< Back   Sonic Heroes - Review

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It's a commonly accepted fact amongst most gamers that Sonic the Hedgehog (unlike his rival-of-sorts Mario) has never really managed to make the jump from 2D to 3D successfully, and still keep itself properly intact. Buggy, erratic and lacking any real genuine sense of controllable speed, both Sonic Adventure games tried, and ultimately failed, to live up to the character's namesake.

For a number of years following, there were no new dedicated 3D Sonic game released, only remakes of the Dreamcast originals, and many of the handheld 2D renditions only served as a nostalgic reminder of the original classics, never really coming into their own, or standing out.

Sonic Heroes' basic premise is an undeniably appealing one, especially for fans - take control of one of four teams, each comprised of three connected character from every corner of the Sonic universe, and use your party of three in tandem to make your way through the usual assortment of traditional Sonic themed level.

This three-team system is how Sonic Heroes deviates off the traditional path of the series. At all times throughout the game, you control a party of three characters - based around the characteristic of speed, flight and power - and must use their "unique" abilities to traverse your way through each stage.

This would be an interesting approach, if the levels visited by each team weren't only superficially different. Only a slight change of difficulty level and a handful of different paths through the levels separate the teams from each other, making the whole idea of variety null and void.

Undeniably, the game has the best of intentions, and does try to give fans and newcomers the best of both worlds. Revisiting characters past and present, it tries to bring back both the old and the new, and attempt to recreate it all in a shiny new 3D shell that actually works. The key word here of course, is "attempt", as Sonic Heroes bites off far more than it can chew.

The problem with the past 3D Sonic incarnations is the general lack of any real freedom control - proper control of Sonic (or other characters) is often lost in the speedier and most impressive sections of the levels, and any attempt to deviate off the pre-defined path provided to you often leads to unfair screen death. With three characters under your control at all times in Sonic Heroes, this problem is worsened ten-fold. Characters movement through the levels is fiddly and unresponsive, and the unfair deaths that the Sonic games have unfortunately become infamous for are as present as they ever were.

Sonic Heroes isn't a completely lost cause. With patience, some level of enjoyment can be gleamed in the game for the more persistent gamers, who are willing to look past its problems, and the game does has a certain nostalgic charm that will appeal to long-time fans. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to save the game from its glaring flaws, and all we're left with is another average turnout for our blue-spiked friend. Maybe next time.

- 5 / 10