Sega's flagship character is back and for the first time on a multiplatform basis. Sonic Heroes gives Sonic the Hedgehog his debut on the Playstation 2, GameCube and the Xbox. This version of Sonic has a twist. The new powers held by today's consoles allow for more complex gameplay. In this instance you get to control Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all at the same time. Now before you start to panic and think that controlling all three at once is impossible, I meant that all three characters will be running round the level. You get the opportunity to switch between each of the three characters at any time during the game. The idea is to use the strength of each of the characters at different points of the game to complete it. This gives a bit more of a puzzle feel to it rather than the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games where you simply run through the level collecting rings and squishing baddies.

Having said that the classic elements of Sonic the Hedgehog will still remain. The fast pace if the game is still there and the classic speeding through levels running on corkscrews and loop the loops is still present. As well as taking the evil baddies in one on one combat and avoiding raising lava and the like. It is a much better game than any of the Sonic Adventures games and does a good job of getting back to the true feel of Sonic the Hedgehog games. Great news for Sonic purists.

Graphically this is the best looking sonic game ever made, however it does have some annoying camera angles to it, which make it hard to see where you are going on occasions. Also it has some bad clipping which will annoy some people who focus on that more than the game. If your really into the game however this will pass without your noticing. There are a lot of games which suffer from clipping and get away with it un-noticed.

Sonic heroes consists of 4 teams. Each team has 3 players in it each with there own special features and abilities to help you complete the levels. Each team has their own special levels which gives you more gameplay and a differing story line. All helping to improve the amount of gameplay. The four teams available are Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Chaotix and Team Rose. Each of the characters are colour coded in respect to the ability they posses to make it easier to change between each of the teams and still use the abilities. The Blue character will posses the most speed out of the 3, the Yellow character will be able to fly, and the red character will posses the most power out of the three. Swapping between the three characters is essential to complete the game.

The Teams

Team Sonic
Sonic the Hedgehog - The world favourite super speedy hedgehog. You must know about this character. Its been the face of Sega for countless years.

Tails - Seen as the kid brother of Sonic, Tails named so because of his twin tails he has. This fox looks cute but will do anything to help Sonic

Knuckles - Seen as somewhat of a rival of Sonic with his own dreams. Knuckles is set in his ways. His strength is his power and it goes well with his personality

Team Chaotix
Charmy Bee - Just a playful kid, does no harm really, but when he gets angry he can introduce all this anger into his stinging tail. Charmy Bee is the Flying character of Team Chaotix

Espio the Chameleon - The ability to camouflage is Espiro's main advantage., He also has ninja training and is well disciplined

Vector the Crocodile - Vector is an outlaw detective who like to settle things calmly, when there isn't an aggressive way to sort things out. Vector can crush enemies in his powerful jaws

Team Dark
Shadow - He was created to be the dark Sonic. This black hedgehog can match sonic in speed and abilities, but not his strive for good

Rouge the bat - A professional treasure hunter, so you can guess what she is like. very calculating and manipulative

E-123 Omega - The most powerful of Dr Eggmans E-series robots. Re-activated by mistake when rouge rescued shadow. His mission is to destroy all other machinery created by Dr Eggman, as revenge for his imprisonment and de-activation

Team Rose
Amy Rose - Her goal, to marry Sonic. Puts her off the real problems at hand sometimes. Very cheerful and a very erratic girl

Big E the Cat - A huge cat who is very string but at the same time very gentle. He likes nothing more than to do a spot of fishing. He always does his best for his friends and on this occasion he has lost his best friend Froggy and sets off to rescue him

Cream the Rabbit - A cute little rabbit of the age of only 6. A little naive at times due to her age. She has been treated like a princess since her birth. Cream can fly using her big floppy ears

Screenshots

(Click to Enlarge Screen shots)
 

Games Zone - Action/Adventure - Driving/Racing - Simulation - Sports - Strategy