that does reflect on those character’s personalities.
While this is brought up as a common criticism, I mentioned that with how the level design is handled in this game I didn’t really find myself minding having to technically play through the game four times to get the true ending. And this still holds true for the most part - in some ways I really liked how some level design elements varied between each story while sometimes certain pathways could only be accessed by certain characters. I did have trouble with Team Dark towards the last half of the game or so… but considering it is seen as the “hard mode” for the game I guess that’s to be expected.
I… was a bit mixed on Team Chaotix though. I didn’t entirely hate playing through their story, and I can appreciate it for changing up the gameplay, but I felt the tasks you were given throughout each level were a mixed bag. Some were pretty simple and straightforward - some just requiring an extension of playing the level normally, but then there are others where you have to search for things. And there were a few of them in particular that really annoyed me playing through them for the first time.
In particular, one was Grand Metropolis, the first time around, where you had to destroy 85 robots (all of them in the stage) - which sounds pretty simple, but my first time playing through, I only had destroyed 84 of them, and after going through the entire level a couple times, I decided to restart entirely. But that time I only managed to destroy 83 of them, so I continued to search everywhere in the level… and it turned out that two of the robots hadn’t spawned when they were supposed to and after getting to a certain point of the map they finally did so.
Should mention too that in those “searching for items” levels, some of those items are in relatively hidden areas you probably won’t notice right away, and if you don’t… well, it can be kind of annoying when you have to restart the level to track down the one item you are missing.
At least it made for some entertaining characters though.
There’s also somewhat of a combat system in this game too. Unlike the classic games or the Adventure titles where enemies will go down with a single hit, whether that be a jump or a homing attack, enemies now have a life bar, with some enemies taking longer to kill. I believe this was largely done to encourage the use of “power” characters on enemies, and in some cases even combining different character abilities as you swap between them. Probably the most common example was that I found myself often using the “flight” character in each run to take down flying enemies, and follow that up with switching to the power character to finish them off. Or some enemies have shields or armors that require the tornado spin or whatever it’s called to get off. In some cases the player will have to take down certain enemies to progress or get some bonus items.
Initially I was kind of thrown off by this combat system - obviously with my muscle memory from previous and later Sonic games I pretty much just wanted to homing attack every enemy I saw, and it did annoy me that the enemies have life bars and made me feel it broke the pace of the game. But, once I understand what to do with each character - in particular using the “power” characters to take them down, it… actually didn’t really slow down the gameplay for me. I mean, switching characters as it is is pretty straightforward - press the button that’s labeled to each character in the top right hand corner. Trust me, if this was, say, a Donkey Kong 64 situation where you had to backtrack a bit to switch off each corner, it would’ve definitely broken the pacing and made the game less fun for me. But that just isn’t the case. The worst thing that usually happened was I would press the wrong button and switch to the character, but that really didn’t annoy me that much and obviously isn’t the fault of the game itself. Ultimately I do think that the “Heroes” mechanic is actually pretty well integrated with the core Sonic gameplay and even the combat didn’t really seem to slow down the game for the most part.
In addition there’s also a level up feature where you can collect orbs either scattered throughout the level or dropped by enemies that give each character more strength to take out enemies. I thought this was also a neat feature - giving the player an incentive to level up and maintain a level of strength for each character so that as the level progresses it becomes easier to take out stronger enemies.
Another thing I initially remember not liking about this game was the controls, and this is somewhat of a common criticism of this game - that the controls are too slippery. But at the same time, playing the game a bit more, the controls really weren’t that much of an issue to me. In fact, the more I played of it, I actually found myself liking the controls well enough. In fact, honestly, it didn’t really feel that much different than the Adventure games, just built slightly differently for the sort of level design that Heroes was going for. I don’t really know what to say for this - it’s hard for me to describe game controls well, but at the same time, I felt they were fine enough. I feel like the level design mostly works around Sonic Heroes’ control style and ultimately the “slipperiness” never really was that big of an issue for me. The only time I really had issues with Sonic Heroes’ control in general was the special stages, and, well…
To transition, the special stages were hands down my least favorite part of the game. It feels like the game’s worst issues in terms of jankiness and controls really come to play here. The special stages themselves pretty much build upon the “half-pipe” in Sonic 2, with the difference being this is a whole pipe so that’s something. But the special stages in this game have you build up a speed meter by collecting orbs and maintain a level of speed, but there are obstacles in your way that will slow you down, and if you don’t keep picking up those orbs, your speed meter will empty.
My problem is that the controls for these special stages feel extremely twitchy to me, especially when you’re going full speed, making it really tough to make precise movements to dodge obstacles. On top of that, there is a bit of memorization involved with avoiding obstacles and collecting the orbs, and ultimately it just makes the special stages a frustrating experience. Sometimes I feel like the character I’m playing just slows down to a crawl or outright stops for no reason. I’m not sure if that’s a bug or a mechanic that I don’t understand, but either way, it just added to those special stages feeling more frustrating to me.
I kind of felt the process of getting into the special stages was a pain too. You have to search for keys in the levels and hang on to them until the end - meaning you can’t get hit. On the bright side the game does give you multiple keys, and you can always use Team Rose to get into the special stages - where the levels are shorter and easier making it less painful. But there’s also another thing that kind of annoys me - you can only get the Chaos Emeralds in the even numbered-stages… and I don’t understand why that is. You can still get keys in the odd-numbered stages, but their special stages just lead to a “bonus challenge” that can be good for extra lives and such, but don’t give the emerald when you complete this. I didn’t even understand this at first - I had gotten the first Chaos Emerald, and completed the Bonus Challenge of “Special Stage Act 2,” and thought I had the first two Chaos Emeralds, but in actuality I didn’t - just the first one.
Another common criticism I’ve seen is the jankiness but… for the most part I didn’t really feel that was much of an issue. There were definitely some bugs and jankiness here and there, but at the same time I wouldn’t say it felt any more “janky” to me than the Adventure titles. The special stages definitely were the worst of it, but for the most part I really didn’t notice it much within the actual levels. Honestly even when looking at a lot of the examples that people show of the game being “janky” it often just comes off as people not playing the game right in some fashion.
Conclusion
Honestly, with how my opinions on this game have sort of gone back and forth, I gotta say playing it now, I really did find myself enjoying Sonic Heroes, more than I really expected to. It isn’t perfect, but the level design really appealed to me and with how mechanics such as combat and the “hero switching” are integrated with the gameplay, it still manages to stick out as a unique Sonic game. Honestly, I would probably say I enjoy this title even more than either the Adventure games - while I still like those titles, Heroes just managed to stand out to me more in a number of ways. I can understand why people may not like it, but it can definitely be a fun time.
If you want to play this game, you can get it for any of the major sixth gen systems (at least aside for the Dreamcast) and there’s also a PC port of the game. I personally played the GameCube version as that’s the one I’ve always had, but obviously if you have an original Xbox or PlayStation 2 you can play it that way too, or obtain a copy of the PC version. And in addition to that you can also play the original Xbox version on a 360 through backwards compatibility and there’s also a PSN version albeit it’s only available in Europe.
The PlayStation 2 version is considered to be the weakest port of the game, but at the same time a lot of those claims are a bit… overstated. A lot of people bring up collision bugs but I really haven’t found any examples of these that aren’t present in other versions of the game. I think it ultimately comes down to the framerate - Sonic Heroes PS2 runs at 30FPS whereas the others run at 60, and if you’re a framerate whore, that’ll probably be the biggest dealbreaker for you. But at the same time, that same criticism can be applied to, say, the console version of Sonic Generations or, hell, the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure (which is often considered the best way to play the game outside of PC mods). I’d say if you have a GameCube or Xbox (or a 360), those ports would be the better option, but if you just have a PS2, you… honestly aren’t missing much outside of better framerates.
There’s also somewhat of a combat system in this game too. Unlike the classic games or the Adventure titles where enemies will go down with a single hit, whether that be a jump or a homing attack, enemies now have a life bar, with some enemies taking longer to kill. I believe this was largely done to encourage the use of “power” characters on enemies, and in some cases even combining different character abilities as you swap between them. Probably the most common example was that I found myself often using the “flight” character in each run to take down flying enemies, and follow that up with switching to the power character to finish them off. Or some enemies have shields or armors that require the tornado spin or whatever it’s called to get off. In some cases the player will have to take down certain enemies to progress or get some bonus items.
Initially I was kind of thrown off by this combat system - obviously with my muscle memory from previous and later Sonic games I pretty much just wanted to homing attack every enemy I saw, and it did annoy me that the enemies have life bars and made me feel it broke the pace of the game. But, once I understand what to do with each character - in particular using the “power” characters to take them down, it… actually didn’t really slow down the gameplay for me. I mean, switching characters as it is is pretty straightforward - press the button that’s labeled to each character in the top right hand corner. Trust me, if this was, say, a Donkey Kong 64 situation where you had to backtrack a bit to switch off each corner, it would’ve definitely broken the pacing and made the game less fun for me. But that just isn’t the case. The worst thing that usually happened was I would press the wrong button and switch to the character, but that really didn’t annoy me that much and obviously isn’t the fault of the game itself. Ultimately I do think that the “Heroes” mechanic is actually pretty well integrated with the core Sonic gameplay and even the combat didn’t really seem to slow down the game for the most part.
In addition there’s also a level up feature where you can collect orbs either scattered throughout the level or dropped by enemies that give each character more strength to take out enemies. I thought this was also a neat feature - giving the player an incentive to level up and maintain a level of strength for each character so that as the level progresses it becomes easier to take out stronger enemies.
Another thing I initially remember not liking about this game was the controls, and this is somewhat of a common criticism of this game - that the controls are too slippery. But at the same time, playing the game a bit more, the controls really weren’t that much of an issue to me. In fact, the more I played of it, I actually found myself liking the controls well enough. In fact, honestly, it didn’t really feel that much different than the Adventure games, just built slightly differently for the sort of level design that Heroes was going for. I don’t really know what to say for this - it’s hard for me to describe game controls well, but at the same time, I felt they were fine enough. I feel like the level design mostly works around Sonic Heroes’ control style and ultimately the “slipperiness” never really was that big of an issue for me. The only time I really had issues with Sonic Heroes’ control in general was the special stages, and, well…
To transition, the special stages were hands down my least favorite part of the game. It feels like the game’s worst issues in terms of jankiness and controls really come to play here. The special stages themselves pretty much build upon the “half-pipe” in Sonic 2, with the difference being this is a whole pipe so that’s something. But the special stages in this game have you build up a speed meter by collecting orbs and maintain a level of speed, but there are obstacles in your way that will slow you down, and if you don’t keep picking up those orbs, your speed meter will empty.
My problem is that the controls for these special stages feel extremely twitchy to me, especially when you’re going full speed, making it really tough to make precise movements to dodge obstacles. On top of that, there is a bit of memorization involved with avoiding obstacles and collecting the orbs, and ultimately it just makes the special stages a frustrating experience. Sometimes I feel like the character I’m playing just slows down to a crawl or outright stops for no reason. I’m not sure if that’s a bug or a mechanic that I don’t understand, but either way, it just added to those special stages feeling more frustrating to me.
I kind of felt the process of getting into the special stages was a pain too. You have to search for keys in the levels and hang on to them until the end - meaning you can’t get hit. On the bright side the game does give you multiple keys, and you can always use Team Rose to get into the special stages - where the levels are shorter and easier making it less painful. But there’s also another thing that kind of annoys me - you can only get the Chaos Emeralds in the even numbered-stages… and I don’t understand why that is. You can still get keys in the odd-numbered stages, but their special stages just lead to a “bonus challenge” that can be good for extra lives and such, but don’t give the emerald when you complete this. I didn’t even understand this at first - I had gotten the first Chaos Emerald, and completed the Bonus Challenge of “Special Stage Act 2,” and thought I had the first two Chaos Emeralds, but in actuality I didn’t - just the first one.
Another common criticism I’ve seen is the jankiness but… for the most part I didn’t really feel that was much of an issue. There were definitely some bugs and jankiness here and there, but at the same time I wouldn’t say it felt any more “janky” to me than the Adventure titles. The special stages definitely were the worst of it, but for the most part I really didn’t notice it much within the actual levels. Honestly even when looking at a lot of the examples that people show of the game being “janky” it often just comes off as people not playing the game right in some fashion.
Conclusion
Honestly, with how my opinions on this game have sort of gone back and forth, I gotta say playing it now, I really did find myself enjoying Sonic Heroes, more than I really expected to. It isn’t perfect, but the level design really appealed to me and with how mechanics such as combat and the “hero switching” are integrated with the gameplay, it still manages to stick out as a unique Sonic game. Honestly, I would probably say I enjoy this title even more than either the Adventure games - while I still like those titles, Heroes just managed to stand out to me more in a number of ways. I can understand why people may not like it, but it can definitely be a fun time.
If you want to play this game, you can get it for any of the major sixth gen systems (at least aside for the Dreamcast) and there’s also a PC port of the game. I personally played the GameCube version as that’s the one I’ve always had, but obviously if you have an original Xbox or PlayStation 2 you can play it that way too, or obtain a copy of the PC version. And in addition to that you can also play the original Xbox version on a 360 through backwards compatibility and there’s also a PSN version albeit it’s only available in Europe.
The PlayStation 2 version is considered to be the weakest port of the game, but at the same time a lot of those claims are a bit… overstated. A lot of people bring up collision bugs but I really haven’t found any examples of these that aren’t present in other versions of the game. I think it ultimately comes down to the framerate - Sonic Heroes PS2 runs at 30FPS whereas the others run at 60, and if you’re a framerate whore, that’ll probably be the biggest dealbreaker for you. But at the same time, that same criticism can be applied to, say, the console version of Sonic Generations or, hell, the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure (which is often considered the best way to play the game outside of PC mods). I’d say if you have a GameCube or Xbox (or a 360), those ports would be the better option, but if you just have a PS2, you… honestly aren’t missing much outside of better framerates.
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