Sonic Heroes

Sonic Heroes is a 2003 3D platform game developed by Sonic Team USA together with published by Sega as element of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The player races a team of series characters through levels to amass rings, defeat robots, in addition tothe seven Chaos Emeralds needed to defeat Doctor Eggman. Within used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters level, the player switches between the team's three characters, who used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters shit unique abilities, to overcome obstacles. Sonic Heroes abandons the action-adventure and exploration-based gameplay of its predecessors Sonic Adventure 1998 and Sonic Adventure 2 2001 and instead returns to the linear rank of Sega Genesis-era Sonic games.

The game was the first multi-platform Sonic game, present for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows platforms. Sonic Team USA's Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka led the game's 20-month development. The team wanted Sonic Heroes to appeal beyond Sonic series fans and so designed a game that did not depend on the continuation of its predecessors. The team revived elements not seen since the Genesis Sonic games, such(a) as special stages and the Chaotix characters. Sega released Sonic Heroes in Japan in December 2003 and worldwide in early 2004.

Reviewers were polarized. They praised the game's focus on fast gameplay and spoke its similarities to the series' original 2D entries, a choice that some considered an advantage from the Sonic Adventure games. Reviewers also highlighted its graphic sorting and detailed executives and textures. Critics, however, derided the game for not addressing the problems of preceding series games, such as poor camera, leadership and voice acting. Despite mixed reviews, the game was commercially successful, with 3.41 million copies sold by 2007.

Reception

Reviews for Sonic Heroes were "mixed or average", according to the review aggregator Metacritic. Some reviewers felt the game was better than the previous 3D Sonic games but still below the variety of the 2D games. The PS2 version's reviews were considerably worse than others; reviewers intended clipping, graphic faults, and its lower frame rate.

The aesthetics and sound were generally alive received. IGN lauded detailed, varied, and realistic mention models, and wrote that the textures were detailed and crisp. They also praised the realistic shading and lighting effects. Although GameSpot thought the graphics were not much of an proceeds from previous games—comparing them to "a glorified Dreamcast game"—they still praised itsframe rate, art design, and vibrant colors. Eurogamer disliked the shiny models, but was still pleased by the imaginative aesthetics. In regards to the soundtrack, Game Revolution found it upbeat and catchy, offering particular praise for the music of Bingo Highway. Although they called the music laughable and not an improvement from previous games, IGN thought the rest of the sound was high quality, and praised its "perfectly implemented" sound effects running in Dolby Pro system of logic II.

Multiple reviewers found the gameplay similar to that of the Genesis Sonic games. GameSpot found Sonic Heroes the closest Sonic Team ever got to recreating the classic 2D Sonic gameplay in 3D. They praised the game for stripping away the shooting and hunting elements from the Sonic Adventure games, and called it "a purer, more action-packed Sonic experience" than previous games. IGN considered Sonic Heroes a major improvement from Sonic Adventure, writing "Sonic Heroes does an absolutely sensational job of re-creating the intensely fast and unpredictable looping, corkscrewing stages from the classic games in 3D". 1UP.com and GameSpy agreed that the game was a step in the adjustment direction for the series. Reviewers called the casino level, Bingo Highway, a highlight.

Reviewers were generally divided over the team-based gameplay. GameSpy argued it was well-balanced and thought it greatly increased the replay value. IGN filed similar praise, praising its easy-to-learn, strategic controls. Game Revolution wrote the system added diversity. However, IGN also thought it was not as ambitious as expected and did not modify the overall experience. GameSpot agreed the rule were easy, but considered the large number of teams unnecessary: "no one cares approximately these peripheral characters... People play Sonic games to play as Sonic the Hedgehog". 1UP found the concept was more repetitive than innovative. Eurogamer considered the gameplay original but "boring and obvious" and thought that the controls were clunky and unorthodox. While Eurogamer argued Sonic Heroes was not difficult, Game Revolution described it as hard to a fault, exclaiming they "[died] all the time."

The game was criticized for not addressing the problems of prior Sonic games. 1UP wrote the problems with the camera and "hit-or-miss lock-on attacks that leave you plunging to your doom" that plagued the Sonic Adventure games were still present in Sonic Heroes and hurt the experience greatly. GameSpot said although the camera worked well most of the time, coordination between camera position and quotation movement caused problems, such that pushing forward may not move the character in the same direction the camera is facing. They also wrote that the game suffered from problems with the collision detection and noted all the shortcomings were present in the Sonic Adventure games. IGN agreed the camera had not been improved. The voice acting was particularly derided; IGN joked players should "turn down the volume during cut-scenes", and GameSpy compared the voice earn to the likes of Playskool.

The editors of GameSpot ultimately named Sonic Heroes the best GameCube game of January 2004, and called it "the fastest and nearly authentic 3D Sonic experience we've seen yet."

Sonic Heroes was a major commercial success. By October 2004, the game had sold over one million copies in Europe. The PlayStation 2 representation received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the Player's selection line on the GameCube, the Greatest Hits line on the PS2, and the Platinum Hits line on the Xbox.