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Sonic Heroes

by Mike Sklens - May 15, 2003, 5:12 pm EDT
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Sonic and pals are teaming up to bring a new twist to the classic series. See what we think of it so far.

Sega’s new entry in the famous Sonic the Hedgehog series features a drastic change to the standard 3D sonic formula. Sonic Heroes sees you controlling Sonic, Tails, and Kunckles all at once. By switching characters, the group gains different abilities that they can all use to work their way through the levels, and get to the goal ring.

The game controls are similar to the Sonic Adventure games. The A button makes your character jump, and B uses the character’s ability. Sonic can dash. Tails can fly, and Knuckles can punch. X and Y are used to switch from one character to either of the others. The game feels just like a Sonic game should. The gameplay is fast and the action keeps moving. Some enemies now take multiple hits to finish off, but as long as all 3 characters participate in the attack, the enemies go down right away.

Sonic controls exactly as he always has. He can run, and roll into a ball with the B button. Double tapping the button causes him to do a speed dash. He can also do a homing aerial attack with the A button while in mid-air. When doing any of these movies, the other two characters follow suit by doing the same.

Tails regains his ability to fly in Sonic Heroes, which is a welcome change for Sonic fans. When in the air, the other two characters grab on below him, forming a three character totem of sorts. Flying tails is a bit hard right now. It seems that he never has enough flying power (displayed as a bar around his character logo) to cross some gaps. Hopefully this will be adjusted as development moves forward.

Knuckles moves slowest of the three Heroes, but is also the attacker. With Knuckles in charge, Sonic and Tails actually form up around his gloves. For attacking, Knuckles is great.

There’s also a sled the three can ride on during certain portions of the game. On the sled tracks, the group can collect rings.

There are signs littering the levels that recommend which character to use at certain points. In the more fast paced areas, you run through leader-change gates that automatically switch the leader for you.

The game is very enjoyable. The level design is good, and changing characters on the fly adds a ton of depth to the normal “run through the level" Sonic mechanics. Even at only 20% completion, the game plays very well. It still has the same camera issues as the two previous games. If you’re blazing through the level everything is cool, but as soon as you come to a stand still the camera starts getting difficult. Hopefully this will be remedied by the time the game is ready for release.

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Genre Action
Developer Sonic Team
Players1 - 2

Worldwide Releases

na: Sonic Heroes
Release Jan 05, 2004
PublisherSega
RatingEveryone
jpn: Sonic Heroes
Release Dec 30, 2003
PublisherSega
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