Sonic Heroes

Moby ID: 11564
PlayStation 2 Specs
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Description official descriptions

Sonic Heroes is a 3D action-platformer in which the player takes control of a team of 3 characters, each with a special ability - speed, fly and power. The objective of the game is to race through levels as quickly as possible whilst defeating enemies and collecting rings. Your time, rings and enemies defeated make up a point system, and more points mean a higher rank on the level. There are 4 teams of characters each with their own changes to the gameplay:

  • Team Sonic is the intermediate difficulty featuring Sonic (speed), Tails (fly) and Knuckles (power).
  • Team Shadow is the hard difficulty featuring Shadow (speed), Rogue (fly) and E-123 Omega (power).
  • Team Rose is the easy difficulty featuring Amy (speed), Cream (fly) and Big (power).
  • Team Chaotix features new mission-based objectives with Espio (speed), Charmy (fly) and Vector (power).

The game features 4 modes:

  • Story Mode, giving players the opportunity to play through levels as the story progresses.
  • Challenge Mode, giving players the opportunity to replay levels that they have previously cleared in Story Mode
  • Battle Mode, a multiplayer mode where players can race or battle each other
  • Tutorial Mode, teaching players the basics of playing the game.

Spellings

  • ソニックヒーローズ - Japanese spelling
  • 索尼克英雄 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
  • 소닉히어로즈 - Korean spelling

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

189 People (176 developers, 13 thanks) · View all

President
COO
Product Marketing Manager
Director of Product Development and Localization
Localization Producer / Assistant Product Marketing Manager
Senior Media Manager
Creative Services Manager
Public Relations Manager
Director of Quality Assurance
Offshore Project Manager
Senior Release Manager
Build Engineer / PC Project Coordinator
Supervisor
Design Coordinator
Layout Designer
Editor / Layout Designer
Marketing Consultant
Sega Ex-Patriot
Producer
Director
Art Director
Main Programmer
Main Game Designer
Sound Director
Player Designer
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 70% (based on 48 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 83 ratings with 11 reviews)

Not bad 3D platformer, but has some lacks

The Good
First of all, I like its "arcade-style" gameplay (in my opinion, it is more enjoyable than "mixed" style of Sonic Adventure 1 & 2). The game is fast, you can quite quick learn how to play and without irritating "demurrages" - enjoy the gameplay! I was afraid a bit, that the same set of levels for every team will make it quite boring, but I was positively surprised - despite quite similar experience in case of Sonic's Team and Dark Team, every time I had different experience and I had the motivation to end all scenarios. It's graphic and animation are really nice, but one of the strongest point is the music - memorable, dynamic, exciting - it's one of the best set in whole Sonic's history. I liked some of the multiplayer modes (like bobsleigh race or action race), they're simple, but enjoyable.

The Bad
First of all - camera & controls. Camera is sometimes really terrible and making some fragments unreasonably hard (harder than they could be in case of properly working camera). If someone prefer to play on game pad, probably he won't have any issues with control, however I like to play on keyboard, and guys from Sega didn't allow us to change control! And the default configuration is rather bad. Fortunately, using combo "keyboard + mouse" is helping to have more comfortable experience (but why I can configure pad and even mouse, but not keyboard?), but still - it's a serious lack. I didn't like more "slippy & clunky" style of controlling characters (especially in case of speed characters), it was made better in SA 1 & 2). Some voices are unfortunately quite weak - Rouge should has more dynamic voice, Knuckles too (I had impression, that they're slowly falling asleep). And there was a couple of fragments, when game suddenly (and in totally unpredictably way) t ended some longer sequence (for example riding on the rail) and I didn't have even time to react/jump/whatever. Some of multiplayer modes are almost totally unplayable (like team battle), I also really regret, that for every mode there are only 3 stages. And since it's PC version - I also regret, that there is only local multiplayer (I really wish that they could add "online" variant too). Getting back to single player scenarios - I didn't like these two "halloween-style" levels - their project was trivial, boring and a bit irritating.

The Bottom Line
Sonic Heroes is really dynamic 3D platformer, this time quite far from the mixed style of two previous games (Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2). And this time plot doesn't have too important role - it's rather an ornament, being some excuse to a couple of cinematics (they're looking quite good, by the way) and "carry on". But it doesn't hurt in any way - the game meant to be dynamic, with rather simple rules, and it's doing it quite good. It has four scenarios - all on the same set of levels, but fortunately with different style, and believe me, you can feel it. It's quite long game in comparison to other Sonic titles, but while you'll probably end all "normal" scenarios, only the most devoted and persistent fans will end all (or at least most of) challenge levels. It also has a couple of multiplayer modes - unfortunately, only local.

Windows · by M R (11) · 2015

Far better then many give it credit ...

The Good
I've read the many reviews both here and on other websites, and from personal experience with the as well, I can tell you it is far better then many give it credit. Sure, it has its problems, but there are plenty of positives that come out of the experience as well.

For one, it introduces a new play mechanic to the series, using three characters instead of the usual one in order to solve the awaiting puzzles and wizz through the arenas. Each of the different teams are the same design wise (one is used for speed, the second power and the third flight), and swapping between the three during play adds an element of strategy to the game, something that is rarely used in such a game.

Graphically, this has to be the best looking Sonic title so far. The earlier levels may not show off that much, but once you get into the later half of the game, the levels start to improve in detail and hark back to the early Sonic games design wise (especially Casino Park, that recreates the pinball like Vegas levels from the original Sonic games of old). In fact, the game has an amazing sense of speed, and those that hang around long enough will enjoy the hectic rush.

The Bad
There are areas of the game that just seem rushed, including the multiplayer mode that is simply tacked onto the disk. The music score is the old school rock pieces that seem to be a staple of this franchise, but to me it is getting real old, nothing like the more amusing and entertaining scores of Mario Sunshine or Jak II.

The control scheme takes a little getting used to at first, swapping between the three characters at will. But stick with it, as once you get the hang of things you'll be flying along.

Lastability is also a factor. The 14 levels on offer are fairly long, but at the speed at which you are going, they fly by quickly and without much fuss. Still, there are other teams to play as, so there's the added incentive to try again a few times.

The Bottom Line
So despite what some people might say, this is not the worst Sonic game ever made, and is far and away the best 3D rendition of the franchise from the three made so far. It is certainly the only title to really capture the speed and excitement that the 2D Sonic's had, that's for sure.

It has its problems, and there are the usual camera and bug errors, but overall Sonic Heroes is still well worth a play, and it is a step in the right direction for the future of Sonic in 3D.

GameCube · by Kartanym (12418) · 2006

Sonics PS2 debut - and it's not bad!

The Good
When I heard that Sonic was coming to the PS2, I jumped for joy. I have been a fan of the blue hedgehog ever since his first game (Sonic The Hedgehog in 1991), and when I bought this shortly after it's release I was not disappointed. All the action and gameplay that has persisted throughout the entire Sonic series is here, right down to the ring-grabbing!

But what's so different about this game? I hear you ask. The difference is that you now have a choice of 3 teams (as explained in the review). You play all three characters in that team, each one with their own special abilities. In each team, you'll have characters that can either run fast, pack a punch or fly. For example, in the Sonic team it's Sonic who runs fast, Tails who can fly, and Knuckles who packs a punch.

This is a basic but fun game. The levels are well designed, with good baddies and some clever ideas. You'll also have to fight one of the other teams every couple of levels, which adds to the fun.

The audio in this game is stunning in every way. Both the music and sound effects are cool, and the voiceovers are the best I've heard in a long time.

Another highlight I must point out is the game's CGI cutscenes. These are the most beautiful ingame movies I've ever seen. The graphical detail and animation is just jaw-droppingly brilliant! It's worth buying a copy of the game just to see them! You also have the option of watching them in Dolby Pro Logic II sound.

The Bad
With a few fixes in the programming code, this game could've been much better. For one thing, the PS2 version suffers from a nasty controller bug when switching characters. The 2 character switching buttons are sometimes a little responsive, making you select the wrong character! Another problem is the camera not being very good. Sometimes you'll walk off the edge of a platform without knowing it's there.

Also, they are not the best graphics I've seen, and unlike the GameCube or XBox versions, it runs at 25 frames a second. I've seen PS2 games with more detail that run at 50 frames a second.

Another slight problem, although it's not much to worry about, is the fact that you cannot turn off the subtitles during the CG movies.

The Bottom Line
Despite the fact that it has some annoying bugs, this is one quality title that Sonic lovers will want to play again and again.

PlayStation 2 · by pottyboy (68) · 2005

[ View all 11 player reviews ]

Trivia

Milestone

This was the first Sonic game to be released on multiple platforms (Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox) simultaneously.

Team Chaotix

Team Chaotix is made up of three of the main characters from Knuckles' Chaotix.

PlayStation 2 version

The PlayStation 2 version is infamous for being poorly optimised and performing badly due to the weaker nature of the PS2's hardware when compared to the Xbox or GameCube. The PS2 version runs in 30fps with additional frame drops as opposed to the GameCube and Xbox's 60fps. The PS2 version also suffers from a lower draw distance and longer loading times. Another oddity exclusive to the American PS2 version is that, on menu screens, O acts as the primary "enter" button and X acts as the back button, similarly to how Japanese PlayStation games are controlled; the European version uses the correct button layout.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by will.i.am.

PlayStation 3 added by Charly2.0. Windows added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Alaka, ~~, Grandy02, Rik Hideto, Deleted.

Game added January 4, 2004. Last modified March 3, 2024.