Sonic Heroes was at first everything I thought it would be. Fast levels, collecting rings, jumping, ridiculous story lines that slow down the action. But after multiple playthroughs more and more about this game bothered me, and that's the feeling that I've been getting lately from playing, I don't know, every Sonic game released since Sonic Adventure 2.
This game has a twist that at first actually was a refreshing change to the Sonic genre. Instead of controlling just one character, you control a team of 3, each with unique abilities. The default team is Sonic, Knuckles and Tails. sonic for speed, Knuckles for power and Tails for flying. You open the game with this team unlocked and as you progress more teams become available. Which leads to the first problem.
There are too many pointless characters in Sonic games. Playing as Team Rose and the Chaotix was downright boring and childish at times with how much they were all about what was wrong with Sonic games. Dumb AI, levels that could be completed in 2 minutes, annoying voice acting, etc. But you have to play with them to complete the game, so just finish it fast and never use them again.
The level design in this game has some high points, especially the Power Plant level and Rail Canyon, where it returns you to what made Sonic good in the first place: speed. However, this is also where the team based concept comes back to hurt it, as multiple times you'll zoom through a level, only to come to a complete stop to switch to Knuckles to break something, or Tails to fly over a gap. This mixes up gameplay which is a plus but at times is uneccesary. This also leads to the second big problrm with the game.
Because they have multiple teams, the levels were made to take advantage of this, and it really hurts sometimes. There are some levels where exploration is key, and you'll spend alot of time looking for a key, or killing 100 robots, or collecting alot of rings, etc. These take alot of time and again divert from the successful formula of just having Sonic blaze thru a level. There are far too many points in this game where you finish a level and say to yourself "I'm never playing that level again."
A few other things: the story is really horrible. Shadow shows up out of nowhere after being killed in Sonic Adventure 2 and the characters dont mind. Metal Sonic is a pretty lame villain, nowhere as good as Sonic CD. The music is actually good, or what you'd expect from a Sonic game. however, the voice acting is bland and childish, making you want to put it on mute sometimes. Graphics are fine, bright colors and such. Replay value is decent, there are some really good levels here you want to play over and over again.
This could've been pretty good for a Sonic game. some of the levels are great and at times you feel like you're playing Sonic 1. The team based concept adds a little strategy to the game and works sometimes. However, bad level design in some cases, too many worthless characters you're forced to play with, bad story, and so so voice acting remain problems in Sonic games. This is a good game but could've been so much more.
