Sonic Heroes | DJcube

High Speed Team Action with 12 Heroes!

JP release: 30th December 2003
NA release: 6th January 2004
EU release: 2nd February 2004
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
NGC Magazine Score: 65%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

I played Sonic Heroes a few years ago and hated it. The controls were sloppy and the bugs and issues led to a ton of unfair deaths and frustration. I played on an actual GameCube so I was willing to give the game another chance, using the magic of save states to alleviate the annoying glitches. While it did help somewhat, it also solidified my opinion that Sonic Heroes is the worst 3D Sonic game, below the likes of Secret Rings, Sonic 06 and Sonic Boom – all of which I actually enjoy.

The annoying thing is that Sonic Heroes has a lot of neat ideas. You control three characters at once, and get to choose between four different teams, each of which has their own motivations and part of the story. You have a speed character with a homing attack, a power character that can punch through stuff and a flying character who can carry the others short distances. These can sometimes be used to take alternative routes while sometimes you need the right one to progress. The game will also sometimes automatically change you to a specific type.

Sonic and friends really don’t control very well in this game, though, as they jerk about and bounce off things in a strange way. The homing attacks like to just not work half the time and it’s all very unpredictable. Even doing the same thing using save states to try again seemed to get different results each time. This control issue comes to its apex in the casino levels, where the ball physics are just beyond broken and are just horrendous, which doesn’t go well with how unbelievably long those levels are.

Luckily, using the power of loading someone else’s save file, I didn’t have to put up with one big issue: reaching the final boss. Hidden in each level are keys. You need to bring one to the end of the level (one hit will make you lose it) to attempt the special stage to get a chaos emerald. Get seven and you’ve completed what you need for that team. You then need to repeat it as the three other teams – so 28 emeralds just to reach the final level of the game. At least the final level features some amazing music, and some of the levels so have some really nice ideas – Heroes could really shine if completely remade.

The other characters don’t change things too much. Shadow’s Dark Team is a slightly different version of Sonic’s levels, Amy’s team has shorter versions of the levels and is essentially an easy mode (even though most people will play as them third or fourth) while Team Chaotix is slightly different – you have to find objects in each level. Miss any and you take a portal to the start of the level and have to go through the entire thing again. It’s a ton of repetition in a very broken game. And that’s Sonic Heroes in a nutshell.

Poor

Irritating controls that fluctuate between feeling too thick on some occasions and too fussy on others can be extremely annoying; the camera, again, is all too often responsible for breaking the flow of play; and, even more of a let-down, most of the game lacks challenge. Another disappointing underachiever then.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #91

Remake or remaster?

There’s some good ideas, but it needs a complete remake.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Sonic Heroes