Ah, Sonic Heroes. I remember playing this when I was a kid, to the very end of the disc's life, after it tragically ended when the disc got way to scratched up, and was deemed unplayable, and had to throw it out, and haven't played it until recently, thankfully. Now, that I went through the game again after so many years of mainly away of the game for at least 10 or so years.
Difficulty: 7
The difficulty in this game can vary depending on which story arch that you go through. There's Team Sonic, which goes through the basic game that you'll go through, which I guess is Normal, Team Dark, which has some challenging boss battles in a more extreme environment, which can be the Hard path, Team Rose, which has the shortest adventure, and only goes as far as following Sonic's team, which is basically the Easy pathway, and finally there is Team Chaotix, which has a unique pair of challenges. Instead of going from Point A to Point B, you will go through the entire level in a challenge type of envioronment, whether it is to find an object, detroy all the robots, or what have you, this is a Task type of environment, which can be pretty challenging, since I use to never beat this area as a kid, when I'd get stuck in a loop in the level. Then there's the final area, which we all know is always tough final challenge. So the Difficulty can vary.
Story: 7
There's a LOT of different Story arcs in this game, so let me explain every arch, depending on which group you choose. Team Sonic goes through the same old thing, Sonic has received a note from Dr. Eggman that invites him, and the Sonic Heroes to stop him from taking over the world, creating Robotnikland, and Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles have to stop him as fast as possible. Team Dark starts with Rouge going through a secret area that Eggman hid away, which includes Shadow the Hedgehog, who was killed off in Sonic Adventure 2, previously, being released from what seems to be a glass tube that holds him in, and a rebellious robot created by Eggman named E-123 Omega, who swares revenge on Eggman for locking him away for so long. Now the group will go and fight Eggman, while Shadow tries to remember who he really is, as he has amnesia. Team Rose starts with Amy Rose hanging out with his friends Cream the Bunny, with her chao Cheese, and Big the Cat. They decide to team up to go hunt down whoever kidnapped Froggy and Choco the Chao. Nothing to do with Eggman. Team Chaotix is a team ran by Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee. They go on an anonymous person contacting them via radio and tell them to go off into tasks for big money. They comply, and they go off into their adventure for the money they need. No Eggman hunting.
Addictiveness: 5
The addictiveness charm isn't that strong here, since you have to play the game a total of FOUR times to get the final ending that you need to complete. It can get very tiring after you beat the game even once, and that really kills the experience of trying to 100% the game, and it sucks, but you are playing the EXACT same levels over and over again. There's very little difference in each group you play as. Same level design, same bosses, same character battles, and after a while, it becomes a chore to play. But! The worst is game's chaos emerald minigames, and they absolutely suck. The mechanics of the games is to get to the emerald before time runs out, and you have to absorb speed hightening balls to get to it, and the physics just suck. It's one of the worst in the entire Sonic Franchise.
Sound: 7
The sounds consist of music in each area of the game, voices for each character, and sound effects for each action. The music is pretty dang good. Especially Seaside Hill, the first level of the game. It's pretty catchy music, and it's a joy to listen to alone as well. The rest of the game's music has a pretty cool atmospheric soundtrack as well. From the beach, to the casino, to the jungle, to Eggman's fortress, it's pretty cool to listen, and it fits pretty well. As for the voices, I'm not too keen on some of them, and they say stuff when you do actions with them, especially the power characters like Knuckles, it can get pretty annoying, but besides that, the Sounds of the game is great.
Graphics: 8
The looks of the game's graphics as Character models are concerned, they look pretty shiny at times, but overall they are as good as it gets for Gamecube standards. The bulk of this rating goes to the design of the levels, as they did a good job detailing everything you go through. It's quite something to look at. Especially area like the jungle, where everything pops out in a good way. I enjoy it. Besides that, you can't really say much for the Gamecube standards. Sure, it's pretty to look at, but this is mid-2000s kind of graphics, and a Sonic game, so I can be easily wow'd by what most can expect from it. It's cool, but that's about it.
Overall: 8
The game overall, not a bad game. Would I want you to go out there and buy it? For the right price, I would. It's a fun game for what it's worth, and the 100% completion has the same reward as what you'd expect from a Sonic game. A final boss with Super Sonic. So, with that said, go out there, and have fun with all the heroes. At your own risk. If you do buy it, hey, I won't stop you, if you're a fan of the Sonic Franchise, go nuts. I know I would. |