Sonic Heroes (GCN)

Sonic Heroes is a game I wanted to like. After playing the demo I was almost positive that this would be a return to form for Sonic and Friends, going back to what made the original Sonic adventures so incredibly fast paced and fun. I think my expectations may have been a bit misguided, though, because Sonic Heroes does not live up to its incredible potential.

The game's intro is like watching the beginning of your favorite Saturday morning cartoon - the music is awesome, and gets you into the spirit of the game. The cutscenes, although nicely animated, cannot make up for the spartan plotlines for each team. The game's story was clearly an afterthought; but I was more interested in getting to the action. The water surrounding the first few Team Sonic levels is like awakening a gamer's collective subconscious - you would swear you had returned to the Green Hill Zone. But this feeling doesn't last long.

There are four playable Teams in the game: Sonic, Dark, Rose and Chaotix, each with their own unique cutscene introduction to the levels that follow. Team Sonic is oriented towards classic Sonic gameplay, and is made up of the central characters of the Sonic universe. According to the game's menu, Team Dark's levels are more challenging, but I honestly didn't notice. Team Rose is aimed at beginners, with a tutorial to begin their set of levels as a good way for players to learn the controls. Lastly, Team Chaotix takes a more objective-based approach: instead of simply racing to the end of each level, you must collect special items or perform certain tasks before completing it. The controls are simple enough - you have a "Speed" formation, a "Power" formation and a "Fly" formation, each of them activated when their respective character is in the lead. Switching between each formation is easy enough, but can cause gameplay to become unnecessarily cumbersome when dealing with multiple enemies on land and in the air.

At some points I wasn't sure if I was playing F-Zero GX - the action moves very fast, and can be sight to behold as you speed across the game's truly bizarre maps. The visuals are nothing a Dreamcast couldn't do, though - they are clearly not this game's strong point. For me Rail Canyon stands out as being a great set of levels. I was amazed at how convincing both speed and the gravity-defying stunts were conveyed. Giving the characters the ability to "grind" on rail tracks is a nice twist and makes gameplay a bit more interesting. But staying on the rails wasn't as straightforward as it seems, and made for some quick deaths.

I should note that I have patience of galvanized steel. It takes a lot to get me frustrated; where most players would have thrown the controller in disgust, I'm still playing out of some spite towards the designers. Sonic Heroes succeeded to break my will at some points. The camera was satisfactory at first, but its jerky motion and peculiar tendency to follow a character that's offscreen (ie. not the player controlled leader) got extremely tiresome. Anyone prone to epileptic seizures may want to stay away from the "Casino" levels - all of them were dizzying, nauseating and hard on the eyes. Not to mention almost impossible to navigate without surgical focus and the ability to stave off fits of rage. The voices of the characters are also extremely irritating - they insist on making some confirmatory sound after every action. When some maps require multiple attempts to get past challenging spots this does not support a pleasurable experience.

Some people find Sonic's supporting cast annoying - I think they're great. The series sports some unique character design, and it's consistent across the board. I loved playing Team Sonic, but what I would have liked is a unique set of missions for each Team. Having every Team play essentially the same maps with different objectives seems a bit of a cop out, and puts a fairly low ceiling on replayability.

If you want multiplayer action, there are unlockable challenges such as a head-to-head race to finish some of the game's maps. If you can find someone that's used to the controls, this isn't a bad test of skill, but it's hardly a replacement for co-op. A game like Sonic Heroes is screaming for some sort of co-operative treatment - every console this was ported to has more than two controllers, and why not finally invent a game that doesn't make the third person feel excluded?

The popular opinion appears to be that Sonic Heroes is the closest anyone has come to duplicating the 2D Sonic experience of yesteryear. I'll admit it was a good attempt at taking a familiar series and pushing it in a traditional direction - focusing on speed and action, nothing more. However, some design decisions clearly get in the way of me fully enjoying this game. After a while I just got bored with it - there was nothing there to make me keep playing. And without a reason for me to even continue with the levels for the other Teams makes it seem like an awful waste. I really don't see what's so wrong with two dimensions - clearly some franchises are having real difficulty transitioning to 3D. I'm not quick to label this game a disaster, because I think that all Sonic fans will gain some enjoyment from it. Sonic Heroes is just a great concept that fell short of a solid platformer experience.

I thought that we would have to break up the band