SONIC HEROES
VARIOUS, 2003
» [GameCube] Control a team of three characters
Switching between them to accomplish different tasks.
Sonic Heroes is quite a notable release, as it’s one of the first games to highlight that the Sonic franchise was far from bulletproof. The idea of controlling teams that specialise in speed, power and flight is solid, and the game ditches Dreamcast-era inclusions such as Chao-raising and includes special stages inspired by the Mega Drive games. They’re all fine mechanics and suggest a return to the good old days. That nostalgia was further heightened in the UK by a clever marketing campaign that used TheA-Team theme to really drive home that Sonic was back. However, technical issues such as an extremely poor camera really mar the experience, with the PS2 version of the game suffering the worst due to additional glitches and a much lower framerate (which certainly isn’t something you want in a game that focuses on speed). The 12 characters also highlighted the abundance being introduced to the series at that point.