Sonic Heroes (GameCube Quick Review)
For years, within my circle of gaming friends, this game has become a punchline. But it was one that I never understood because I hadn't played it. Honestly, the only Sonic games I had ever played were the original ones way back on Genesis. Finally, curiosity got the best of me and I picked up this game and wanted to see just how much of a joke it really was.
In this one, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are just running and flying around in the desert when they receive a letter from Dr. Eggman who claims to have an evil plan to take over the world in three days, and it's one that will definitely work. So naturally, Sonic and his buddies instantly set out to stop him.
The Good
- Teamwork Required - To start your game, you get to choose between one of four teams, three of which represent easy, medium, and hard difficulties, while the last team's levels are mission based requiring an objective to be met before you complete the level. Each team carries three members, a Power, a Speed, and a Flying. To get through the levels you must switch through these (with a simple press of a button) to overcome obstacles. Power characters are the only ones who can break through blocks that are in the way, while Speed characters can create whirlwinds to travel up poles, and Flying ones can, obviously, fly upwards for short periods. While it may not be an original gameplay element, it is definitely fun in this one.
- Classic Sonic Feel - Over the years, there have been plenty of games that started off in a side-screen format that switched to a 3D perspective, and not all have been great. This series is one of the good ones though. For the most part, the camera is set up behind your team, but there are numerous action sequences where it spins around and gives you alternate views that are just a lot of fun to watch. The other cool part about this is when the camera is doing these wild swing-arounds, you don't need to adjust how you're holding the joystick, as up will still move your team forwards. Add in the ring system where they also act as your health, and you have the old sonic games with a new feel.
The Bad
- Big Plot Hole. So...Eggman wants to take over the world, and he's sure he has plan that is guaranteed to work. But the only reason Sonic and his squad set out to stop him...is because they receive a letter from him as a challenge to stop him? I get that Eggman is an egotistical maniac...but that's just stupid. This game would make a million times more sense if Sonic and his buddies are just chilling and either see the first attack from a distance, or on some news network, but this...this is just horribly stupid.
- Repeating Storylines. No matter which team you take from the start, the game still has the same 10 levels, the only thing that changes is how difficult they are. In reality though, the difficulty curve isn't really present at all. I jumped right to medium and hard difficulties (Team Sonic and Team Dark respectively) and encountered no frustrations whatsoever, and I suck at Sonic games. It would've been nice to see each team get their own storyline complete with their own set of levels. Even shorter campaigns would've been okay with differing levels, or at the very least completely different paths.
Is it Worth it?
For only $10 complete, and even less as a loose disc, you will get your monies worth out of this one. At least as far as the gameplay itself. Granted it's a Sonic game, but the story isn't very entertaining or even very well thought out. Throw in some bad voice acting, and sprinkle on some (extremely) corny one-liners, and the value of this one increases if you play with your TV muted. While it's upsetting to play the same 10 levels over and over, they are pretty entertaining and do come with their challenges.
It might not be the greatest Sonic game ever, but it isn't the worst either. As for getting the joke from within my gamer circle...the main theme is just...there's no words. It's got that old school cartoon feel to it, and it's one of those that you love and hate at the same time. Either way it'll definitely get stuck in your head for a couple of days.
I "completed" this one in the sense that I finished one of the storylines (Team Sonic). I wasn't too crazy about it so I don't know when I'll go for the other three chapters, or even if I will, but I did enjoy playing this one.
In this one, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are just running and flying around in the desert when they receive a letter from Dr. Eggman who claims to have an evil plan to take over the world in three days, and it's one that will definitely work. So naturally, Sonic and his buddies instantly set out to stop him.
The Good
- Teamwork Required - To start your game, you get to choose between one of four teams, three of which represent easy, medium, and hard difficulties, while the last team's levels are mission based requiring an objective to be met before you complete the level. Each team carries three members, a Power, a Speed, and a Flying. To get through the levels you must switch through these (with a simple press of a button) to overcome obstacles. Power characters are the only ones who can break through blocks that are in the way, while Speed characters can create whirlwinds to travel up poles, and Flying ones can, obviously, fly upwards for short periods. While it may not be an original gameplay element, it is definitely fun in this one.
- Classic Sonic Feel - Over the years, there have been plenty of games that started off in a side-screen format that switched to a 3D perspective, and not all have been great. This series is one of the good ones though. For the most part, the camera is set up behind your team, but there are numerous action sequences where it spins around and gives you alternate views that are just a lot of fun to watch. The other cool part about this is when the camera is doing these wild swing-arounds, you don't need to adjust how you're holding the joystick, as up will still move your team forwards. Add in the ring system where they also act as your health, and you have the old sonic games with a new feel.
The Bad
- Big Plot Hole. So...Eggman wants to take over the world, and he's sure he has plan that is guaranteed to work. But the only reason Sonic and his squad set out to stop him...is because they receive a letter from him as a challenge to stop him? I get that Eggman is an egotistical maniac...but that's just stupid. This game would make a million times more sense if Sonic and his buddies are just chilling and either see the first attack from a distance, or on some news network, but this...this is just horribly stupid.
- Repeating Storylines. No matter which team you take from the start, the game still has the same 10 levels, the only thing that changes is how difficult they are. In reality though, the difficulty curve isn't really present at all. I jumped right to medium and hard difficulties (Team Sonic and Team Dark respectively) and encountered no frustrations whatsoever, and I suck at Sonic games. It would've been nice to see each team get their own storyline complete with their own set of levels. Even shorter campaigns would've been okay with differing levels, or at the very least completely different paths.
Is it Worth it?
For only $10 complete, and even less as a loose disc, you will get your monies worth out of this one. At least as far as the gameplay itself. Granted it's a Sonic game, but the story isn't very entertaining or even very well thought out. Throw in some bad voice acting, and sprinkle on some (extremely) corny one-liners, and the value of this one increases if you play with your TV muted. While it's upsetting to play the same 10 levels over and over, they are pretty entertaining and do come with their challenges.
It might not be the greatest Sonic game ever, but it isn't the worst either. As for getting the joke from within my gamer circle...the main theme is just...there's no words. It's got that old school cartoon feel to it, and it's one of those that you love and hate at the same time. Either way it'll definitely get stuck in your head for a couple of days.
I "completed" this one in the sense that I finished one of the storylines (Team Sonic). I wasn't too crazy about it so I don't know when I'll go for the other three chapters, or even if I will, but I did enjoy playing this one.
