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Sonic Heroes is a platforming video game and the 8th installment in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sonic Team USA and released in 2003 (Japan) and 2004 (North America) for multiple platforms. The game follows four teams of three characters, each of which has a unique subplot, and as Doctor Eggman begins another attempt at global domination, each team follows a separate path to stop him. This game differs from other Sonic games by allowing the player to take control of each of three characters of a particular team, each member of which has a unique ability, that of speed, power, or flight.
The title received mixed to good reviews, according to games aggregates websites. Positive points noted include a gameplay style similar to the series' 2D roots, and the game's vibrant environments and graphics; negative points raised include the camera system, some level design issues, and the game's voice acting. Nevertheless, the game sold well, and entered the "best-sellers" series for each of its respective consoles.
Gameplay
The game introduces several new gameplay elements. Unlike most Sonic games, where players control one character, three characters are available at any time to choose from, as the player may switch the party's leader freely, whilst the other two characters follow. Each character has an individual ability — speed for fast stages, power for breaking objects, or flight for reaching high platforms — and the player must use these abilities to traverse the fourteen stages. Each ability is also represented in the interface by color; blue for speed, yellow for flight, and red for power. By acquiring certain items or reaching checkpoints, characters can level up, increasing their efficiency when used against enemies. Each team also has a Team Blast skill, which can be performed when the Team Blast meter becomes full, and this can be achieved by performing such actions as destroying enemies or collecting rings.
By collecting a key hidden within each level reach the end without getting hit, players can enter the Special Stage. In these stages, the player must run through a tube collecting colored orbs containing boost and avoiding bombs in order to catch a Chaos Emerald before it reaches the end of the tube. Chaos Emeralds are shared amongst all characters, and collecting all the emeralds, as well as clearing the game with all four teams, unlocks the last story.
Team Sonic in the first stage of the game, Ocean Palace.
Teams
The player initially selects one of the four teams available at the beginning of the game, comprising three members, each capable of one of the three aforementioned skills. Each team follows their own storyline, but all four plots are intertwined. The teams also have their own unique Team Blast skill.
Team Sonic
* Speed: Sonic the Hedgehog
* Flight: Miles "Tails" Prower
* Power: Knuckles the Echidna
Team Sonic is the title team of Sonic Heroes. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles receive a letter from Doctor Eggman telling them of a new ultimate weapon that will be ready within three days, challenging them to stop him. Having had the most experience in defeating Eggman, the three heroes band together once again to foil Eggman's plans. This team and associated levels are designed to be of medium difficulty, and contain high-speed sections.
Team Dark
* Speed: Shadow the Hedgehog
* Flight: Rouge the Bat
* Power: E-123 Omega
Rouge sneaks into one of Eggman's bases after hearing that Doctor Eggman is accumulating valuable treasures. Instead, she finds Shadow the Hedgehog, thought to be dead, encased in a capsule and without memory of who he is. Also locked in the same chamber is a robot, E-123 Omega, who, angered on his confinement, is bent on destroying Eggman's robots to prove his power. Realizing that all their problems lead to Eggman, the three antiheroes team up. This team and associated levels are designed to be of hard difficulty, requiring skill and concentration to endure heavy battle. The Team Dark versions of stages are also noticeably longer than those of either Team Sonic or Team Chaotix, and drastically longer than those of Team Rose, as well as featuring many more enemies and a reduced number of shortcuts.
Team Rose
* Speed: Amy Rose
* Flight: Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao
* Power: Big the Cat
Each character of Team Rose is trying to find someone important to them; Amy searches for Sonic and hopes that defeating Eggman herself will impress him. Big is searching for his amphibian friend, Froggy (continued from Sonic Adventure), and Cream is seeking out Cheese's lost brother, Chocola. With a picture in the newspaper of Froggy and Chocola being carried off by whom they believe to be Sonic as their only clue, the three join up to find their lost companions. This team and associated levels are designed for younger players, with shorter missions.
Team Chaotix
* Speed: Espio the Chameleon
* Flight: Charmy Bee
* Power: Vector the Crocodile
Team Chaotix is composed of quiet, ninja-like, and disciplined Espio the Chameleon; their headstrong, music-loving leader Vector the Crocodile; and the flying ace Charmy Bee. They run their own detective agency, and receive a mysterious package with a walkie-talkie in it. A stranger gives the team instructions through this device and claims that if the job he has for them is completed, the Chaotix will be "rewarded handsomely". Espio is wary of the job, but Vector sees the opportunity to make money, and reminds him that they "never turn down work that pays". This team and associated levels provide a different experience, as most are mission-based, and are only complete when the mission target is met. Unique to this team, when Espio uses his Tornado Spin, he becomes invisible to enemies, required for some missions.
All the teams in order starting for the top left: Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Rose, Team Chaotix
Formations
No matter with which team you are playing, you will always need to choose a leader. Based on leader type, the formation will be decided. With the selected formation, you can move forward and attack enemies in different ways. The game even suggests players to choose a certain formation at particular places. This is done by sign boards. For Speed formation a blue colored sign board is used with text Speed, for Power formation a red colored sign board is used with text Power, and for Fly formation a yellow colored sign box is used with text Fly. Each team has three formations (not all formation features are available to all teams):
Speed Formation
This formation can be achieved by selecting a speed type leader like Sonic the Hedgehog. This formation has special features. It can be used to follow a chain of rings over large gaps or up tall cliffs. The homing attack can be used to fly toward enemies, items, or springs, damaging, destroying, or bouncing off them respectively. It can be used to create a cyclone to blow enemies into the air, or to climb up poles. Its most powerful attack is "Rocket Accel" which can only work when all other team members are together. Rocket Accel is used to do heavy damage to tough enemies or objects like Battleships.
Power Formation
This formation can be achieved by selecting a power type leader like Knuckles. This formation has potential to damage a lot more than other formations. It can destroy enemies, bricks and train engines. Its most interesting features come to focus when it goes to level three, when it can destroy enemies in a short range. This formation can also utilise fans in order to reach oherwise unreachable areas and cross large gaps.
Fly Formation
This formation can be achieved by selecting a fly type leader like Tails. This formation is used to go higher or farther in air. While in this formation, the player can stun distant enemies with thunder shoot, which brings flying enemies down from the sky. Once this formation is level 3, the player can use this to destroy flying and ground enemies in one shot (not applicable to all enemies).
Plot
Five months after the events of Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes initially sees Sonic off running around the world looking for adventure. Joining up with his friends Tails and Knuckles, who give him a message from Dr. Eggman stating that he will take over the world in three days, Team Sonic is formed and the classic trio head off to stop Eggman's latest plan. But they are not alone on this endeavor, as other characters from the series form their own teams to find Eggman first. The Chaotix Detective Agency has not had a client in a long time and need to pay the rent for the house. Charmy comes flying in with a box containing a walky-talky and become hired by an unknown client to find the Doctor, and they take on the name Team Chaotix. Rouge finds Shadow (who was presumably dead) and awakes E123-Omega unknowingly who is mad at Eggman for deactivating him and decides to take revenge on him; after a short fight, Rouge decides they should team up to find Eggman and become Team Dark. Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, and Big the Cat team up to find Cream's Chao Chocola, Big's Froggy, and Sonic after seeing a newspaper article of Sonic holding both Froggy and Chocola. Eventually, they believe that this is all connected with Eggman. The player must control their chosen team to complete each stage, defeat Eggman's robots, and complete boss battles against Eggman himself, as well as defeat the other teams that have formed and stand in their way of finding Eggman first.
As each team reaches the final stage and defeat Eggman, they finally meet together and discover that the enemy they have been chasing is not Eggman, but is actually Metal Sonic, disguised as Eggman; the Doctor himself has been locked away, and Team Chaotix discovers that Eggman was their mysterious client. Metal Sonic reveals that he was created for the sole purpose of destroying Sonic and that Eggman's failures made that impossible. He decides to take matters into his own hands by locking up Eggman and transforming his body. The teams come together to battle Metal Sonic in its large, robotic form (called Metal Madness first, and later Metal Overlord when his transformation is complete), before Team Sonic transforms into its members' Super Forms and defeat Metal Sonic (as Metal Overlord), who returns to his original form. In the aftermath, Team Chaotix chases after Eggman, who is attempting to sneak away in order to avoid paying Team Chaotix their reward. Sonic and Tails leave, and Amy chases them. Rouge says she will look for someone else's treasure, while Knuckles chases after her. Shadow and Omega pick up the body of Metal Sonic, and in the end, Team Sonic goes off on their next adventure.
Image of Super Sonic facing the final boss Metal Overload.
Development
Sonic Heroes was developed to celebrate the twelfth anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. The game's director, Takashi Iizuka, stated that he did not want to make Sonic Heroes a continuation of the Sonic Adventure series, as he was worried only core gamers would buy the title, and instead decided to create a game that more casual players could adapt to.
Unlike the two previous main series games, Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes uses the RenderWare engine so that the game could be programmed and ported easily to the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows. Despite being able to port some textures and character models from the Sonic Adventure titles, most work on the title was started anew. Despite the use of cross-platform middleware, Sonic Heroes was Sega's first multi-platform title, and the development team found additional challenges in working with the Xbox, the platform that they had very little experience with.
Soundtracks
Jun Senoue once again returned to provide music for the game, along with the two songs by his band Crush 40. Replacing the individual character songs, playable teams now have team theme songs. The game features once again returning vocal talents Johnny Gioeli, Tony Harnell and Ted Poley, as well as new musicians Kay Hanley, Gunnar Nelson and rock band Julien-K.
The Sonic Heroes Official Soundtrack was released in North America on November 9, 2004. Triple Threat: Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax, which includes the original vocal theme songs from the Sonic Adventure game soundtrack, was released in Japan on February 4, 2004. Complete Trinity: Sonic Heroes - Original Soundtrax was released in Japan on March 3, 2004.
Voice Actors
* Ryan Drummond as Sonic the Hedgehog / Metal Sonic
* William Corkery as Miles "Tails" Prower
* Scott Dreier as Knuckles the Echidna
* David Humphrey as Shadow the Hedgehog
* Lani Minella as Rouge the Bat / Omochao
* Jon St. John as E-123 Omega / Big the Cat
* Jennifer Douillard as Amy Rose
* Sarah Wulfeck as Cream the Rabbit
* Bill Corkery as Espio the Chameleon
* Emily Corkery as Charmy Bee
* Marc Biagi as Vector the Crocodile
* Deem Bristow as Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik / Mysterious Client
Reception
Critical Response
Reviews of Sonic Heroes were mixed to positive, with Metacritic ranging from 64% for the PlayStation 2 version, based on 29 reviews, to 73% for the Xbox version, based on 28 reviews. Game Rankings averages range from 60% for the PC version, based on 18 reviews, to 74.5% for the GameCube version, based on 95 reviews.
Reviewers noted several positive aspects to the game. These included the gameplay style; whilst the transition to 3D has been noted as rough for the Sonic franchise, Sonic Heroes came close to the series' 2D roots. Sound design was also praised, described as "inexorably linked" to the experience and "at least very pristine" with "perfectly implemented" sound effects, running in Dolby Pro Logic II. Graphics design and environments were also highlighted, described as colorful, vibrant and cheery, with consistent art design and an exceptionally vibrant color palette. Framerate was also consistent for the Xbox, GameCube, and PC versions, although a drop in framerate in the multiplayer component was noted.
It also attracted several negative criticisms. Often cited were the game's camera control system, described as "uncooperative" and "terrible". Camera control compounded an additional problem regarding the controls relative to the camera's position, such that pushing forward may or may not move the character in the same direction the camera is facing. Falling from the level's platforms into the deep pits below was also criticized. The game's voice acting also came in for criticism, described as "horrendous" and "the biggest misstep in the sound design".
In addition, the PlayStation 2 version received lower average scores. Clipping and graphic faults were cited, whilst the framerate was also lower than the other versions.
Sales
In 2004, Sonic Heroes was the sixth bestselling game in the United Kingdom overall, and a full year after its release, was still at number eight in the all-price chart. By October 2004, the game had sold over one million copies in Europe. The game ultimately sold well enough to enter all three consoles' "best-sellers" lists: Greatest Hits/Platinum for the PlayStation 2, Platinum Hits/Classics for the Xbox, and Player's Choice for the GameCube.
Re-releases
The game was also released in a package with Super Monkey Ball Deluxe on Xbox. It was also re-released in 2009 as a part of Sonic PC Collection.
Well, there's the details on Sonic Heroes. I personally did enjoy this game and I'm sure others did as well. Feel free to leave your comments and thoughts on Sonic Heroes here.
