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SONIC. THE NAME THAT, almost single handedly, helped Sega dominate the 16-bit console gaming age. Its hyper speedy blend of dazzling graphics, bright sound and nervous twitch gameplay bought it a place in many gamer's hearts that will never be shared with another. Try it sometime - drop the word "Sonic" into a conversation in which you know the participants are gamers of old and watch the eyes glaze over as the memories come flooding back. Sega struck paydirt with the spiky blue hedgehog and they know it.
Jump forward to today. It's been quite a while since we have seen an original Sonic game, with none appearing on any of the current consoles (only remakes of the original Sonic Adventure and the later Sonic Adventure 2 can be found) with the notable exception of the Gameboy Advance. Until now. Sonic Heroes is here and it's available on your platform of choice, be it Xbox, PS2 or Gamecube. Building on the themes first introduced with the Sonic Adventure series, Heroes is a 3D adaptation of the franchise (would today's gamer be happy with anything else?) that brings a whole new dimension to the series - team play.
The concept is relatively straightforward: choose a team comprised of three of your favorite characters (there are four teams in total) and then mix it up in levels that are similar in style to those seen in either earlier Sonic Adventure title; loads of high-speed hijinks, things to bounce off, speed-up pads and cannons - that sort of thing. Where it differentiates from previous Sonic titles, however, is the fact that at any one time you are controlling THREE on-screen characters where previously it would have been just the one.
How this works is in actual fact quite simple. At any time, pressing Y or B will cycle between the characters you have in your team. This is all indicated by a simple display in the top right hand corner of the screen, in the shape of the red, blue and yellow Sonic Heroes logo (see the box picture on this page to see this image). Each part of the logo contains a small portrait of the character at your disposal, with the one you are currently controlling largest and most prominent. Nice, eh? As you switch characters, this moves around and updates so that you know which button you need to press in order to get the character you would currently like to use - which brings us nicely to the next bit; why would you want to change characters, anyway?
Each level is structured in such a way that you either need to change characters in order to proceed or that if you do change characters you can advance in a different way, find secrets or gain bonuses that you might not otherwise be able to. The way this works is that each character has a set area in which he (or she) excels - be that "speed", "fly" or "power". So, for example, when selecting Sonic as the character you are controlling, you are in the "Speed formation". Your group will then have the advantage of being lead by someone (Sonic) that is super speedy. "Fly formation", on the other hand, will see less speed at your disposal but you will now be far more nimble in the air. In team Sonic, Tails is the character that heads up Fly formation. Thanks to his unique abilities, you'll be able to access areas that would be out of the reach of the other characters in your team and you will also be more nimble in air-to-air combat. A useful skill. Last (but certainly not least) is the "Power formation". Knuckles (in Team Sonic) heads up the power formation and is able to kick a considerable amount of ass, not only in combat but also when it comes to destroying blocks and generally interacting with the world. |
