3.5/5 ★ – Sharff's review of Sonic Heroes.

Maybe its because I had my expectations low but I had a pretty good time with Sonic Heroes. Now yes, the gameplay has its moments. Some enemies are really annoying, there are some, bosses are both difficult and super easy to cheese (aside from the second phase of the final boss, which is actually pretty good). What stood out to me is the lack of explanations for some of its mechanics can be frustrating, a prime example of it being the poles. You're supposed to use the speed characters wind attack to travel up it, but that isn't told to you, at least not at first. Its told to you later, and while there may be some alternative way to interact with it, I found no easier way. Moments like that can be frustrating, but once you understand how each of the characters work and how to use them to their best abilities, the game can be quite fun. It works and controls very differently compared to other sonic games, but it is something you can get used to and have fun with. Speed characters are fun when you wanna go fast, flight characters are good for platforming and have combat liberties, and the strength characters quickly take out enemies with any sort of health bar. The level design allows for a flow to exist, so switching between characters doesn't feel abrupt. All the levels are great in my opinion, at least in team sonic's story. The criticisms I have lie outside of the characters and more within the stuff around them. I liked the other campaigns but it sort drags on by the time you get to chaotix. Team dark has more difficult levels but I liked the levels in the game so it was fun. Team Amy had easier/shorter levels, so it wasn't too bad and they were a good means of getting the chaos emeralds. Team Chaotix is where I got tired and some of the levels in it were really strange. Not all of them were bad but a lot of them took too much time and energy. In order to get the final story, you need to beat all of the stories and get the 7 chaos emeralds. The chaos emeralds are already pretty tough to get with how you need to no hit run the levels whenever you find the key to unlocking the ring. I don't like the idea but again, with team rose its pretty easy. The special stages themselves control like ass but weirdly they're very easy to cheese at the same time. Using a power character and pressing/holding B while collecting the orbs zips you to the emerald for some reason. Like the bosses, its both too easy and too hard. Its too much I feel. The game is great with team sonic, and getting the chaos emeralds should've really been the end of it (like the classic games its attempting to replicate). Outside of slight story differences, almost all of the stories go through the same motions. It feels like padding too me. If any game in the sonic series could use a remake, its this one and shadow the hedgehog. That said, its enjoyable. I may have gotten tired at the chaotix campaign but I still had fun with all of them. The character interactions are cute and again, learning how to play as each of them is fun. The musics great so I never got tired of that. I'd suggest at least giving team sonic's story a try, and if you enjoyed that, then take your time playing the rest. A small tip I have is to hold down the jump button after homing attacking, the speed character will jump higher. Despite the flaws, there's a spirit in this game that even a theoretical remake couldn't capture, you seriously should give it a shot.