My name is Sonic, and we're "Sonic Heroes!"Well, what would happen if characters teamed up together in groups of three and have their own troubles to deal with? [Donkey Kong face] Who knew that this game would be made? :LOL: Needed to pass that up.
Sonic Heroes, a game released in 2003 that marked a newer step to 3D, now containing new gameplay mechanics and having similar gameplay and mechanics to Sonic Adventure 2. The game had gotten releases on multiple consoles and I find this amazing. Too bad it wasn't that much of a favorite from fans. But hey, look on the bright side, it made some new memes. "Shift rock YEAAH!" "Naturally!"
With that aside, lets go in.
Graphics - 10
Extreme touches on the walls and terrain everywhere. :) Patches of grass near the Seaside Hill with patterns and even extreme designs of slot machines. I'm a slight sucker for graphics, but I never care that much. The lighting on the characters in bright stages are like Super Smash Bros Melee's 12 year early HD graphics. Everything looks so technical but it's what it could look like in real life sort of. Not really anything wrong, because it is "Too cool!" *gets 2000 point bonus* The graphics are also "Naturally!" designed in interesting ways of showing off some good looking graphics of 2003, coming close to Super Smash Bros Melee in December 2001.
Sounds - 9
The sound effects "believe it" or not according to research had been mostly
recycled from Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic Adventure fans would remember these exact sounds. Recycling sounds made by a company to be used in that company's future games is common. Who can forget the classic jump sound for Sonic? No one would ever. Music sounds cool though, although the music is slightly weird for kids to listen to, especially younger players below ages of 10. Guess why this is a 9? The music soundtrack that I will hate for my life is...
Casino Park... >n< Stupid music got stuck in my head for 3 years now. If I have to play through this level to get an A with a team, I would always mute the TV. Hey, it's better than not having an option to turn music off in the options settings.
Addictiveness - 7
Wanting to see the stories of teams and what is behind this game with its system of rank is actually varied over from Sonic Adventure 2 with different rank thresholds depending on the kind of level, and the team along with the mission type. You would always find yourself trying to beat the game, and then you'll see what you'll do next yourself. There's a 2 player mode if you have a friend to play with in special mini games. Collect emblems to see what they are. Also, you see the "? ? ?" Box in 1P mode? You'll never know what it is until you meet the requirements. I won't really ever be able to do so myself because of Team Dark's extreme mission difficulty.
Story - 7 when combining all team personal story ratings.
The stories for the teams are completely unique between each other.
Anyone who has played any Sonic game would know Team Sonic's plot
obviously! The story for Sonic is the common plot of the Sonic games, except in this game where there is a slight addition to it, but still the same. Team Sonic has to destroy Dr. Eggman before he conquers the world in 3 days. 6/10 for Sonic.
Team Dark's story continues after Sonic Adventure 2 but Shadow gets unlocked out of his stasis by Rouge, and then Omega jumps in from the same room Shadow was in and destroys almost everything in the room and nearly gets Shadow. Shadow had mostly forgot everything, and Omega wants ultimate revenge on Dr. Eggman for apparently locking him in the room with Shadow. So he, Shadow, and Rouge team up to destroy Eggman while figuring out who Shadow really is. 7/10 for Dark's story.
Team Rose involves 2 lost animals with having one clue showing where they could have been. There is a lost chao friend named "Chocola" who was friends with Cream the Rabbit, and there's "Froggy" who Big the Cat loves so much. Big's part of the story continues after Sonic Adventure 1. Team Rose gets a 7/10 because of "Froggy!" being said in every level. That is why Big the Cat is so known in the Sonic world. :LOL:
Then there is Team Chaotix. Their story has a message coming from Charmy, a bee to Vector, a crocodile with the message having a walkie-talkie and offering tons of money to save the captured victim. The team has to go through difficult missions and accomplish high-risk tasks to save the victim. 8/10 for Chaotix.
In sums of my given ratings:
(Sonic)...... 6/10
(Dark)....... 7/10
(Rose)....... 7/10
(Chaotix).. 8/10
----------28/40
Divide by 4
Actual rating: 7/10
Depth - 9
This game will take you many months, or even years to get 100% because there are 120 emblems to get, and there are a total of 140 A ranks you need to get along with the other stuff. I have played for 2 years and I am only at 98 emblems because I love speedrunning levels too much as Team Rose. But working hard at right now. I hate Team Dark's levels. 1 death on a 9 minute level and there goes your A rank. "Freaking 100 enemy missions, how do they work!?"
Difficulty - 8
The game is very hard to A rank all the missions. The reason why is that like in Sonic Adventure 2, if you die, you lose all your points, no matter where you died, even at the end of a level. Plus, to get an A with Team Dark, you need to consecutively destroy enemies and be super fast to the goal without dying. Levels like Mystic Mansion or Final Fortress show how hard the game is to 100%! Some battles are difficult, and then there's some bad shenanigans where the game cleverly hides certain things in very clever ways that you need to beat the stage, like Team Chaotix's extra BINGO Highway stage which can easily ruin your A rank.
#ThatOneVIPChip!
Overall - 8.4
This game looks and sounds amazing, has tons of variety, with possibilities of choosing which story to do whenever, and having many different ways of urging you to get everything. This game had potentional, and people have wanted a Sonic Heroes 2 sequel, just like if there were to be a Sonic Adventure 3, or a Kirby Air Ride 2 sequel to the original.
Now for some extras and my personal thoughts of Sonic Heroes:
First off, one of my favorite game quotes of all time comes from this game. If Vector is
selected on Team Chaotix just when the first Team Battle vs Dark is completed or before killing Team Dark, Vector will say, "Before picking a fight, better know who you're up against!" The way Vector says it is amazing and what made me love the line.
The rating for this game is a little controversial for me because being an E game for 6+ age people, this game has many instances or saying "die" being said by Espio and Shadow, and also many times where the word, "death" is often said by Espio. Then, there's an instance where finding the 1-up area in Ocean Palace as Team Rose where the phrase, "Oh my god!" is said if Amy gets to talk. Same thing in the final stage. I really think SEGA should've checked the dialogue because I think this game would be E10+ for weird music and mostly dialogue even though there's no swearing, but "die" and "death" we're censored in Nintendo games back in the 80's and early 90's.
The characters talk a whole lot, and way too much, being more words than necessary.
Also, this game had made quite some memes. Examples include:
"Shift, rock, YEAAAH!" - Knuckles
"Leave it to me!" - Tails
The Seaside Denied music video
"Froggy!" - Big
Now for my own memes:
"Naturally!" - Shadow's 800 point bonus
"This is the ultimate power! *activates team blast* CHAOS CONTROL!" - Shadow's 2000 point bonus + activating Chaos Inferno
Then there are glitches. Thankfully, even though this game is said to be broken, you will never, I repeat,
never have a glitch happen on first play through unless you have heard of the glitch or you get unlucky. The game is more broken than both Sonic Adventure games though.
Now, I think this game should've gotten like, a sequel in a way. Millions of people demanded a sequel, although it's never going to happen. Even after 11 years, no such sequel has ever been made. But more game depth in Sonic Heroes would've been nice offering special surprises like in both previous Sonic Adventure but with other stuff you could do besides revealing the ? ? ?'s meaning.
Also, fun fact that isn't currently confirmed: The game will
delete your save file if the play time goes past 100 hours. There's one source I read a year ago that is long gone not exactly confirming that it
deletes the file. I'd hate to lose a 100% file to that, or even a 100/120 emblem file having to redo everything that took months!
Well, that's all! :D Whew! I need a break from all that typing!