After the success of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Sonic Team USA attempt to innovate for the next 3D Sonic title by changing an already successfully tested formula of gameplay.
Sonic Heroes has the distinction of being the first simultaneous multi-platform release thanks to the use of Renderware, a middle-ware development suite meaning all versions of the game are identical barring some very minor technical differences in their implementation.
It was released in February 2004 for Game Cube, PS2 and Xbox (a Sonic debut on that console) with a PC version following later.
Unsurprisingly it proved a hit amongst the much younger generation of Sonic gamers (no doubt largely due to its retina burning bright graphics), however, amongst the elders the new style of gameplay provoked mixed reactions and coupled with bad responsiveness from the controls and some shoddy level design the game was promptly denigrated.
Fortunately for those wanting to experience Sonic Heroes it can be picked up very cheaply, in most cases for under £15.
Story
Sonic is rushing through the desert only to be interrupted by Tails and Knuckles who have in their possession a video letter from Eggman. He announces his latest ultimate weapon along with a fleet of aerial ships to reign down destruction. All will be unleashed in exactly 3 days.
Rouge manages to infiltrate one of Eggman's airbases in search of valuables. She finds Shadow in suspended animation. With the aid of an angry Series-100 robot she reactivates her old pal. Shadow himself wants answers.
Amy, still moist for Sonic, spots a photo of him in a newspaper and promptly plots a reunion. Big catches a glimpse enough to see his long lost frog in the photo also. Cream notices Cheese's lost companion in the same image and embark on a mission of reunion too.
The Chaotix Detective Agency is filled with excitement when Charmy Bee reveals a package containing a walkie-talkie. A disguised voices offers a handsome reward in return for their help. Espio is not so enthusiastic but Charmy and Vector are already thinking about the prize.
What each of these posies are unaware of is that Eggman is himself is being held prisoner on one of his battleships following a mutiny by one of his robotic creations. This bot has a personal score to settle with Sonic...
Gamplay
You control a team of 3 members swapping control between any of the members on the fly. Each character brings a specific skill and a team formation, though all teams are made up of speed, power and fly.
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Speed is the fastest formation. The lead character charges in front while the other two follow.
Power is the strongest formation used for destroying enemies and obstacles. The 2 assisting characters come alongside the lead and attack nearby targets.
Fly is the aerial formation used for flying over gaps, up to heights and taking down aerial enemies. The lead character carriers the other 2 in a vertical arrangement.
Each team will have their own form of Team Blast - a powerful piece of teamwork destroying all enemies on the screen. This move is available when the Team Blast Gauge is at maximum which is built up by destroying enemies.
The four teams in the game are made of the following characters.
Team Sonic
Sonic Tails Knuckles
Team Dark
Shadow The Hedgehog E-123 Omega Rouge the Bat
Team Chaotix
Team Chaotix Espio the Chameleon Vector the Crocodile Charmy Bee
Team Rose
Amy Rose Big The Cat Cream the Rabbit
Each team will has a different story with and their objectives meetings with other teams and events will differ.
There are no sections where you are free to roam looking for the next action stage to play. Each stage is presented one after the other. There are 7 areas made up of 2 stages each. After each 2 stages played will be a boss encounter which could be Dr Eggman or another team which takes place in some small arena.
Normal 'Sonic' gameplay rules generally apply like taking hits looses rings and the stages are populated with the usual array of items like rings, shields, springs and dash ramps. New to the mix are Cores which serve to increase the skill of characters to a maximum of level 3.
Your performance is ranked at the end of each stage based on time, rings and cores summarised into a letter between A (best) and E (worst).
There are a total of 14 stages in the game (not counting bosses). Collection of all 7 Chaos Emeralds unlocks a final scenario, a final battle with the mysterious dark nemesis that has imprisoned Dr Eggman. This adversary is non other than Metal Sonic who has since been long forgotten by Dr Eggman. His new found power is the result of absorbing power from all those that have tried to take him down.
In Metal Madness teams Rose, Chaotix and Dark take on this mega-bot consecutively attacking different sections until finally Team Sonic attacks. Metal Overlord is the final battle and Sonic goes Super Sonic with 50 rings that deplete each second.
Stages/Screenshots
Click on any of the titles for more screenshots.
Stage 01: Seaside Hill
Stage 02: Ocean Palace
Stage 03: Grand Metropolis
Stage 04: Power Plant
Stage 05: Casino Park
Stage 06: Bingo Highway
Stage 07: Rail Canyon
Stage 08: Bullet Station
Stage 09: Frog Forest
Stage 10: Lost Jungle
Stage 11: Hang Castle
Stage 12: Mystic Mansion
Stage 13: Egg Fleet
Stage 14: Final Fortress
Special Stages
Entry into the Special Stages depends on you successfully finding and completing a stage with a Golden Key. You will loose this key if you take a hit at anytime during the course of a stage. Luckily though there is usually more than one key to find.
Your goal is to collect a retreating Chaos Emerald through a long winding tube populated with spheres and bombs. Collection of spheres fills the power gauge which allows a burst of extra speed towards the prize. Bombs littered in the tube will only serve to slow you down.
Though Golden keys can be found on every stage, only even numbered stages will allow the chance of collection of a Chaos Emerald. Odd numbered stages will only earn you points and extra lives.
Special Stage
Bonus Stage
2-Player Modes
2-Player Modes are unlocked via the collection of emblems in Story Mode. Modes include:
In any versus game, after choosing your stage, hold down A and Y (triangle and X on the PS2). Your team will be replaced by evil-looking metallic doppelgangers.
More modes include, Challenge Mode which allows for replaying any levels cleared in Story Mode, Lesson which is a tutorial through the grounds of Sea Gate and Super Hard - a culmination of all Teams stages with more difficulty thrown at you consecutively with no continues as Team Sonic. When lives are gone you begin back at Stage 1. This mode is only unlocked with all A rankings for every stage of every team.
As you progress through the game you are rewarded with items unlocked from the Extras section of the main menu. The CG Theatre allows the viewing of the movies from Story Mode. The Audio Room allows for the listening of the audio tracks from the game.
A general options screen allowing controller setup and game data selection is available.
Soundtracks
There are 3 official soundtracks for the game and they can be purchased pretty easily from places like Amazon or Ebay. They are detailed below:
Click on any of the images for larger versions.
Sonic Heroes - Official Soundtrack
01 - SONIC HEROES - MAIN THEME OF SONIC HEROES
02 - WE CAN - THEME OF TEAM SONIC
03 - STAGE 01 - SEASIDE HILL
04 - STAGE 02 - OCEAN PALACE
05 - FOLLOW ME - THEME OF TEAM ROSE
06 - SYSTEM SCREEN – SELECT
07 - STAGE 03 - GRAND METROPOLIS
08 - STAGE 04 - POWER PLANT
09 - SPECIAL STAGE - BONUS CHALLENGE
10 - STAGE 05 - CASINO PARK
11 - STAGE 06 - BINGO HIGHWAY
12 - BATTLE - CASINO AREA
13 - THIS MACHINE - THEME OF TEAM DARK
14 - BOSS - ROBOT CARNIVAL ~ ROBOT STORM
15 - STAGE 07 - RAIL CANYON
16 - STAGE 08 - BULLET STATION
17 - TEAM CHAOTIX - THEME OF TEAM CHAOTIX
18 - BOSS - EGG ALBATROSS
19 - EVENT - DISQUIETING SHADOW
20 - STAGE 09 - FROG FOREST
21 - STAGE 10 - LOST JUNGLE
22 - SPECIAL STAGE - EMERALD CHALLENGE
23 - STAGE 11 - HANG CASTLE
24 - STAGE 12 - MYSTIC MANSION
25 - STAGE 13 - EGG FLEET
26 - STAGE 14 - FINAL FORTRESS
27 - EVENT - METAL SONIC... THE ULTIMATE OVERLORD
28 - LAST BOSS VER.1 - METAL MADNESS
29 - WHAT I'M MADE OF... - LAST BOSS VER.2 ~ METAL OVERLORD
30 - EVENT - FINALE... ADVENTURE MUST GO ON
Sonic Heroes Complete Trinity Original Soundtrax
CD1
CD2
01.SONIC HEROES - Opening Ver.
02.STAGE 01 - SEASIDE HILL
03.STAGE 02 - OCEAN PALACE
04.BOSS - EGG HAWK
05.SYSTEM SCREEN – SELECT
06.STAGE 03 - GRAND METROPOLIS
07.STAGE 04 - POWER PLANT
08.SPECIAL STAGE - BONUS CHALLENGE
09.EVENT - STRANGE GUYS
10.BOSS - VS. TEAM BATTLE
11.STAGE 05 - CASINO PARK
12.STAGE 06 - BINGO HIGHWAY
13.BATTLE - CASINO AREA
14.EVENT - MONKEY BUSINESS
15.EVENT - MY WORLD
16.BOSS - ROBOT CARNIVAL - ROBOT STORM
17.STAGE 07 - RAIL CANYON
18.STAGE 08 - BULLET STATION
19.JINGLE - SPEED UP
20.JINGLE – INVINCIBLE
21.BOSS - EGG ALBATROSS
22.EVENT - DISQUIETING SHADOW
23.SYSTEM SCREEN – MENU
24.BATTLE - CITY AREA
25.BATTLE - SEA AREA
26.SYSTEM SCREEN - 2P VS. MENU
27.BATTLE - QUICK RACE
28.BATTLE - RING RACE
01.SONIC HEROES - Title Ver.
02.STAGE 00 - SEA GATE
03.STAGE 09 - FROG FOREST
04.STAGE 10 - LOST JUNGLE
05.EVENT - EXCUSE ME
06.EVENT - UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER
07.SPECIAL STAGE - EMERALD CHALLENGE
08.EVENT - NO PAST TO REMEMBER
09.STAGE 11 - HANG CASTLE
10.STAGE 12 - MYSTIC MANSION
11.EVENT - MY AMBITION
12.STAGE 13 - EGG FLEET
13.STAGE 14 - FINAL FORTRESS
14.BOSS - EGG EMPEROR
15.EVENT - METAL SONIC... THE ULTIMATE OVERLORD
16.EVENT - ALL HEROES GATHER
17.LAST BOSS ver. 1 - METAL MADNESS
18.WHAT I'M MADE OF... - LAST BOSS ver. 2 - METAL OVERLORD
19.EVENT - FINALE... ADVENTURE MUST GO ON
20.SPECIAL STAGE - EMERALD CHALLENGE - Extended ver.
21.CASINO PARK - Original ver.
22.BINGO HIGHWAY - Remix ver.
Sonic Heroes Triple Threat Vocal Trax
01. SONIC HEROES
02. We Can
03. This Machine
04. Follow Me
05. Team Chaotix
06. What I'm Made Of…
07. My Sweet Passion
08. Lazy Days ...Livin' in Paradise
09. Unknown from M.E
10. Believe In Myself
11. It Doesn't Matter
12. Open Your Heart
There are a few technical differences that exist between the versions. The PS2 version is the worst sporting a cruddy frame rate and graphical glitches due to weaker hardware whilst the XBox and Game Cube versions are more or less equal.
All console versions sport the 60Hz mode.
The Xbox version supports system link
The PC version sports crisper visuals thanks to a further period of development.
Renderware was created by Criteron Software (now owned by EA) and was well used within the gaming industry. Other titles are the Grand Theft Auto series (later titles), Mortal Kombat series (later titles) and Tony Hawks titles.
