Title: Sonic Heroes
Company: Sega
Type of Game: Adventure/Platform
System Requirements: Game Cube
ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

It’s Sonic like you’ve never seen him before. In Sonic Heroes, Sonic works with a team. There are four teams with some characters you’ve probably not seen before and some you have. Even with this whole new style, you don’t lose the fast paced and action packed traditional Sonic element. I have long been a fan of the Sonic series and couldn’t wait for this to come out. Sonic was in desperate need of his next big break and he definitely got it.

The game play varies from team to team. Team Rose consisting of Amy Rose, Big the Cat, and Cream the Rabbit is the easiest of the four teams. Team Rose is a great team for Sonic beginners. The hardest team is definitely Team Dark. While other teams may just have to climb a broken spiral staircase, Team Dark will have to do the same thing with lava at their heels the whole way up. Team Dark consists of Sonic’s counterpart, Shadow, Rouge the Bat, and one of Eggman’s evil robots. Smack dab in the middle of those two is Team Sonic. Team Sonic members are the familiar Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. The last team is Team Chaotix. Though they have hard tasks, you can’t compare them to the other teams because their tasks are much different. All of the other team’s goals are to get to the end of the level, while Team Chaotix’s goal will be to defeat 100 enemies or collect ten hermit crabs or something unusual like that. Team Chaotix has members you’ve probably never heard of or seen. They are Charmy the Bee, Espio the Chameleon, and Vector the Crocodile. This team is my favorite because not only do they have my favorite character, Espio, they have different challenges from the rest. This idea really appeals to me. The one thing that connects all of the teams is their goal to destroy Dr. Eggman. I love the new team mode because it puts a brand new spin on the Sonic series.

Not only does this game have an amazing single player mode, you can play a two-player mode as well. You start with just a simple race, but throughout the game you gain other modes such as head to head battle. Though the two player games are fun, I think after a short while they become boring.

This game has the best graphics I have ever seen. It shows great detail such as crevices in a mountain and scales on a palm tree. The controls are great because they are so simple. Though it is easy to change from one team member to another, it takes some getting used to know which team member you’ll become when you hit the x button at one time or another. Overall this game gets a 9 out of 10 from me. I would recommend this game for all fans of the Sonic series and ages 8 and up. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am. (June, 2004)