Review of Sonic Heroes

Sonic the Hedgehog is arguably the game which put Sega, and consoles in general, on the road to success. The Sonic series reached its peak with games like Sonic 3/Sonic 3 and Knuckles. When I owned a Megadrive/Genesis, I was addicted to the 2-D Sonic platform games to the point of obsession. Sadly, I can't say the 3-D Sonic games have had quite the same effect on me. Sonic Adventure had some great 3-D Sonic levels, but the best parts of Sonic Adventure 2 are the mech-suit levels. Those two games have great replay value, however, and I was hoping the same would be true for Sonic Heroes. Alas. The main problem with Heroes is the fact that you're constantly switching between characters, and when you're in a race against time this becoming infuriating, especially as the characters don't always seem to switch to the one you intended. The levels range from the tedious (you spend a long time repeatedly jumping on bosses, or waiting for little spaceships to rise so you can throw one of the characters at them again) to the frustrating (constantly changing camera angles and controls, coupled with the need to change characters, make things like escaping rising flames a total impossibility). You spend a long time just watching the characters running along, or circling loops, whilst you just sit there with your finger on the forward button, and so the game soon becomes a total chore. Certainly the graphics look great, but I've seen so many games with oh-so-wonderful graphics I've become de-sensitised. Sound-wise, the music serves its purpose, and the voices are amusing. But the Sonic series is still churning out references to eggs. Alright, Dr Robotnik is fat and bald! We get the joke! For crying out loud change the record! To sum up, if you're a die-hard fan on Sonic you might get something out of this, but you'd be better off waiting and seeing if Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 are re-released.